How to Create Full ROM Backup? And a Few Other Questions...

[taledus]

I have went through steps to create a backup of what I have now, but the file is just over100mb, far from the 200mb ROM files that have been uploaded here, so I am not doing something right. My screen was inverted after root, and it took me forever to fix, so I would like to backup just in case I need to reroot in the future.

The steps and files needed to root this device are a bit scattered...I think it would be great to have it in 1thread...i'd do it but I am a noob and unqualified to compile step-by-step instructions of all the threads that deal with rooting the 3 versions of the 9742 that people have. I think the guys here have been great for figuring this out and sharing how to do it.

If these devices ROMs can be modified, then can't the apk files have thier permissions edited? I have seen how to edit the permissions in the Xml files, but something in the code is still requiring access st crap it doesn't need, and shuts the file down. So how does one find the correct place to modify in the apk's?

 

[Traveller]

In order to pull the complete image you have to be rooted first. Otherwise you will not get the .img files (boot.img, bootloader.img, recovery.img) but only the system.tgz file. I created a zip file that will not only root the device, but will also allow you to pull the complete image. If you have a MID8042 or MID9742 you can also install the included Clockworkmod Recovery, which will allow you to not only install custom ROMs without Livesuit, it will also allow you to install the Google Apps packages from Goo.im Downloads - Browsing gapps. I have it on my tablet and the function I use most frequently is the ability to make backups of the ROM directly on the device. In fact, after rooting and after making my master backup, I made two nandroid backups: the stock ROM without Google Apps or system tweaks installed, and the stock ROM with Google Apps and tweaks installed.

All Coby Generation 3 devices are rooted in the same manner, regardless of what drivers they have on the inside. The problem comes not from rooting, but from Coby not being consistent in the hardware they use in their tablets. This results in situations like yours, where you apply Steev's ROM and find your touchscreen driver is inverted, requring you to apply a patch.

Now, the ROMs can be modified and the apk files can have their permissions edited. You'd be better off using an app like Stericson's Permissions Pro to do the job if you want to selectively block permissions for system apps. Permissions Free doesn't allow you to touch the system apps but is fine if you want to block permissions on apps you have downloaded. While I use Permissions Free on my Dell Streak, I don't have it on my tablet, relying on Droidwall instead, since on the tablet all I'm concerned about is which apps can access the WiFi connection.

 

[taledus]

Is there any way you could post the command using the file you posted in order to rip everything...if you have posted this already in the forums I cannot seem to find it. Also, when I rooted it was from 1 ROM file...this is going to make 3 img files and a system.tgz file, how does that get compiled into the proper ROM? Sorry for my idiocy on this.

From what I am understanding is the reason I had to go through and patch it was the few incorrect files due to the hardware in the ROM file...if those were replaced with the correct ones for my version of the 9742, then creating a new ROM file based off of what I have would work for future re-rooting if needed without needing to patch, right?

Also, I am not understanding about the Clockworkmod Recovery. I already have my 9742 rooted with google play working. Did I install the wrong ROM file through the LiveSuite method?

I was using the free version of Permissions Denied and I ran into the issue of when I would block some app permissions on downloaded files that my tablet would begin to freeze...it took me several additional hours trying to get back in to allow all permissions and uninstall Permissions Denied. I believe I was freezing due to the apps trying to locate the wifi and internet and not being able to, and the device did not know how to handle the errors. So I was thinking that I could just edit out the permissions of the actual APK file, yet when I deleted the XML file the app would not launch. I dont mind actually paying for for apps, but when there is no difference in the permissions the free and paid versions require, and editing them fails, I am starting to think that all I have is a rooted calendar. Not to mention some of the apps I have found only come free...with an additional 9 billion permissions that they need...kind of a joke. Since my tablet cannot make phone calls, I too am only worried abotu which apps have access to the wifi...I would be able to control that with Droidwall?

 

[taledus]

Also I wanted to know if there is some way to edit this thing in order to support larger micro sd cards. I know it's a long shot, but mine came with a 16 gig and am getting a 32 gig just to have the maximum available size...but if I can get it to work with a larger size that would be great.

Edit:
...and if there is any way to store the calendar events on the tablet alone, where it will not need to access google calendar, and my stuff is not seen or updated by google calendar?

Edit/Edit:
...and why when I click "Send to SD" to move an installed application on the sd card to free up space on the device is it not actually on the sd card? When I search through the files with the file explorer, the only files on the sd card are the ones I have dropped on there and nothing appears to have been moved there at all...

Sorry, these questions aren't the easiest to locate on google :/

 

[Traveller]

Well, you're confusing the installing of a custom ROM with rooting, because you used Livesuit to flash a custom ROM onto the device. They are two completely different things. In fact, I don't recommend Livesuit at all, mainly because as you found out Coby's hardware inconsistencies cause problems. The other issue with Livesuit that I have heard about is that it can brick the tablet. True or not I don't know, and I don't care either.

The zip file I provided allows you to do the following without requiring Livesuit.

• Root using the mempodroid exploit.
• Create system dumps (root required).
• Install a custom recovery image.
• Install a stock recovery image.

Unfortunately I cannot provide a Livesuit command for you, because I didn't use Livesuit. All I used is found in that zip file. The irony here is that even if you intended on using Livesuit, before you did you were supposed to root the tablet and perform a system dump using the files included in the zip. Instead, you went and flashed a custom ROM without taking the time to read up on the three or four different threads relating to the 9742. Had you done so before attempting to modify your unit, you would have been aware of the biggest "gotcha" involved in having this tablet: Coby does not provide stock ROM images.

Clockworkmod Recovery is far easier to use than Livesuit and far more powerful. With CWM I can make backups of the device on the fly. If I see a theme for ICS ROMs that I want to use, I can flash the zip through CWM. I used CWM as an easy method of installing the Google Apps on my 9742, by downloading one of the prepared package files from goo.im, going into the recovery, selecting the Google Apps zip file, and telling CWM to install it. However, with all these positives there is one that I haven't mentioned: installing custom ROMs. In Clockworkmod Recovery, custom ROMs are packaged as zip files and applied to the ROM via the update.zip utility in CWM. I actually could take my nandroid backup of the stock rom after flashing Google Apps and some added files to improve compatibility with the Play Store, put it on my computer, repack it as a zip file and offer it to anyone who wants it.

None of that is possible with a Livesuit image. It does mean that more work is involved in getting the ROM set up just the way you want it since you have to add the Google Apps, the Play Store compatibility fixes, and a modified framework-res.apk file to the stock ROM to get it fully functional like it should be, but you also don't have to worry about your touchscreen drivers becoming inverted.

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I don't believe you can edit permissions out of a file in the manner you've described without rewriting the entire app. In fact, non-system apps all have a signature in the file. Changing anything in the file requires you to resign the file, which means you in effect have a new app that will not receive any updates.

In any event, the only permissions that I find myself concerned with in apps are related to the Internet and the GPS. The former because some programs do not need to dial home. The latter because some programs don't need to know where I am.

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To answer your other questions...

It may be possible to change the firmware to accept MicroSD cards larger than 32GB, but it more than likely is a hardware limitation that will stop you from doing so. Besides, I have a 32GB card in mine and still have 14GB free. The only reason I don't have more is that I actually transferred 8GB of music onto the card for use with the media player.

If you don't want the calendar to be synchronized with Google's servers, you need to go into Settings>Accounts & Sync and select your Google account. Under Data & Synchronization, uncheck "Sync Calendar".

ICS by default has two memory spaces for storage. While the actual names may vary, on the 9742 they are mnt\sdcard and mnt\extsd. When you move an app in ICS it actually is moved to mnt\sdcard. mnt\extsd is not touched by apps2sd operations anymore.

 

[taledus]

OMG, thank you for the detailed response!

You are right, I am confusing rooting and custom ROM. Before I started thought I knew that I potentially had one of the units that would mess up but the instructions were there and I did download all of the stock and custom rom files before I started...I just did not know that to root my device I didn't need to do that. When I ran into the inverted screen and tried to go back from the "backup" that I had downloaded I still had the same issue of the inversion...that is when I ran into other posts about the same thing upon trying to re-install the stock file. I thought I had read every post on every thread pertaining to rooting the 9742 on here. I still cannot find anyting on how to root the 9742, and the custom rom thread was the only one that appeared to "root" the device.

And I wasn't asking on how to use LiveSuite, I was asking for the command or whatever to do the system dumps because it does not seem I am understanding exactly what needs to be done so I am not getting myself into the mess of going the wrong way about anything else. I have not seen the instructions for this on the forum, only how to get the system.tgz file. I don't even see the Coby Kyros anything at http://www.clockworkmod.com/rommanager

At any rate, I have been reading much more about rooting devices in general (something I should have done in the first place) but I still would have probably gone through with rooting just so I could cease my wife's nagging about google play.

 

[Traveller]

All the commands you need to make a proper system dump are in the batch file root-restore.bat, which is in the zip file that is linked in my first post. Open up the batch file in a text editor and see for yourself. Of course, actually running the batch file will do the job without having to type in the commands.

Clockworkmod Recovery for the 9742 is an unofficial version Vampirefo compiled from source, so it's no wonder you wouldn't find it on the CWM site. That also renders ROM Manager useless since that app expects the recovery to be in that list on the site.

 

[taledus]

Is there any way to get a link to the custom CWR? Or atleast which thread it is lost on...

Not trying to be mean, but as I have been saying the info is fairly scattered, and easy for noobs like me to get lost and confused with the differences between rooting and a custom ROM...you should put together a detailed sticky of the proper proceedure, and maybe paste some of the info from this thread explaining the differences and methods.

Thanks again for being so helpful.

 

[Traveller]

The Clockworkmod Recovery image is in the zip. It needs to be included in order for that portion of the batch file to work.

 

[Folken]

Since the MID7035-4 has been rooted I have been trying to dump the system for recovery, but it appears the nanda, nandc, and nandg are not in /dev/block. I have attached a screenshot of what appears in /dev/block as to potentially get any hints as to what needs to be backed up to make boot.img, bootloader.img, and recovery.img. A

find / -name "nand*" -print

as root did not show anything either. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[vampirefo.]

Just use the mount command to see where your /data /cache /system are mounted from that you should be able to determine the rest.

Since the MID7035-4 has been rooted I have been trying to dump the system for recovery, but it appears the nanda, nandc, and nandg are not in /dev/block. I have attached a screenshot of what appears in /dev/block as to potentially get any hints as to what needs to be backed up to make boot.img, bootloader.img, and recovery.img. A

find / -name "nand*" -print

as root did not show anything either. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

View attachment 7580

 

[Folken]

The list from mount looks like

uid=2000 gid=2000 groups=1003,1004,1007,1009,1011,1015,3001,3002,3003,3006@android:/ # mount
mount
rootfs on / type rootfs (ro,relatime)
tmpfs on /dev type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,relatime,mode=755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,relatime,mode=600)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,relatime)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,relatime)
tmpfs on /mnt/asec type tmpfs (rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000)
tmpfs on /mnt/obb type tmpfs (rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000)
ubi0_0 on /system type ubifs (rw,relatime,no_chk_data_crc,compr=none)
ubi1_0 on /data type ubifs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,bulk_read,no_chk_data_crc,compr=none)
ubi2_0 on /cache type ubifs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,bulk_read,no_chk_data_crc,compr=none)
ubi3_0 on /nfdisk type ubifs (rw,noatime,bulk_read,no_chk_data_crc,compr=none)
/dev/block/vold/7:0 on /mnt/sdcard type vfat (rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0002,dmask=0002,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro)
uid=2000 gid=2000 groups=1003,1004,1007,1009,1011,1015,3001,3002,3003,3006@android:/ # cd /dev/block/ubi0_0
cd /dev/block/ubi0_0
sh: cd: /dev/block/ubi0_0 - No such file or directory
1|uid=2000 gid=2000 groups=1003,1004,1007,1009,1011,1015,3001,3002,3003,3006@android:

I found a list that said
nanda = bootloader
nandc = BOOT\Kernel
nandg = recovery

so from the mount point list is
/data the equivalent nanda
/system the equivalent of nandc
/cache the equivalent of nandg

Thanks for any information.

 

[vampirefo.]

post output of

cat /proc/partitions

I see you are using UBI File-System, I don't think anyone will touch that filesystem, with a 10 foot pole.

 

[Folken]

The output is below. The device came with the UBI filesystem as far as I know. What are the issues with that filesystem compared to others? Thanks for your help with this, I am still trying to get educated on things.


major minor #blocks name


7 0 1135616 loop0
31 0 10240 mtdblock0
31 1 11264 mtdblock1
31 2 120832 mtdblock2
31 3 45056 mtdblock3
31 4 393216 mtdblock4
31 5 1703936 mtdblock5
31 6 524288 mtdblock6
31 7 1384448 mtdblock7

 

[vampirefo.]

Now try this command

cat /proc/mtd

This above command should tell you what you want to know.

The output is below. The device came with the UBI filesystem as far as I know. What are the issues with that filesystem compared to others? Thanks for your help with this, I am still trying to get educated on things.


major minor #blocks name


7 0 1135616 loop0
31 0 10240 mtdblock0
31 1 11264 mtdblock1
31 2 120832 mtdblock2
31 3 45056 mtdblock3
31 4 393216 mtdblock4
31 5 1703936 mtdblock5
31 6 524288 mtdblock6
31 7 1384448 mtdblock7