WhatsApp data sync: help please - can you do it?

answered 2019-06-03 00:33:40 +0200

SagaciousT
1399 ●31 ●42 ●44

Today I finally made it after weeks of unsucessful attempts. I tried to transfer the backup from an Xperia X to an XA2 and always ended up with a found backup of 0kb and dated 01.01.1970 that could not be imported into WhatsApp. I tried all the tips read in various threads here. This is how I've proceeded today:

1. Made a backup on the Xperia X and copied the WhatsApp folder in android_storage to the SD card
2. Moved SIM and SD card to the XA2
3. Installed Aliendalvik control on the XA2
4. Installed WhatsApp on the XA2
5. Gave WhatsApp memory access in Aliendalvik Control
6. Opened the terminal and got root access with devel-su
7. Moved to the android_storage folder with cd android_storage
8. Changed the user and group of the copied files from nemo:nemo (from Xperia X) to media_rw:media_rw (as required by XA2) with chown -cR media_rw:media_rw WhatsApp
9. Stopped Aliendalvik in the settings
10. Executed chown -cR media_rw:media_rw WhatsApp again in the terminal
11. Started Aliendalvik again in the settings
12. Started WhatsApp and finally found the readable backup

I don't know if all steps had been necessary, but this worked now.

answered 2019-05-30 16:26:58 +0200

Alex
10635 ●181 ●247 ●252

You need to change the permissions of the backup file as mentioned here:

1. Reinstall whatsapp
2. Put the backup into the corresponding folder
3. Activate the developer mode and set a password (Tutorial)

4. Execute the following commands in the terminal:

   devel-su

   chown -R media_rw:media_rw /home/.android/data/media/0/WhatsApp

5. Open whatsapp and the backup should be recognised

answered 2019-12-24 13:36:31 +0200

Sebix
1199 ●22 ●48 ●45

updated 2019-12-26 17:36:05 +0200

Hi,

After a lot of hassle I also managed to migrate WhatsApp from one Jolla1 to a Sailfish X device. For me, none of the advices I found, was working. I tricked a bit more, and it is probably more work but it was successful :) Is it always hard to find the relevant steps after a successful work. If you have any questions or problems following the steps, please do not hesitate to ask!

Source phone: Jolla 1 (with Android 4) Target phone: XA2 (with Android 8) Because of the different versions of the Android layer, the directories where the system data resides is different.

Prerequisites: You need to be able to activate the developer mode and use SSH. It may be possible to use media transfer via USB (MTP) and use the terminal on the phone too.

On the source phone: Activate developer mode and either use the terminal, or SSH:

cd /data/data/com.whatsapp/
tar --exclude lib --exclude lib-main -czf /home/nemo/whatsapp-sys.tar.gz .
chmod 664 /home/nemo/whatsapp-sys.tar.gz

To transfer the local media files, this optional step is needed. Android emulation must be running for this (otherwise the directory is empty):

cd /home/nemo/android_storage
tar -czf /home/nemo/whatsapp-storage.tar.gz WhatsApp/
chmod 664 /home/nemo/whatsapp-storage.tar.gz

Now, transfer the files to the target phone, e.g. with SSH (scp) or via USB (easier)

On the target phone:

• Install WhatsApp
• Start it once (creates the system directory)
• Stop it in Settings > Apps > WhatsApp > Force stop
• I am not sure if you need to grant Storage access permissions (I guess not, just try it without): Settings > Apps > WhatsApp > Force stop

Then again in the terminal:

cd /home/.android/data/data/com.whatsapp/
ls -l

This shows for example:

drwxrwx--x 2 10058 10058 4096 Dec 23 13:59 app_minidumps
drwxrws--x 5 10058 20058 4096 Dec 23 13:59 cache
drwxrws--x 2 10058 20058 4096 Dec 23 13:57 code_cache
drwxrwx--x 2 10058 10058 4096 Dec 23 14:00 databases
drwxrwx--x 8 10058 10058 4096 Dec 23 14:01 files
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root  root    55 Dec 23 18:56 lib -> /data/app/com.whatsapp-xhiN4SwQeJY5sltr8qJD4Q==/lib/arm
drwxrwx--x 2 10058 10058 4096 Dec 23 14:00 no_backup
drwxrwx--x 2 10058 10058 4096 Dec 23 14:03 shared_prefs

Here, remeber the owner/group of the files, in my case it is the number 10058. We need this later. We remove everything except the lib:

rm -rf app_minidumps/ cache/ code_cache/ databases/ files/ no_backup/ shared_prefs/
tar -xzf /home/nemo/whatsapp-sys.tar.gz

Use the number from above here (for example chown -R 10058:10058):

chown -R [number]:[number] .

For the media files:

cd /home/nemo/android_storage
tar -xzf /home/nemo/whatsapp-storage.tar.gz
chown -R media_rw:media_rw WhatsApp

That's it. Start WhatsApp on the target phone, it should show everything as before, no restore from backup is necessary, no phone number verification.