[Cory Gillmore]

I haven't heard very good things about Aptbackup. Just discovered PkgBackup today and bought it. Haven't had to do a restore yet so I haven't seen the app in action. Has anybody had a chance to do a restore with either one? And if so, thoughts?

[elr0y7]

I have only done a restore with AptBackup but I now have PKGBackup and it seems that it would be much more reliable. AptBackup simply saves your list of backed-up files in a part of the iPhone's directory that isn't erased, and when restored it reads this list and installs the apps from their repositories (or something like that, not sure of the exact method). My problem with AptBackup is that once it reads the list of apps you can't restore them again if something went wrong, you must manually go into the phone and change that file to trick AptBackup into thinking it didn't already restore, then replace the file again to restore. It also doesn't seem to restore the repositories you entered before restoring. PKGBackup on the other hand saves that list in the notes field of a contact, which is always transferred between restores as long as you backup through iTunes. You can also save this contact as a Facebook contact to share it or save it. Seeing that I haven't yet restored with PKGBackup yet I'm not sure if it allows you to restore the same list multiple times but it seems like it would as long as you save the contact. Apparently PKGBackup also saves your manually-entered repositories as well. The only problem I've seen yet with PKGBackup so far is that you can't modify the contact from the mobilephone app because it crashes when trying to read the notes field, but that is a minor problem seeing that you can always modify it from the app itself.

[Cory Gillmore]

Good stuff. So since Pkgbackup's data is saved with your contacts, you could set up as a new iPhone instead of restoring from backup right? And the App store app backup client "Appbackup" doesn't require you to restore from an iTunes backup either does it? If not, then that's great! I've just always heard that restoring from iTunes backups isn't the best way to restore as it carries over corrupted data. So it seems with Pkgbackup and Appbackup you can restore a jailbroken iPhone and set it up as a new phone headache free. Right?

[StealthBravo]

I just installed Pkgbackup today. I haven't had to use it yet but it looks promising

[Cory Gillmore]

@Stealth Is Pkgbackup pretty new? I hadn't noticed it till today although that doesn't mean much as I've only been jailbroken for 2 weeks.

[StealthBravo]

I dunno either. I just noticed it a couple weeks ago

[bhz1]

You can use AptBackup and restore as new but you have to manually transfer the file with the list of apps to your desktop first then manually transfer it back to the iPhone after restore then run acommand in terminal. It works but not perfectly. I had to fix a bunch of apps to get them to run.
AppBackup still requires manually backing up the library folder where the info is kept for transfer back to the iPhone. This is what I currently use along with Chronus which does the same for Cydia apps and stock apps like Weather, SMS, etc...
If PkgBackup does this via iTunes resync, that would be awesome. I'm expecting delivery of my new 3GS tomorrow and this would be a big time saver.

[Cory Gillmore]

Yeah bhzl, that's why I'm pretty excited about this Pkgbackup. Cause appearently it syncs in with you contacts and doesn't require an iTunes backup. This would cut a lot of processes out of your backup/restore method. I downloaded chronus but it only had one of my jailbroken apps listed. MXtube. So I'm not so sure about it. But if Pkgbackup works as advertised who needs it, right?

I sent the Pkgbackup dev an email asking for the exact steps on how to use his app for a restore and this is what he sent me

Here are the steps:
1. Restore firmware 3.0 to ur device
2. Jailbreak your device.
3. Sync with iTunes.
4. Install PkgBackup
5. Hit 'Restore' & voilà!!!

Oh wait, so Appbackup doesn't backup native iPhone apps like stocks and weather and clock and stuff. So I still need to use Chronus for if nothing else except the native iPhone apps?

[bhz1]

[

Oh wait, so Appbackup doesn't backup native iPhone apps like stocks and weather and clock and stuff. So I still need to use Chronus for if nothing else except the native iPhone apps?[/QUOTE]

Correct. You also will need AppBackup to restore all the data for your App Store apps.

[Cory Gillmore]

Ok so
1. Pkgbackup: All cydia packages
2. Appbackup: All App Store apps
3. Chronus: All stock iPhone app like weather, stocks, calender, clock.
So with these three app you could easily backup and restore an iPhone while setting the phone up as "new" pretty easliy. With these three app you would only have to SSH a few files that these apps don't backup. Like MXtubes VideoLibrary.plist file. And I think a few others. I hope you decide to write a new and updated backup/restore how to guide when you get your 3GS. Hint hint.

[bhz1]

Originally Posted by Cory Gillmore

Ok so
1. Pkgbackup: All cydia packages
2. Appbackup: All App Store apps
3. Chronus: All stock iPhone app like weather, stocks, calender, clock.
So with these three app you could easily backup and restore an iPhone while setting the phone up as "new" pretty easliy. With these three app you would only have to SSH a few files that these apps don't backup. Like MXtubes VideoLibrary.plist file. And I think a few others. I hope you decide to write a new and updated backup/restore how to guide when you get your 3GS. Hint hint.

I will update my guide for sure.

Remember you do have to SSH the backups for AppBackup and Chronus to save them. Also I'm not positive if PkgBackup only reinstalls the Cydia packages alone or backs up the saved data as well. Will find out.

[kwickone]

Originally Posted by Cory Gillmore

Ok so
1. Pkgbackup: All cydia packages
2. Appbackup: All App Store apps
3. Chronus: All stock iPhone app like weather, stocks, calender, clock.
So with these three app you could easily backup and restore an iPhone while setting the phone up as "new" pretty easliy. With these three app you would only have to SSH a few files that these apps don't backup. Like MXtubes VideoLibrary.plist file. And I think a few others. I hope you decide to write a new and updated backup/restore how to guide when you get your 3GS. Hint hint.

Then....you do the hokie pokie and you turn yourself around!

Wow, I would pay good money for a solid, does all apps from all sources, backup tool! Using 3 tools, + SSH'ing other files. Not for me.

EDIT: what would be really cool is leveraging some internet space to backup to. Something like SugarSync...but backs up iPhone to Internet location. That way you would not need to worry about SSH'ing to computer.

[Cory Gillmore]

Kwikone, I was thinking the exact same thing. I would pay $10-20 for a backup/restore desktop client for jailbroken iPhones.

[yohu123]

hi, this thread is the best place to know how to backup/restore all apps (appstore and cydia) alongwith saves and prefs, without using the internet to download any apps.
firstly, does pkgbackup backup the actual cydia apps or just the list of the apps (like aptbackup).
secondly, where r the backups of pkgbackup located on the iphone coz i dont want to do an itunes backup restore and want to ssh the pkgbackup directly from the pc to the iphone (like in aptbackup).
thirdly, can these cydia app backups be "exported" across iphone gens?
for eg., can i export the cydia app backups from my 2g/3.0 to 3gs/3.0?
thanx, in advance.

[Cory Gillmore]

Sup yohu. Glad you find the thread useful. Pkgbackup's list is stored with your contacts. So you thankfully don't have to restore from an iTunes backup or implement ssh to get it to work.
It does NOT backup apps states/settings. Just makes a list like Aptbackup but works ALOT better than Aptbackup.
And yes it does work when going from different generations of iPhones. Although in my experience it won't create a list specific to each device. I tried using it on my 3G and my 3GS and it just overwrote the list of my 3G with the 3GS list. When you run the program for the first time it creates a contact on your device and in the notes field of the contact it saves a list of every single package/repo you have installed. Then you just sync with iTunes.
Combine Pkgbackup with Chronus and Appbackup for your jailbroken iPhone backup/restore solution. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the process.