Backing up a jailbroken phone

[cwubbels]

I am just wondering if anyone has backed up their jailbroken phone via drag and drop from SSH.

I plan on restoring my phone soon but would like to re-jailbreak my phone in the future, so I am curious if a drag and drop from the root level via SSH onto my computer would suffice in the future when I decide to re-jailbreak. I happy with the programs, appearance, settings etc. of my current jailbreak and would like the same setup in the future when I decide to jailbreak again but (as you may know) it is a tedious task to get everything the way you want it.

If anyone has an answer or experience with this it is appreciated!

Thanks,
cwubbels

 

[OhioLefty]

I am just wondering if anyone has backed up their jailbroken phone via drag and drop from SSH.

I plan on restoring my phone soon but would like to re-jailbreak my phone in the future, so I am curious if a drag and drop from the root level via SSH onto my computer would suffice in the future when I decide to re-jailbreak. I happy with the programs, appearance, settings etc. of my current jailbreak and would like the same setup in the future when I decide to jailbreak again but (as you may know) it is a tedious task to get everything the way you want it.

If anyone has an answer or experience with this it is appreciated!

Thanks,
cwubbels

Good question. I'm curious if a backup could be done this way also.

 

[LSUtigers03]

aptbackup or pkgbackup will backup what you downloaded from cydia

 

[justinwebb]

aptbackup or pkgbackup will backup what you downloaded from cydia

It won't back up the data in the apps though it just backs up the apps themselves . It's easy to install the apps it takes all of 3 seconds but the data is what I want to backup which no program can seem to accomplish

 

[LSUtigers03]

What cydia apps do you have that you need data backed up for?

 

[scirica]

It won't back up the data in the apps though it just backs up the apps themselves . It's easy to install the apps it takes all of 3 seconds but the data is what I want to backup which no program can seem to accomplish

If the developer coded the apps correctly, the data should be backed up and can be restored from backup. This varies from app to app. Good question above though, what jb apps have data that you want to restore?

 

[cwubbels]

I guess the fundamental question is: If I drag the all the files from the root level onto my computer, then when I jailbreak it in the future and drag the files back onto the root level and thus overwriting the files, will it bring the phone back to the way it was previously?

In theory it sounds like it should work. But I don't know.

Thanks.

 

[Night Spring]

I guess the fundamental question is: If I drag the all the files from the root level onto my computer, then when I jailbreak it in the future and drag the files back onto the root level and thus overwriting the files, will it bring the phone back to the way it was previously?

In theory it sounds like it should work. But I don't know.

Thanks.

If that worked, and that's a big if, wouldn't your phone be back in the exact state it was before you restored? In which case, why bother restoring at all?

 

[cwubbels]

If that worked, and that's a big if, wouldn't your phone be back in the exact state it was before you restored? In which case, why bother restoring at all?

That's a good question. I have information on my phone and it will potentially be replaced due to a hardware defect via the Apple store. Besides the obvious jailbreak issue I don't want my information in anyones hands, including an Apple store's employee. So if I do get a replacement device (or even of I don't) I want it back to the current state it was in without having to download the apps, reapply the same settings, edit files etc. the list goes on.

 

[Night Spring]

That's a good question. I have information on my phone and it will potentially be replaced due to a hardware defect via the Apple store. Besides the obvious jailbreak issue I don't want my information in anyones hands, including an Apple store's employee. So if I do get a replacement device (or even of I don't) I want it back to the current state it was in without having to download the apps, reapply the same settings, edit files etc. the list goes on.

Well, most of that will be taken care of by backing up the iPhone in iTunes before you wipe it. And for the jailbreak apps, you use pkgbackup or aptbackup to back them up. Then, when you get the replacement from Apple, you just restore from the iTunes backup, rejailbreak, install pkgbackup/aptbackup, and restore your jailbreak apps. You may have to reconfigure or reenter the settings into a few of your jailbreak apps, but overall, it shouldn't take that long.

 

[cwubbels]

Thanks for all the replies.

I am second guessing this option anyhow. Overwriting critical files may not be the best choice while the phone is on. I'll give the programs a couple of you have mentioned to do a backup before the restore.

Thanks again.

 

[bytethese]

Thanks for all the replies.

I am second guessing this option anyhow. Overwriting critical files may not be the best choice while the phone is on. I'll give the programs a couple of you have mentioned to do a backup before the restore.

Thanks again.

If you still wanted to try this, you could install SSH first, then unmount /private/var and them remount as read-only via a terminal.

umount -f /private/var
mount -o ro /private/var

 

[cwubbels]

If you still wanted to try this, you could install SSH first, then unmount /private/var and them remount as read-only via a terminal.

umount -f /private/var
mount -o ro /private/var

That's a nifty trick. I may just give that a shot. Thanks for the tip!