TWRP for Amlogic devices.

[Downunder 35m]

I might be able to shed some light on all the questions relted to wether or not a certain TWRP version will on another device.
I tried a bunch until I decided to port my own matched to the X96.
The reason is quite simple: Even if it says S905x on the box and all the internal hardware loos identical, the devil is in the detail.
Our devil is called kernel and bootloader.
In the kernel the called fstab organises how the different partions are handled and labeled - if that is not a match to your system it won't work.
To have a perfect match you have to edit or replace the corresponding files inside the kernel ramdisk.

There are several different versions of TWRP 3.1 available to the S905X boxes and it might be worth checking their threads for more details on them.
For the normal flashing and backups TWRP 3.0 or even 2.8 do just fine.
The 3.1 includes a few more partitons, like logo and bootloader instead of combining them into "boot" but that's about it.
For really complete backup you still need to manually backup your internal storage or make sure it is not overwritten by the new rom - some do require a clean flash though...
From my little experience on the X96 you can only try to see if the recovery boots and is responsible.
If so check if you can access the system and data areas with the build in filemanager and also if you can copy files/folders from there to your external SD card.
In case that works all fine you have a chance the rest works too.
Sad thing is that you need to try a backup and restore to be sure, or try to flash a custom/genuine rom trhough TWRP.
There are tutorials online that show how to port a custom recovery from one system to another with the same hardware base but it requires a good kitchen and quite a bit of reading to understand it all.

[Darkmur]

Hello
Could someone get me a TWRP for my M8S II PLUS?
I can not upload the original recovery because the page does not let me upload a file so large.
I would need a TWRP to do tests.
Thank you.

[aian0306]

hi. i just wanna ask if the twrp3 img p212 will work on my mxq-pro 4k s905x. tia

[marko33]

just flashed Megandenz 3.1 build on my GT1 ultimate hoping it would fix the unmountable usb hdd issue, unfortunately its still unmountable and shows 0mb. would be nice to back up to my 3tb hdd

[Downunder 35m]

LOL
I know how I would have to backup the data, it is more about a backup solution making false claims.
And I think not every new user is aware of the problem or how to "fix" it.
Would just be nice to have a TWRP or CMW recovery that works and really does a fully backup of all partitions and data.
But that's just my personal opinion on backups, might be spoiled by how things work on a mobile phone.

[scooter2014]

Buy a flash drive..... Its very useful to a lot of us.... And. Most user data is so small 2 gig sd card would be not ised fully.... But of its not your cup of tea... Dont use it

[Downunder 35m]

I somehow fail to understand the hype about TWRP after using for a while for my roms.
So everyone is on the same page with me, I will sum it up in short:
The good:
Easy to port from one device to another with the same chipset.
Easy to use and understand even for the beginner.
Flashes OTA, and custom roms in zip and IMG format.

The bad:
Not always possible to start and use with success - flashing stops for no good reason and needs to be flashed again for example.
Backups need a custom name as otherwise on most devices the date and timestamp used for the backup it totally out of whack.
No easy to find warning about incomplete backups.

The really bad:
The developer(s) simply refuse to include the complete data partition!
This means a backup is useless as all user data and a lot of date for vital programs gets lost.
To make things worse: Even if you don't wipe/erase the data partition it will be deleted once the backup is flashed over, unless of course you exclude that as well.
In any case the marks within the system partition, which would tell the OS and apps what happened already are gone due to the new system installed.

IMHO TWRP is only good to install a firmware but utterley useless for a real and full backup of our boxes - or any device for that matter.
The most vital part for every user is the personal data, like images, downloads, program settings and so on.
If installing a backup through means I have to fix all programs manually and perform a manually backup of my data or loose everything than why would I bother in the first place???

[Downunder 35m]

While researching why my TWRP 3.1 port refuses to see the external SD in my X96 I stumbled upon this thread through Google.
I know, I should have just looked here first....
Anyway, after failing on my own I tried the P212 version from the first post but got the same negative outcome.
The external SD only shows (0), can't be mounted or accessed through TWRP.
Since the problem seemed to affect not just me but all sorts of devices I did some more tests, like different kernels, using different mount options in the fstabs and so on.
All to no avail, the problem (at least to me) seems to be within the TWRP code itself.
Tried Google and the forum search to see if there is a working fix in this thread but got nowhere, so I though I just ask
A few questions to get going:
1. Is it possible to include the missing partitions and mounts in TWRP 3.0, like bootloader, logo and recovery?
Somehow I can't find out how to do it.
2. Are there any good 5.x kernels in other S905X firmwares to try for TWRP3.1?
I tried a bunch of different 6.0 kernels from all sorts of devices but all with the same or worse problems within the recovery.
3. If porting totally fails here can I assume that I would just waste my time trying to compile TWRP directly from source to solve this SD problem?

Edit:
Found some more info on XDA about the problem at hand.
Seems TWRP is not using the vold mounts from the system partition.
Since the SD uses this as well it renders it useless.
And using an older kernel won't really work either as then the encrypted partitions can't be backed up properly
Next logical thing would be to create a custom firmware for the S905x that does not use encryption and vold - wouldn't it?
I mean we are talking about TV boxes that most of us won't use for their online banking or any other sensitive data....

[Darkmur]

Thanks to Magendanz, I was able to get the recovery stock from my rom.

The problem is that I do not know how to share the files with the forum, since the recovery does not let me upload it to the forum, the other files do, but the recovery gives me failure

Now I hope that with the original recovery, and the partition files, you can provide an optimal TWRP for my android tv.

Thank you very much.

[Darkmur]

To recover the factory recovery image, just download the latest burn package from here and extract it with the Amlogic Customization Tool. It will be in /tmp/level1/recovery.PARTITION.

Hi.
I already downloaded the image that you had told me.
I have seen the file recovery.PARTITION, but I do not know how to extract it to have the .img and be able to put it to my M8S.
Thank you.

[Darkmur]

To recover the factory recovery image, just download the latest burn package from here and extract it with the Amlogic Customization Tool. It will be in /tmp/level1/recovery.PARTITION.

Thank you very much.
I'll try as you told me to extract the recovery.
Anyway, the version I have installed is another with android 7.1, but the .img I have can not extract it with amlogic tools.
I guess the recovery will be valid even if android 7.1.
Even so, I would need someone to give me a TWRP for this model so I can copy everything I have installed.
The version that I have installed is in http://www.pan115.com/file/lE9uW6a3, in case you serve as reference "aml_7.1_s912_q9377_S912_mac-20170420.rar"
A greeting.

The recovery I do not have since to try to flash the twrp I have lost the factory recovery. I hope you can help me..

To recover the factory recovery image, just download the latest burn package from here and extract it with the Amlogic Customization Tool. It will be in /tmp/level1/recovery.PARTITION.

[Nofan Tasi]

Thanks, Nofan!

BTW, the p200_2G variant seems to work fine on the p200 reference board. I've been using it in my MXQ Pro custom ROMs.

p200_2G works great in MiniMX-G (aka p200_2G)

[phatboyj420]

I don't have a q20x box yet, but I'll be adding that reference platform as soon as my M8S Pro arrives. I could build one now from the latest OEM firmware available online, but you'd need to test it for me.

I'd gladly Test for you let me Know
Also I have and will provide the Partitions.txt bynum.txt block.txt & the 12-31-16 recovery.img for the Mecool BB2 Pro 3gb DDR 4 q20x if needed, again let me know

[Darkmur]

Hello
I leave you the files that I have been able to extract.
The recovery I do not have since to try to flash the twrp I have lost the factory recovery.
I hope you can help me.
Thank you.