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Hero Rooting,Nandroid backup and warranty

Hi guys!
I have my Hero since December and I am more than happy with it.However,having used Custom ROMs on my Diamond and having seen all the amazing work that's been done with the Hero,I occasionally catch myself thinking that I am really stupid staying with the stock ROM and wanting to try something new,something "shiny".BUT!All my contacts,messages etc are in the Hero and it's my everyday phone.What's more,I don't want to void my warranty(not permanently and irreversibly that is),to put aside the fact that I already love it as it is!I just like change,like most of you here I assume.On my Diamond I must have changed more than 20 ROMs and not just one install for every ROM,but the updated versions of some etc.
I am still very skeptic on whether to root my Hero,so I want some questions answered if possible.
First off,what is Nandroid backup and what does it backup?Can I bring my phone back EXACTLY in the state it was?All stock,like nothing has happened!I don't care about losing root access on my phone,I only want to be able to undo any changes that I make.
And secondly,what chance of bricking my phone is there?I see most chefs recommending wiping.Is it something like MTTY for WinMo devices?
Thanks in advance!

Nandroid only backs up certain parts of the system; as of a few months ago, they don't include user apps, but do include all system apps and system settings.
If you want to make your phone stock again, flash an HTC official RUU update. I'm talking about the .exe, not a .zip cooked by anyone here - the RUU will rewrite every part of your phone, putting it back to a 100% fresh state.
Also, the only way I can think of that you can brick a Hero easily is interrupting a radio flash.

So there's no way to somehow backup my current ROM and bring it back?
If so I guess there's no rooting etc for me until I get my next handset...
Also,some say that,once the hero is updated to 2.1 by htc there will be no rooting,flashing and so on.True or what?

developing said:
Nandroid only backs up certain parts of the system; as of a few months ago, they don't include user apps, but do include all system apps and system settings....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still working bang on here. Use apps2sd, do Nandroid+Ext backup and it restores everything exactly how it was.
EDIT.... Oh yeah,... Post in General or Q&A next time.

I am posting here because I,maybe later on,will come to issues concerning ROMs.Sorry however!
Anyway!I think I cannot use apps2sd,I am still using the stock 1.5 ROM and haven't rooted my phone yet.
But what do you mean saying that everythings goes back to how it was?Only programms or contacts,settings etc?
Sorry for the trouble I am causing you,I hope you understand!

Ok... first of all, you cannot nandroid backup before you root AFAIK, and the backup restores your phone to *exactly* the same state as it is when performing backup (including messages, phone contacts, apps, etc.). However, since you must have root to backup it will restore your phone with root, which means you will lose your warranty.
However, you can also backup most of your settings with apps on the market. You can sync contacts with google, so they will never get lost, backup apps and messages and then restore them without having to have root.
Also, in case, you want to use your warranty, you can always remove root, etc. with the stock .exe update. Then you'll have to restore apps and settings with whatever backup application you were using to backup them. So I don't think you'll have any problems with that.
And, as mentioned earlier, there is no chance for you to brick your phone by simply flashing roms. Only way is to flash wrong radio (for example CDMA radio on GSM hero) or to pull out the battery during radio flashing.

Nandroid backs up (almost) the entire state of your phone.
If you need to unroot then use an ruu (the exe) which are official HTC programs to get your entire phone back to stock.
With your warranty, it's only void if they know it's rooted, so if you use an ruu everything will be fine .
And if you don't decide to root then DO NOT flash the official update as you will (probably) not be able to root again.
if you want to root then I recommend www.roothtchero.co.uk it's a great guide to rooting your phone.

One more question.If I root my phone but don't flash a custom rom,can I do a Nandroid backup for my stock rom?

I am gonna root my phone via villianrom forum instructions..noob alert..do we HAVE to add radio RUU? or we can just root the phone. And thats it?
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Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App

Make a full imaging of the device without permanent root

Hi. I'd like to completely image my wildfire before rooting so that I have an image of it before I did anything. Just in case. Is it possible with soft root or unrevoked?

Bump......

Hi. I used androot to get a soft root. Any way to backup rom?

You could use adb to extract the whole tree, but it won't preserve permissions so will be useless.
Short answer: no. Do a proper root.
Sent from my HTC Wildfire using XDA App

Yes, but the thing is that I want the ROM preserved completely as-is, with no custom recovery or anything. Say, something got broken in hardware, so to get the phone serviced I'd need to flash the stock ROM back on. I heard they don't even check the recovery, but if someone did I'd be in trouble.
On my Linux, I used "dd if=/dev/sda of=/root/hddimg" to get the byte-for-byte copy of my HDD. Will that work in Android as well?
EDIT: Of course I didn't mean /dev/sda, the ROM device is another one, right?

i don't think you can with soft root, you can dl titanium backup and save all your apps and settings on your sd card, but that won't backup your entire rom. i would just do a full root, im not that clumsy enough to kill my phone
you can also use the ruu to go back to your stock rom, but use the right one in case you lose root

I'm looking for a way of backing up my Vodafone Rom so when I install a sim free one I can restore all settings if I ever need to send if off for warranty, it won't void it.
Anything I can do???
Sent from my HTC Wildfire using XDA App

This doesn't make sense.
You can't ROOT a device, surely, without flashing the ROM?
So... ROOTING the device, by flashing the ROM, and THEN you want to backup the entire device? This sounds useless, as as soon as you ROOT the device, you've overwritten the original ROM! So how can you backup the Original ROM if you've overwritten it?
Which came first? The Chicken (ROM) or the Egg (Root)?

I didn't flash a ROM to get a root. I used Universal androot which does soft root on wildfire as well. Soft root means just getting root without modifying the system files permanently (ie. Changes disappear at reboot). Secondly, full root like unrevoked only write-unlocks the phone and flashes custom recover y. What I want is to have full backup of the phone WITHOUT the custom recovery so that when I flash it, it is the actual stock ROM. I know this is quite hard to do but I'm sure it is doable one way or another.

Can someone please link me to a thread on step by step Rooting
and backing up my entire device
its my first android phone and took me a long time to install apps n games n contacts a backup would help me a lot.
kindly help thank u

realxception said:
Can someone please link me to a thread on step by step Rooting
and backing up my entire device
its my first android phone and took me a long time to install apps n games n contacts a backup would help me a lot.
kindly help thank u
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you did a search of the forum or looked around the wildfire threads you'd easily find it... anyway here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=788776
to backup your rom you need to do a nandroid backup, to backup apps and data dl titanium backup

I know about nandroid. Don't you have to flash a custom recovery to use it? If so, then the original aim of preserving the ROM completely the way it is becomes broken, right?

xc1024 said:
I know about nandroid. Don't you have to flash a custom recovery to use it? If so, then the original aim of preserving the ROM completely the way it is becomes broken, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nandroid backs up your original rom, there is no other way to back up without root... unless you use a ruu to return to stock

Aren't RUUs a bit risky to use?

Yes if you use the wrong one. But rooting and flashing a custom rom is not , very simple and not hard
Wildfire is also my first android phone but I easily learnt by reading and searching around the forum.

[Q] Droid 2, Roms & activations

You guys must be tired of people asking the same over and over, and to be honest that is because information is so scattered newcomers often get confused.
But Anyways.
I've got myself a motorila Droid 2 a few days ago, poking around internet i found about rooting and roms and all that stuff, however I've got a question that's yet to be answered!
I'm currently residing in Mexico, my Droid 2 is unlocked and activated on a mexican carrier, however on the guides I've red so far it says that one of the requirements for installing custom ROM's one must wipe all data from the phone and return to factory settings, this means i will have to pay AGAIN to get it unlocked and activated?
As i said before, information is scattered, and is not always accuarate.
Somewhere on the net i also found a post that states customs ROM's come unlocked... whats with that?
And one last question.
What will happen if i only root my phone, no custom rom added? will this be harmful in any way? could i be able to overclock and get rid of the annoying verizon apps or do i forcefully need to install a custom ROM?
Thanks for all answers in advance.

Rooting itself would not harm your device, however rooting allows you to do pretty much anything on the device. So, in other words, rooting wont hurt it, however what it allows you to do CAN hurt it.
As far as the roms being unlocked, as far as I have read, all roms are unlocked. However I could be mistaken. But there is an easy way to find out for sure: give it a try. What I would do first root the device and install the Clockwork Recovery Mod and then boot into recovery and make a backup. This way you can restore the phone back exactly as it was when you backed it up (using the restore option), as if you never made any changes. Then I would go ahead and install whatever rom you wanted to try out, and see if everything works as intended. If you dont like it, or it doesnt allow you to access the network, etc then all you need to do is boot back to recovery and restore your backup and when it's done you'll phone will be back to it's old self.
Links:
Root: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=782556 (This is the process I used)
Clockwork: http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/how-to-install-clockwork-recovery-to-your-android-phone/
Not sure how experienced you are - or aren't - so if you have any deeper questions about the process or need more detailed instructions just let me know.
EDIT: Oops, I completely skipped some of your questions. With just rooting you can uninstall SOME of the preloaded crap, however there is allot of the preloaded applications and such that you cant uninstall without crippling your phones functionality. My originally plan when I first rooted my device was just to remove the bloatware. However after I saw just how much there was I couldn't remove I decided to jump to a custom ROM. Just to give you an example, I have the Fission ROM installed on my device, and it's packaged filed were about 70ish mb, while the packaged files to restore it back to stock/factory was nearly 300mb. And yes, rooting alone would allow you to overclock your phone.

[Answered] How to restore with Titanium backup (at least once) but still allow OTAs?

I have rooted other devices, and I understand the benefits...but there is a bit of a pain. Once you root your device, the way I understand it, you need to wait for an OTA update to be made available via a developer here. Now that usually happens pretty quickly, so that's not the issue. However, usually when you get an update OTA, you don't have to reinstall all your apps again, set up your screens, etc. When you take an update from here, you usually do need to reinstall everything.
If I want to avoid that, and let OTAs happen as they should, is there an easy and right way for me to get Titanium Backup to restore but keep that ability? Do I unlock the bootloader and root, then unroot but leave the bootloader unlocked? It isn't clear, and there seems a lot of noise when people ask, about what you can do that would still allow OTAs. Some seem to say you can take them, others suggest you can't. I have searched, and it is confusing. I would love to know if someone really knows, or could cite a post or article that I may have missed. I know I could loose root in that process, I get that risk. I just want to understand my options.
It is, as an aside, so painful that Android has not properly dealt with backup and restore and migrating apps/data from one device to another in the OS. That seems such a gaping hole that Apple has filed, and one big reason (not always the only one) I seem to end up rooting a device right away. I suspect I would root eventually, but probably wait a bit except for this.
Thanks

RoboCuz said:
I have rooted other devices, and I understand the benefits...but there is a bit of a pain. Once you root your device, the way I understand it, you need to wait for an OTA update to be made available via a developer here. Now that usually happens pretty quickly, so that's not the issue. However, usually when you get an update OTA, you don't have to reinstall all your apps again, set up your screens, etc. When you take an update from here, you usually do need to reinstall everything.
If I want to avoid that, and let OTAs happen as they should, is there an easy and right way for me to get Titanium Backup to restore but keep that ability? Do I unlock the bootloader and root, then unroot but leave the bootloader unlocked? It isn't clear, and there seems a lot of noise when people ask, about what you can do that would still allow OTAs. Some seem to say you can take them, others suggest you can't. I have searched, and it is confusing. I would love to know if someone really knows, or could cite a post or article that I may have missed. I know I could loose root in that process, I get that risk. I just want to understand my options.
It is, as an aside, so painful that Android has not properly dealt with backup and restore and migrating apps/data from one device to another in the OS. That seems such a gaping hole that Apple has filed, and one big reason (not always the only one) I seem to end up rooting a device right away. I suspect I would root eventually, but probably wait a bit except for this.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not just unroot get the OTA and reboot? It's so easy with the toolkit you could even relock and unlock at the same time if necessary
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

That's a good idea...I guess I hadn't thought of that...but unlocking and relocking would wipe the device, no? If I am going to wipe the device to get the OTA, then I would just proceed through the "normal" way of waiting for someone to release the update in a ROM and flash it. I would just like, in some way, to treat this device like an appliance, and not worry about OTAs bricking my phone, or needing to reinstall everything to get the latest...I just want to start off restoring some of my apps from another device, and then (maybe) just let the updates take their course. I know I could change my mind later and start ROMing, but I just wanted to understand my options....I know I wipe the device when I unlock, so assumed that would happen each time. And I wasn't sure if I needed to unlock to JUST get root, if I am not planning on flashing ROMs. And can I just root,and then use OTA rootkeeper if necessary, and allow updates?
So I guess the questions are:
- Do I need to unlock to root?
- Once I have done what I need to use Titanium (unlock and root or just root), can I take an OTA update, or do I need to undo some or all?
- If I undo some or all, will that incur a wipe?

I think I figured this out...I found the manual for the Nexus Root Toolkit (www.wugfresh.com/dev/nexus-root-toolkit/), and that spells out a LOT of really clear information.
I think I would:
- unlock
- root and install CWM
- use Titanium, etc.
Later, if an OTA comes out I want to allow:
- probably do full CWM backup
- flash stock recovery
- install and run OTA Rootkeeper
- allow the OTA, knowing I might loose root
- reflash CWM
I think this shouldn't cause any issues. This assumes I am basically running stock, and just using root for backup/restore app stuff with Titanium and maybe Root Explorer.
Make sense?

Root Question

Okay so I just have a few questions about rooting my phone before I do it, since I saw the root here that works for the most recent OTA update.
1) If someone happens with my phone (either bricking it from rooting or something inconsequential) will they not replace my phone due to it being rooted?
2) If they won't replace it due to being rooted (if it wasn't bricking), is there an easy way to unroot the phone?
3) I can't tell from the instructions, but I'm pretty sure some others have said that it might require you to restore factory settings, does this one require that?
4) The thread says that it is now impossible to unlock the bootloader, does this also mean that you can't use a custom ROM? How exactly do you add a ROM?
Sorry for all the questions, I've never rooted an android device before, and I don't have the time or energy to go running around Google/forums trying to find these answers.
Thanks in advance!
EDIT: yes I know i've already asked 2 of these questions, but I'm a stupid poop who needs validation.

wholocked10 said:
Okay so I just have a few questions about rooting my phone before I do it, since I saw the root here that works for the most recent OTA update.
1) If someone happens with my phone (either bricking it from rooting or something inconsequential) will they not replace my phone due to it being rooted?
2) If they won't replace it due to being rooted (if it wasn't bricking), is there an easy way to unroot the phone?
3) I can't tell from the instructions, but I'm pretty sure some others have said that it might require you to restore factory settings, does this one require that?
4) The thread says that it is now impossible to unlock the bootloader, does this also mean that you can't use a custom ROM? How exactly do you add a ROM?
Sorry for all the questions, I've never rooted an android device before, and I don't have the time or energy to go running around Google/forums trying to find these answers.
Thanks in advance!
EDIT: yes I know i've already asked 2 of these questions, but I'm a stupid poop who needs validation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
first, rooting your voids the warranty, so technically, they (either VZW or Motorola) are not obligated to replace it. that being said, you can always play dumb and say that you accepted some OTA install, and now the phone won't boot up. usually, VZW will try to restore the phone, and if not, they'll replace it - no worries.
2.) I believe there is an unroot method, but I have not explored this. try doing a search on this forum for "unroot razr m"
3.) restore factory settings could unroot - check the threads
4.) you can still install a custom ROM, but you'll need to install Safestrap first. however, the custom ROMs available for SS are out-dated, and I don't think that any devs will be providing any going forward. however, I would not be too discouraged by this, as the phone is very solid stock. so rooting is the key to remove the bloatware to help increase battery life, increase performance, and reduce excess data usage.
hope this helps.