can fastboot be used to backup device?

Question

Many people tell about fastboot that it can be used to flash a image on one of the partitions.



Is the reverse also possible, that is take a binary snapshot and store it as a zip file containig the exact binary representation of the partition to be backuped?



the reason I ask this is
backup has two steps.



1) take and image/snapshot to backuplocation (backup)
2) and replacing image/snapshop from backuplocaito (restore)



to me it seems that fastboot is only doing one, while being able to write to the Androids internal flash (in binary "dd"-style) seems it should also be able to read from the flash.



This way nobody would need to organize and run another potentially not trustworthy rom to do the reading job.


— humanityANDpeace | Sources

Answer

If you check with our tag-wiki, and follow up the link to the List of fastboot commands, you will see the answer is NO. Fastboot only has commands to write to the device. A few exceptions include:



  • making sure there is a device at all, using fastboot devices

  • some OEM specific commands to read configuration values (fastboot oem <option> – note that all those, except for oem lock/oem unlock, options start with INFO?)

  • several bootloader specific commands

  • rebooting the device after "work done" (fastboot reboot / fastboot reboot-bootloader)


From the CyanogenMod Fastboot Intro, emphasis mine:



fastboot is a small tool that comes with the Android SDK (software developer kit) that can be used to re-flash partitions on your device. It is an alternative to the recovery mode for doing installations and updates.



Wikipedia describes fastboot as a diagnostic protocol included with the SDK package used primarily to modify the flash filesystem via a USB connection from host computer. (again, emphasis mine).


No source speaks about backing up partitions (or data) from the device.


— Izzy | Sources

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