joker97:Brendan:joker97: just a question - i did a CWM backup. is it a complete 100% image that fully restores everything back to that point (like windows 7 PC backup) with one click?
No, not quite - it doesn't back up the EFS partition or the boot sectors (or the sd cards). As far as I know (correct me if i'm wrong). Just the OS itself and user settings.
It is imperative to backup your EFS before any custom roms are installed. Someone elses efs will NOT EVER work.
what is EFS? (is it the network provider settings?)
my phone only ever had 2 things done to it:
rooted with custom kernel (Chainfire)
then flashed with "no wipe" rom (cognition 2.1)
will this have changed the:
"EFS"
"boot sectors"
everything still works (network connection much better, but no longer able to do samsung dive phone tracking due to corrupted/malfunctioning IMEItracker)
The EFS data never changes, back it up now. The EFS folder contains the IMEI info - unique only to your phone. If it gets corrupted then your phone is toast, at least as a phone anyway. I guess Samsung might be able to fix it, but certainly not under warranty and the few posts I've seen on the subject have not ended well....
I don't think the boot stuff can be backed up by normal means. Anyone know if a new firmware flash will fix corrupted/missing boot sector files?
If you have root access then you should definitely back up /EFS, but one note of caution: from what I've read on XDA, copying it via Root Explorer/Astro doesn't retain the correct permissions. . . .you're best to do it via ADB, or get the app that Hellcat wrote that creates an .img of it, and can also restore it.
Trusted
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