LG G4: Create Nandroid Backup

You will need a custom recovery installed to do this, but once you do, then you can follow this tutorial for the LG G4 to create a Nandroid backup.

Last week I walked you through the step by step process for how to get a custom recovery installed onto your LG G4. In the tutorial I picked TWRP, my favorite custom recovery, and with that comes a lot more options for us and our new phone. After you install a custom recovery and then gain root access to the LG G4, it is best if you go ahead and create a Nandroid backup and always keep a copy of this somewhere.

The backup will be saved to your LG G4(or a microSD card if you change the save location) but you can always copy this to your computer, upload it to the cloud, etcetera.

I also recommend that you create a Nandroid backup any and every time you plan on doing some major modification to your LG G4. If you plan on installing Xposed, installing a custom kernel, installing a custom ROM or even just installing an application that has root access to your device.

These types of things can change Android in ways that it isn’t originally released and this can cause a bootloop. If your LG G4 ends up in a bootloop, then at least you will be able to bypass this and boot into the TWRP custom recovery. From here you can restore the LG G4 from a backup and it will be like the phone went back in time from before the bootloop happened. Then you’ll know now to install that again because it didn’t play well with your setup.

LG G4 Create Nandroid Backup

1. Boot the LG G4 into Recovery Mode
2. Tap on the ‘Backup’ Option
3. Make Sure All Available Partitions are Checked
4. Tap on the ‘Backup Name’ Field at the Top
5. Create a Custom Name for this Backup(ROM name, current date, etc)
6. You Can Chance the Storage Location if You Want
7. When Ready, Swipe the Blue Arrow at the Bottom to the Right
8. Wait Until the Backup Process has Completed
9. Tap on the Home Button at the Bottom
10. Then Tap on the ‘Reboot’ Option
11. And Tap on the ‘System’ Option to Reboot into Android

Explanation

The first time you create a Nandroid backup it can be confusing but it really is easy once you get the hang of it. I have broken the whole process down here so it should be even easier as long as you follow each step detailed above. As mentioned before, in order to create a Nandroid backup, you’re going to need to have a custom recovery installed on the LG G4. You don’t need root access though, so if you don’t care to root the LG G4 then you don’t have to. Once the custom recovery TWRP has been installed on the LG G4, then we can start with this backup tutorial.

You’ll need to boot the LG G4 into recovery mode so if you aren’t aware of how to do that then click the link in the tutorial above. Once you are in the LG G4 recovery mode(TWRP) and you should see a couple of rows of buttons. Look for the ‘Backup’ option and then tap on it. From here you will see all sorts of stuff and the first thing you want to do is to select(put a check mark in) every partition you see in the list(Cache, Data, Storage, etc). Then you can create a custom name for your backup. I always recommend that you name this backup something that is familiar.

I like to call my backups CM12.1-DATE because I’m making a backup of a CM12.1 custom ROM. If I was still on LG’s stock firmware, I would name it Stock-DATE. This also lets me keep backups organized with the date that it was created on. When I go and delete or restore from a backup in the future, knowing which backup is the newest is very useful. As mentioned in the tutorial, if you want to save the Nandroid backup to the external microSD card or even a thumb drive connected via an OTG cable. If you want to keep it on the internal storage though, then you won’t have to worry about the storage location(this where I keep all of my backups).

Once you have all of that set up, then you can look at the bottom of the screen and swipe the big blue arrow all the way to the right. This initiates the backup process and depending on how much data you are backing up, it can take a minute or two. . .or it might take 5 minutes or so. Just wait for the process to be completed and you will be told when it’s done. Once it has finished, you can tap on the home button at the bottom of the screen and then look for the Reboot option at the bottom of the screen. Tap it and then tap on System and it will reboot your LG G4 back into the regular Android OS.