README.md

cluk33/android-multiuser-backup

a set of shell scripts to backup and restore apps and data for multiuser android devices

Motivation

I spend hours to find a way to copy all data from all useraccounts from my old tablet to the new one. Neither adb backup, nor Titanium Backup or oandbackup worked correctly.

Titanium need supersu for every user and does not backup data for users which are not the device owner (userid!=0).

Oandbackup also needs supersu. It backs up data from /data/user but after running a restore the restored apps crash because of permission problems in /data/user. The directory and file ownership and permissions in /data/user are restored correctly but the selinux context information is missing which makes the files inaccessible by the app process. You can see a lot of 'permission denied' errors in the logcat.

Prerequisites

The shell scripts in this repo require

• a rooted device,
• a working adb connection and
• su working in the adb shell.

Backup

After cloning the repo you could simply run:

  adb-backup.sh <uid> <pkg1> [<pkg2> <pkg3> ..]

eg:

  adb-backup.sh 12 org.mozilla.firefox com.foo.bar

backup all user and/or all apps

Both parameters uid / pkg allow for the special token 'all'. This will either backup the data for all users or for all apps (from one user). eg backup all user's firefox data:

  adb-backup.sh all org.mozilla.firefox

eg backup all apps from all users:

  adb-backup.sh all all

Restore

  adb-restore.sh <uid> <pkg1> [<pkg2> <pkg3> ..]

eg:

  adb-restore.sh 12 org.mozilla.firefox com.foo.bar

restore all users and/or all apps

Both parameters uid / pkg allow for the special token 'all'. This will either restore the data for all users or for all apps (from one user). If you try to restore 'all' apps the data from all apps which have been backed up before is restored. eg restore all user's firefox data:

  adb-restore.sh all org.mozilla.firefox

eg restore all apps from all users:

  adb-restore.sh all all