Nandroid’s are very important to have because they help you to recover your data in case of a bootloop or a SoftBrick. I have written a comprehensive guide on how to make Nandroid backup without root on Nexus Phones. The phone that I will be using to demonstrate whole process is Nexus 5.

Nandroid’s and normal backups are very different. In a normal backup, only things that are saved are the ones stored in your phone internal or external storage. You can backup manually by accessing phone’s storage and saving the contents of your phone to cloud or PC. Normal backup does not contain System Settings nor your firmware or your System and Installed Apps.

Now Nandroid is kind of a restore point for the phone. Basically, it has everything backed up to date of your Android device; Call Logs, Messages, System Apps, User Apps, System Settings, Current Settings Selected. You name it and it will be in the Nandroid. However, a Nandroid does not contain Storage Data e.g, Pictures, Songs, Videos and all your other Media items. A Nandroid’s file size is roughly around 1.5GB. This size depends upon how many apps you have in your phone. If you have a few apps installed then the size would be smaller and if you have many apps installed then the size would be bigger. If something goes wrong, no worries just boot into your recovery and restore your phone via Nandroid.

Mostly Nandroid’s are made via a Custom Rom so hence a Rooted Phone will be required but in this guide, I will be showing you how to make Make NANDROID Backup Without Root on Nexus phones.

The things which will be needed for Making Nandroid backup without root on Nexus Phones :

An Android Phone

A USB Cable

Battery Life be more than 80% of your Android Phone

A Laptop with Nexus Root Toolkit Installed

Note: Make sure you don’t have lock screen passcode on your phone before processing. While making NANDROID via TWRP, if you have passcode on your phone some people have reported that they had hard time restoring the backup. So just disable it before moving forward.

You will have to download and install the following tool and drivers on your Windows PC:

Mostly the drivers are already installed on your Windows PC. If your phone isn’t detected when you connect it to your Windows PC then you will have to manually install the Drivers.

Enable USB Debugging in your Android Device by going into Settings -> About Phone -> Then tap the Build Number Seven Times to unlock the Developer Options, Now go into Developers Options Scroll down and there Check the Android Debugging.

How to Make NANDROID Backup Without Root on Nexus Phones

Once you have Downloaded and Installed The Nexus Root Toolkit Start it up. Once it turns on. It will search for updates. And then updates and the dependencies are updated. Once everything is all upto date. The following screen will appear. and Connect your phone with your Laptop via USB. Select the device you are using from the drop-down. To check the build number go to About Phone check your Build Number and then Select it from the dropdown. if you can’t find you find Build Number in the list, just click on Any Build. Or you could just click on Auto Detect Device + Build. It will set up the fields automatically for you then just hit Apply. After you hit Apply. The following screen will appear. From here You want to Click on Backup so just Click on it. From Include Tick both Only System apps + Data the Shared Data includes all your Media. I recommend and the software recommends that you backup your media manually. When the dialog box appears, read it and then click on OK. Don’t be Afraid after Reading that Dialog Box because we will be restoring back to the same stock Android version so don’t Worry. You can also create 2 Backups as the dialog box Says. Then click on create Android Backup File. Another dialog box will appear. Follow the Instructions and then press OK. Choose a name and location for your backup and then click Save. Your device will restart and once it Reboots a prompt will be displayed. Follow the Instructions and then click OK. When you click Backup My Data from your phone then the backup will start on your phone and the apps which are being backed up will be displayed on your phone. Once the Backup is complete. Head on over to the software and now from the main screen click on Unlock Your Bootloader. A prompt will appear read it and then click on OK. Don’t worry when it says that all your data will be deleted because we just made a backup recently. Another prompt will appear, read it and then click on OK. Now your device will boot up into Fastboot and then this screen will Appear. Once this screen appears. Press the Volume Up Button and then press the power button to unlock your bootloader. Don’t worry because the Software will guide you through the whole process step by step. Now reboot your device. If your data has been wiped then just simply click on Restore -> Restore Android Backup File. A Prompt will appear read it and then click on OK and then select the .ab file which you have made recently. Now all your data will be restored. Once all your data has been restored, go back to your main screen and then click on backup again. Now when the Backup Utilities Opens up click on Create Nandroid Backup w/ Custom Recovery. A prompt will appear saying are you unlocked and then click on OK. When Another Prompt Appears. Check System Partition, Data Partition and Boot (Kernel) Partition . and then click on Confirm Operation. Another prompt will appear again click OK. Then specify the location and click OK. Now what will happen is that the Software will install a temporary recovery and then it will make Nandroid backup without root on nexus using that recovery. As this is a temporary recovery, your device will be restored back to the Stock Recovery when the device Reboots. Now wait for the operation to Finish Successfully and keep an eye on the prompts as they keep telling you the progress of the operation. Wait for the progress bar to finish and your device will boot once the backup is completed. After the boot operation has completed successfully. Now just head on into the Storage ( Root Directory ) of your device. There will be TWRP->Backups-> there you will find your Nandoird. Now you can either back it up to your computer or just keep it there if something goes wrong.

Congratulations! You just made your first Nandroid. It is not a long process to make NANDROID backup without root on Nexus phones. It will hardly take 30 minutes.

Now if Something Goes Wrong you can use The Nexus Root Toolkit to Restore the Nandroid or you can restore the backup yourself using any custom recovery.

If you have any questions regarding how to make Nandroid backup without root on Nexus phones. Let me know in the comments. Even if you have any confusion while making Nandroid backup without root on Nexus phone, feel free to ask me.