[bhz1]

One of the most sure-fire ways to fix a myriad of problems with an Iphone is to restore the firmware in iTunes. One of the most dreadded tasks apparently is the need to restore a modded and jailbroken iPhone. I have come up with a process that is realitvely simple and painless. Many people want to restore from backup- but this generally only causes problems in the long run from carrying forward corrupted data so always restore as "new".

This process assumes a jailbroken, modded iPhone with both Cydia and AppStore apps installed, 2G or 3G on 2.x firmware.

1. If you do not already have installed, install AppBackup and Chronus from Cydia. Note on these apps, if you installed apps after installing Chronus, you may want to reinstall so that the new apps show up in the list.

2. Use those apps to backup whatever apps you want data saved for.

3. Using SSH (WinSCP, for XP/Vista or Fugu or Cyberduck on OS X) copy the following to your computer:
a. /var/Stash/Themes<random characters>
b. /var/mobile/Library/Preferences/TimeCapsule
c. /var/mobile/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mobilephone.speeddial.plist (if you have favorites saved in your phone app)
d. /var/mobile/Library/AppBackup
e. /var/mobile/Library/YouTube (if you have bookmarks saved- Chronus does not copy the VideoCache)
f. /var/mobile/Library/MxTube (if you have that app and have downloaded videos saved- Chronus does not save the VideoLibrary.plist).

Note: If you have a Mac, you can simply SSH the Themes folder , skip steps b-f and then SSH the entire var/mobile/Library folder to your desktop.

4. Sync iPhone in iTunes.

5. Restore firmware in itunes - restore iPhone as NEW.

6. After new firmware is installed and phone is activated, uncheck the box that says automatically sync iPhone when connected

7. Jailbreak with your preferred jailbreak method.

8. Open Cydia, do all the upgrades

9. Install Open SSH from Cydia (always good to have when installing apps in case something goes wrong)

10. Reboot phone

11. Resync iPhone, This next part is crucial, If you sync contact, email, bookmarks and calendars before you click sync, make sure you scroll down to the bottom of the Info screen and check off the box that says replace info on iPhone this sync only" (not exact wording) I believe many people lose their info this way, since the iphone at this point is blank, if you do not do this step your sync will erase your data on the computer.

12. Once all your apps both Cydia and AppStore ones are installed, install Chronus and AppBackup from Cydia.
Note: If you theme with Winterboard, or use Categories folders, you may install those apps but do not do anything with them yet

13. SSH all the files and folders you previously saved to your computer back to their appropriate locations on your iPhone.

14. Open up Chronos and select the apps you want data restored from.

15. Open up AppBackup and restore app data for your selected apps.

16. Now you may apply your Winterboard theme and create your Categories folders.

17. Reboot iPhone for good measure.

Enjoy.

This entire process takes no more than about an hour and I have about 60 apps installed. Most of that hour is spent restoring the firmware and resyncing. reinstalling Cydia apps is not a terrible process. I usually just scroll through the list of apps and methodically install as i come up on an app i use.

[one1]

Good stuff, very similar to my SSH restore method. How to have a blazing fast jailbroken phone

I just grab the entire library all at once.

[cricketlang]

ill be saving this post to my favorites. as i will soon be needed to do this again and have been using the SSH method.

[bhz1]

Originally Posted by one1

Good stuff, very similar to my SSH restore method. How to have a blazing fast jailbroken phone

I just grab the entire library all at once.

I remember when you posted that method. For some reason i was never able to copy the entire library. I have forgotten the exact files, but it would not allow copying of certain files within the Library folder and end the copy. Also took f o r e v e r. Maybe it was my old XP laptop. Havent tried to copy the entire Library on the Macbook yet.

[Alperovich]

see the problem with the daunting task isn't the back up of your files, for me atleast, nor keeping my theme (all that's backed up already as part of my normal back up process) its getting all my things like caterogies set up again how i have it and other things that take days to set just right. all those apps from cydia to reinstall and stuff. that's the REAL problem with restoring the phone for me.

idk about u guys with XP but my on macbook i had no trouble coping the WHOLE libary folder and its VERY quick, but so is the back up process in itunes on my macbook too. takes like 5min if that, unlike almost 2hrs on my XP machine, but maybe that has been solved with 2.1 and 8.0.1

[bhz1]

My curiosity aroused, I decided to try copying the Library folder from the iPhone to my Macbook.

YES!!! It is much faster to copy on OS X than on Windows. Not only was it slower on Windows, it would crash with error messages about not being able to copy certain files. In retrospect, perhaps there are some OS X files that are not readable in Windows? In very new to the Mac platform (other than iPhones) so I'm learning as well.

[gatorboy]

Nice tutorial. Using it to upgrade to 2.2

[dunlapface]

Depending on what I decide to do, this is a really good reference on how to restore after jailbroken. Hmmm ...

What to do ...

[bhz1]

Just about done my re-modding after upgrade. SO far so good. What took the longest was downloading the BigBoss repo apps since that server is apparently overwhelmed today.

[CaptainChaos]

Originally Posted by bhz1

My curiosity aroused, I decided to try copying the Library folder from the iPhone to my Macbook.

YES!!! It is much faster to copy on OS X than on Windows. Not only was it slower on Windows, it would crash with error messages about not being able to copy certain files. In retrospect, perhaps there are some OS X files that are not readable in Windows? In very new to the Mac platform (other than iPhones) so I'm learning as well.

I have the same issue...when it gets to /private/var/mobile/Library/Logs/CrashReporter it will not copy any of the files as it says they are empty when they are not empty.

[one1]

Originally Posted by bhz1

I remember when you posted that method. For some reason i was never able to copy the entire library. I have forgotten the exact files, but it would not allow copying of certain files within the Library folder and end the copy. Also took f o r e v e r. Maybe it was my old XP laptop. Havent tried to copy the entire Library on the Macbook yet.

the non transferable files are locked system files which are irrelevant because you can neither remove them nor write over them when reinstalling. just drop and go.

[bhz1]

Originally Posted by one1

the non transferable files are locked system files which are irrelevant because you can neither remove them nor write over them when reinstalling. just drop and go.

On the mac it works fine to do that. Everything is there, but on the XP laptop it stops the file transfer.

[macperry]

Thank you for the excellent tutorial! Is there ANY way to keep all the apps in their respective Categories folders when I do a restore? That is probably the most time consuming part of setting up a restore for me. Also, maybe someone knows of a better app to use instead of Categories to keep all my apps (62) categorized?

[bhz1]

Originally Posted by macperry

Thank you for the excellent tutorial! Is there ANY way to keep all the apps in their respective Categories folders when I do a restore? That is probably the most time consuming part of setting up a restore for me. Also, maybe someone knows of a better app to use instead of Categories to keep all my apps (62) categorized?

Basically Categories is the best app for this so far. I'm not sure about avoiding the need to reinstall apps into folders. I have about 60 apps and it doesnt take too long to set up for me.

[bharath_yp]

dude is there any way for me to go back to the original set as mine i s jailbroken on the first day i bought the phone and people told me that now suport and warranty is void please help with this is there any way make it the original packaging set?