Hello!
I plan to cross the border, and perhaps they will ask me to show my phone. I want to make a complete backup of my device so that I can cross the border without any problems.

Making a manual backup of each application and then restoring it will take almost a day of work to copy and restore. This takes an extremely long time to do.

Also, my WhatsApp is on a virtual disposable number (15 accounts) and it will be impossible to restore it.

SeedVault does not allow to restore backups, it gives errors. As I understand it, it is currently impossible to create and restore backups in SeedVault.

I also have more than 18 profiles on my phone, so even through SeedVault it would take an extremely long time to create a copy, verify it, and then restore it.

Is it possible to install TWRP on Pixel 6A?
Previously, on a different OS, I booted into TWRP without any problems, created sector-to-sector (dd) a backup copy, and then restored it.
Is it possible to do this here?

Please do not notify me that it is unsafe. I understand this, but I see absolutely no other way to make a full backup of the phone in encrypted form, and then restore it without losing any data.

Thank you.

    kirillan10 TWRP is a custom recovery, has nothing to do with the OS. Please read their website and you can see that it does not yet support have a build now for the Pixel 6 series, including the 6a.

    Are you saying that you had it working on your 6a before? Where did you get the images and what version of Android were you on? You might need to port it to your device if this is a new device for you, not east to do....

    I plan on trying to port TWRP to my Pixel 8 pro sometime, it's in my list of things to do, even through it doesn't support decryption on the 8 Pro, and it would be a hard thing to do... I also don't understand why it would be unsafe.

      Tryptamine

      Are you saying that you had it working on your 6a before?

      Not on Google Pixel. It was Nokia phone and TWRP worked well on this device to make DD backups.

      Do you know how to make full disk backup without SeedVault? Because SeedVault cannot restore backups at all.

      Or...I need to reset it at all to cross the border and then restore it at least 1 week of work... because I have 2 years content on my phone

        kirillan10

        I have actually had great success with Seedvault on both my previous Pixel 7 Pro and my current Pixel 8 Pro.

        That include storage backups that totalled over 130GB! Lately it has had some issued taking D2D backups, which it has just recently implimentd. It's a switch in "expert settings" if you click on the three dots in the upper right hand corner after going to the Backup screen in System in Settings. There is also an "Ignore App Quota" toggle I recommend toggling on. For me I was unable to take a backup of F-Droid because it was on since it's app data was almost a GB. Now I have multiple apps that are that large, and it backs up some of them (like Google Photos) but others it doesn't (Termux). D2D backups are very new and are marked as an ecperimental feature, so that is fair enough I guess!

        I have done root backups a lot in the past 6 months. Only after talking with @GrapheneOS has he opened my eyes and convinced me that even how I was doing my root, with a locked bootloader and full verified boot working (totally not how all other root solutions work!) it is still a massive security risk, and I've moved away from rooting persistently. Now I sideload a temoprairy root onto my phone, since I switched to building 2 kernels for each GrapheneOS update, one with root integrated into the kernel (not Magisk) and one with a standard shusky kernel, and whenI need to update backups or restore, or block trackers in apps I sideload the root OTA update, do my tasks, and then sideload the other OTA to remove root, all without data loss.

        The current backup and restore of Seedault is indistiguishable in function to a good root-based backup solution, except it is a but unstable. You may need to run it a few times in D2D backup mode if it says "backup failed." It will finish, and if you have trouble making it finish, exclude some apps! You should exclude apps that won't restore properly anyways, that would be apps that make use of Android's keystore. They will likely crash upon opening after being restored by Seedvault, or any root backup solution that restores the data to them on the /data/data/ partition. Seedvault is just as effective, or shows the same lack as other well regarded backup apps, and I really like using it!

        Oh yeah, you need to look at your notification shade to se the progress and the status of the running backup. It will also usually say backup finished or backup failed there. If it was running and then it is gone, then look at the backup status which is just clicking on backup status under Backup in System in Settings. If Contacts were not backed up, and their are still a lot of apps that show "waiting for backup" it likely failed. Run it again. If Seedvault was running and then it says it crashed, then the backup running notification will just stay there forever, until you restart the phone.

        If you do and it crashes again, you need to just re-initialize the backup USB or external drive. It says older backups will be deleted, but they never have been in my experience. It will just start a new backup line, by that I mean it wont's append to the last backup, it will start a new backup (when you go to restore it will be a separate backup you can restore from). I use a SanDisk external USB drive, the faster and higher quality the USB stick or drive, the better it works with Seedvault! A Samsung BAR USB drive works great, so do the SanDisk series of USB C drives. The Rage Lite series of USB drives aren't that great, but the more expensive Rage series are a bit better, not as good as the Samsung BAR drives though. I ordered a few of those because they work very well, and it's worth it to initialize a few of them at times, then re-initialize your main backup volume to continue the updates. That way you have multiple Seedvault backups in case something happens to one of them!

        In my guide for new users of GraphneneOS there is a section on Backup and Restore that probably is worth a read. It has large headings so you can find it easily! I would recommend the app App Manager from GitHub to backup just the APKs of the apps that you exclude because they won't restore correctly because of Android Keystore. (Proton apps, financial apps) Then after reset you can restore form Seedvault in the setup wizard, get back all your system settings, contacts, SMS and call logs.

        Be aware, contacts are *only saves if they are "device contacts, not Google contacts! To check, open the Contacts app the comes with GrapheneOS and on the right hand side you should see Device and Google. If they are Google contacts, just export all of them, and then import the same file as device contacts. From then off they will be backup up and restored by Seedvault as device contacts!

        Oh yeah, two more things... Test out your restore on an empty profile after you made the backup. Once you see a bunch of apps restore correctly you can probably shut your phone down by holding power for >30 seconds, and you know that there isn't data corruption. I got it once and never after that time, might have just been lucky, or it's not that common, who knows. I've had good luck with Seedvault and I like it. I think you just need to have patience and it is a good app! Last thing, when you look at the backups to restore, it only looks like "backup from (your phone) (made X hours/days ago)" Might be hard to distinguish different profiles if you need to back up many. If you are interested in building your own build of GrapheneOS and you are technically inclined, I can give you my contact data and I can teach you how to also do what I do and you can get temporary root and that might help you even more. (Seedvault on primary profile, App Manager + Swift Backup with root on other profiles) Hell, I could maybe even build it for you, that might be possible, I do have the build environment all set up! I do prefer to teach people to catch their own fish instead of giving them something though, as the old saying goes, so lets talk about it possibly. I'm willing to help out though.

        Hope this helps, if I missed anything please ask!

        de0u It might not match your needs, but what about getting a second phone just for travel?

        Unfortunately, not possible. I will move not for travel but for next years.

          kirillan10

          Seedvault is as a backup solution right now, similar to a root tool. you need to monitor it and learn how to use it. It is not like a tool made by Google, built into the OS and "Just Works" every time, the first time, all the time! You need to actually be patient with it and learn.

          The root apps that everyone spends so much time and effort modifying their phones and even operating systems for, and I'd say that the biggest reason they do it is for good, reliable ways to back up that which cannot usually be backed up! Root backup solutions, just like Seedvault now, when you turn D2D - Device to Device backups ON. However, with those apps too, you will end up backing up certain apps that you really wanted the backup to work for, but it didn't and the app just crashed when you open it, because it uses the Android Keystore, which cannot be backed up, not now, and likely not with any future backup solution as well!

          All of these tools have special access, the root ones with , well, root access, and Seedvault as a system app that was built into the OS. At one time an update broke it, but that was fixed quickly.

          I think the whole thing about people always bashing Seedvault and not being willing to say that it works is they aren't willing to put any time into learning how it works, learning tricks to use it, (just like any other effectively root backup solution, which is the only way to backup certain apps!) or learning what it can and cannot do, and having a serious lack of tolerance when it fails once or twice. They just see that and the think "what a piece of junk!" and that's it. They won't put the time into learning how to use it properly...

          Most people are conditioned to everything in the stock OS just working perfectly, and in GrapheneOS too, everything, every new feature just works perfectly! The GOS team care about putting out a quality product, and they do a great job at it! So when people interact with Seedvault they are put off. I think because I am always willing to tweak things, and I am so used to making things work for me and I love figuring out how things work that I found how to use Seedvault effectively... But I have been hacking and tweaking software and hardware since I was a kid in the 90's, so I'm used to working with things that don't work at first, and finding a way to make them "acceptable."

          I try and pass on how to do this to others often. I've written out that whole speal above so many times, and people are often not even willing to give Seedvault a try.

          It is not for the faint of heart, I guess... On the other hand, I don't understand at all how most people seem to turn away from something that really is quite awesome when it works, and talk down about it when that is really not necisairy!

          5 months later

          Rather delayed response...

          I found this post searching for information regarding TWRP for another initiative.

          I have had nothing but stellar results using Seedvault. Has never let me down. Whether I am doing recovery or migration, it just works.