Problem restoring my .ab backup file I know this might be duplicate but I couldn't find any relevant solution myself.

Today I tried to be adventurous and install Ubuntu Touch on my Nexus 7 and it was a failure. As a safety measure I backed up my device's data using the following command on a Windows 7 OS:

adb backup all -f ./nexus.ab -shared -apk


It took forever and created a 1.6GB file (sounds reasonable to me). But the thing is, when it was done even though the back up screen on my device was gone but the command didn't return in Windows and I had to press ctrl+c.

So I went through my adventure and in the process I had to unlock my bootloader and as a result all my data was wiped out (I read that it will happen and I was ok with it since I had already backed up my data). Once I was through with my adventure (and failed), I tried to restore my data using the following command (on the same machine as I created the back up):

adb restore ./nexus.ab


It takes for ages and after it is done, it prompts nothing (no success or failure). I can tell that it is done since the restore screen on device will be gone and the command will return in Windows. But when I turn on my device it's the same as it came out of the box. So is there any hope left? How can I make sure if my back up file is corrupted or everything is going fine? Do I need to do anything after my back up file is restored?
Try looking at the logcat output. I had a similar issue with multiple devices (all of the same manufacturer, though not yours) -- and it turned out they obviously had a bug in ADB implementation (logcat showed a parse error for the backup file).

If your situation is comparable (some ADB bug on your device's firmware), you can forget restoring that backup using ADB. Still, there are alternatives:

As you can read in the tag-wiki or our backup tag, there are other apps which can read and restore from ADB backups. Such as e.g. Titanium Backup. I'm not sure if this feature is reserved for the Pro version, but it's at least worth a try with the free one. And even if, this app is worth buying. Note, however, that your device must be rooted for this.

Copy your nexus.ab to the SDCard of your Nexus (I know it has no microSD slot, but the internal SD should do). Then use TiBu to restore from that backup file. You might not be able to restore everything (I never tried, so I'm not sure how far it goes) -- but at least your apps and their data should be able to get restored.

A second way (to be used for the remaining things) is to manually unpack the backup archive. Details can be found here:


How do you extract an App's data from a full backup made through “adb backup”?
Is there a way to look inside and modify an adb backup created file?


You might also wish to consult other questions tagged "adb+backup" for additional information.