Skip to main content

Create a backup image from recovery

Step 1: Enter recovery mode

(see also here)

Step 1.1: Turn your phone completely off and disconnect any USB cables

Step 1.2: Install fastboot drivers on your computer (for instructions see here)

Step 1.3: Force your phone to the fastboot mode

  •  Hold the Volume Up key down and connect a data-connected USB cable (a charging cable would not work)    
  • Ensure that the LED at the top of the display area is lit in BLUE colour (if not, disconnect the cable, release the key and try again)

Step 1.4: Boot into recovery with the recovery image you got when you downloaded SailfishOS.

Attention: This shoul be of the same SailfishOS version as your phone 

Execute the following commands in the same directory as your recovery image (on Linux and macOS with sudo):

For Xperia 10 II and Xperia 10 III: 

fastboot flash boot_a hybris-recovery.img
fastboot flash boot_b hybris-recovery.img
fastboot reboot

For Xperia X, Xperia XA2 or Xperia 10 :

fastboot boot hybris-recovery.img

Step 1.5: Connect to your device with

telnet 10.42.66.66

Step 1.6: Type in „3“ to open a shell. You will be asked for the security code/password of your phone

Step 2: Mount microSD-card

Mount your microSD card with the following command. Your SD-card needs to have at least 105GB of free space.

mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt

Step 3: Do the backup

Execute:

dd if=/dev/sda79 of=/mnt/backup.img bs=1M

Note: This can take 40+ minutes. During this time, no progress is shown. If you would like to see progress, open a second telnet connection and execute watch -n5 'kill -USR1 $(pgrep ^dd$)', which will show progress (in the original telnet session) every 5 seconds.

Step 4: Unmount the memory card

Once the backup is finished, unmount the microSD-card with:

umoumt /mnt

 Step 5: Exit recovery mode

After unmounting, first, exit the shell environment by typing

exit

 This will bring you back to the recovery menu. Here, now select „6“ (Exit) which will close the telnet session.

Next, disconnect the USB cable from the phone. After that, you need to force power-off your device by pressing the Vol Up key down, keeping it pressed and pressing the Power key, too. When you feel the vibrator play once and soon after three (3) times (this should happen in about 20 seconds), release both keys. In this way, we ensure that the phone is completely turned off before we proceed to the next step.

Step 6: Reverting the phone back to normal (For Xperia 10 II and Xperia 10 III only)

(see also here)

Step 6.1: Force your phone to the fastboot mode

  • Hold the Volume Up key down and connect a data-connected USB cable (a charging cable would not work)    
  • Ensure that the LED at the top of the display area is lit in BLUE colour (if not, disconnect the cable, release the key and try again)

Step 6.2: Reflash the normal boot image

Attention: This shoul be of the same SailfishOS version as your phone 

Execute the following commands in the same directory as your boot image (on Linux and macOS with sudo):

fastboot flash boot_a hybris-boot.img
fastboot flash boot_b hybris-boot.img
fastboot reboot


Back to top