How to update properly e on Fairphone 2 fp2?

/e/OS Devices Fairphone
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Hi everybody,
I’ve been testing e on a FP2 for about two weeks now and so far its been a pleasure. Congrats for all the work!

I’ve seen today there’s a new update available in settings. I’m tempted to do it but is there a way to backup my system first in case a problem happens?

I couldn’t find a guide which explain step by step how to do that. Ideally there shouldn’t be a need for such guide and I should be prompted with an opportunity to easily backup my device IMHO.

Thanks and have a good day!

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Yes! With the already installed TWRP Recovery we can make a device-dependent backup (Nandroid-Backup) and pull this data over to the PC or store it on an external mircroSD card.

An example manual → How to Back Up and Restore Your Android Phone with TWRP

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The manual is good! But I think it doesn’t mention that /data/media (e.g. your photos, music,…) is not part of that TWRP backup. You should be aware.

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I’m aware of that! It would have been better if I had added this additional information:

Creating a backup of the user data partition will NOT include /data/media (your internal storage)! That means if you save photos or data on the internal storage (e.g. some apps will save data there as well) those will be NOT included in a TWRP backup! There are many people thinking that this is the case but due to a decision taken by the dev team this is the current way of how it works.
© TeamWin - TWRP What is EXCLUDED from a TWRP backup?

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Hi there,
thanks for your help. So I just did backup with TWRP following your recommendation :

  • booted device by pushing volume up + power button during a few seconds
  • twrp launched and then chose backup on local
  • then rebooted device
  • I went into files, looked for the backup folder and copied it to my nextcloud just to be sure

About media folder which is not taken in account in that back from what you said, I don’t see any “media” folder when I look into the files explorer. Though I see “music” “documents” “downloads” “movies”… are we talking about these ?

Normally, I set instant upload on Nextcloud app so all my pictures and videos are automatically backed up on my cloud.

  • Is there something else I should backup manually?

  • Once backup is fully done, can I update OS just by going into Settings > About phone > System updates > and click on “Download” on the latest version? Will TWRP stay on the ROM or will I loose stuff following that way?

Thanks for your help,

PS maybe you can help @Manoj?

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In explorer you’re probably already within that folder. Actually it’s /data/media/0 if you have just one user on your phone. And yes, there you’ll find the directories you’ve mentioned.

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I see…

  • Do you have a trick to backup that?
  • Once it’s backed up, can I update it through the settings as I said in my previous message?
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The “trick” is:

  • connect your device via USB data cable to a PC
  • unlock device
  • slide down notifications und select the notification which appeared when you connected usb
    -select data transfer
  • you should find two directories for your device: one for internal data, one for SD card (if there’s one in your device)
  • copy the whole directory for internal data to your PC

Yes, you can update then as you said. If all works fine your TWRP and your internal data stay untouched (only “system” is updated). So you normally won’t need your backup.