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So, I've been looking around the Web, but haven't found anything conclusive. The closest things I could find were either options after rooting or an XDA post regarding near-full backups via ADB, but nothing regarding ROM/Firmware backup only without root. My question is: "How to back up ROM/Firmware onto a PC from a non-rooted Android device (Galaxy S4 to be exact)?".
Thank you kindly in advance!

Sandy Vujaković
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  • And why would you want to do that when the ROM can be downloaded in full from sammobile , which is accepted as trustworthy. Please explain what is that you want to achieve – beeshyams Jul 26 '17 at 10:29
  • @beeshyams I think he wants to do a backup of his stock ROM without rooting the phone – Nicola Galluccio Jul 26 '17 at 10:53
  • Possible duplicate of this – Nicola Galluccio Jul 26 '17 at 10:54
  • @NicolaGalluccio And what good would such backups be? Without root/recovery, one can't restore it anyway. – Andy Yan Jul 26 '17 at 11:47
  • I want to root my phone via CF-Auto-Root, but the build number/ID for Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-I9505 is LRX22C.I9505XXUHOJ2, while the build number/ID on my phone is LRX22C.I9505XXSPQA1. I was looking around but I get nothing for my baseband (just remove LRX22C. and there's the baseband), so I thought to back up my ROM/Firmware in case of a salvageable brick (my mom's not going to buy me a new phone). Any ideas before root or if that can be used even if the basebands don't match? – Sandy Vujaković Jul 26 '17 at 11:54
  • Dutch version? Here is your firmware (requires SamMobile account!). Download it and keep calm on your backup. – Suncatcher Jul 26 '17 at 12:56
  • @Suncatcher I got this phone from my granny's friend who used and bought it in Sweden (she works in Sweden but comes here for the holidays) and then used it as her Bosnian phone after it fell and the screen got cracked and then gave it to me after she got a Galaxy S6, so I'm not sure if it's Swedish or international, but it seems to be. – Sandy Vujaković Jul 26 '17 at 22:20
  • @AndyYan can't you restore the backups through adb using adb restore name of backup.ab? – Nicola Galluccio Jul 27 '17 at 08:28
  • If it has some problems he can reinstall the original firmware and then use that command – Nicola Galluccio Jul 27 '17 at 08:28
  • @NicolaGalluccio Is that the case? I've never used ADB backup myself, but if one can restore a backup to /system it sounds like a potential loophole to indirectly write to that partition. Also, /boot is still not included. You already got the more painless way for OP anyway :) – Andy Yan Jul 27 '17 at 09:19

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So, after the discussion in the comments you can backup the phone using the command adb backup [-f <file>] -all to backup all of your data, where file is you should put a recognizable name for the back up to track it easier when you will need it. Store it somewhere safe.

If you will ever need that you can use the command adb restore *name of the backup* after the flashing of the stock firmware and all will be as you wanted it.

There is more: in the case you don't want to backup ALL data, you can leave the -all option and use specific selections:

-obb/-noobb: you can save the OBB data of every application

-apk/-noapk: you can save the application themselves

-shared/-noshared: you can do a backup of the SDCARD contents

-system/-nosystem: backup of system apps (stock ones)

Nicola Galluccio
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  • I know that, but what I meant was: "How can I back up the ROM?". Thanks anyway! (I just looked through the comments, they don't seem to get the point of backing up the firmware either.) – Sandy Vujaković Aug 26 '17 at 13:39