Database Users

[Q] Which ROM Do you suggest?

I'm looking to upgrade my phone to a custom ROM, but I'm not sure which one is the best for my needs. This is what I am looking for:
Fyro Update
Increased Phone Speed
Increased Battery Support
Adblock for browser and apps
Also, how do I flash my ROM? I have the drivers to connect my phone to my computer, and that's about as far as I got. Secondly, will I lose my apps and their data? I already have my contacts and SMS backed up.
Thanks guys
jt

As a shameless plug - I whole-heartedly recommend SyndicateROM. It'll fulfill three of your four features already (including ad blocking in apps and the browser), and when the OFFICIAL, FINAL (ACS prides itself on stability and feature-completeness) Froyo release is out, it will be updated right away!

That's actually the one I was looking at. Is there instructions on how to flash your ROM? Will I lose my apps and their data?

After rooting you'll need Clockwork Recovery mod(CWM). Look for a Dev who has created a root with a CWM install (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=770388).
1. Follow steps to root and install CWM.
2. Download a ROM and put it on your SDcard (Start with ones that have been around for a while and have been tested quite a bit. Avoid Froyo ones till you feel comfortable with CWM and Odin {if you ever use it}).
3. Reboot into CWM, BACKUP everything (this is key for your data to come back), wipe x3 (including cache)
4. Install ROM from SDcard(reboot, may take a few minutes to load for the first time)
5. Reboot into CWM, and advance restore (DATA only). reboot
6. Enjoy with all your data.
Hope this helps

Epic Experience + Phoenix is the best battery life I've had on any ROM.
Performance feels like stock, which is to say, this phone is really fast just as is and I don't think its screaming for better performance out of the box. Its not like it feels sluggish like the Evo does.

All these devs do great work! You can't go wrong with any of these roms. This belongs in the General Discussions section!
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Streamline8 said:
After rooting you'll need Clockwork Recovery mod(CWM). Look for a Dev who has created a root with a CWM install (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=770388).
1. Follow steps to root and install CWM.
2. Download a ROM and put it on your SDcard (Start with ones that have been around for a while and have been tested quite a bit. Avoid Froyo ones till you feel comfortable with CWM and Odin {if you ever use it}).
3. Reboot into CWM, BACKUP everything (this is key for your data to come back), wipe x3 (including cache)
4. Install ROM from SDcard(reboot, may take a few minutes to load for the first time)
5. Reboot into CWM, and advance restore (DATA only). reboot
6. Enjoy with all your data.
Hope this helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hoping you can help me a little further;
1) Done successfully
2) Done
3) How do I boot into CWM? I installed Titanium back up, and ROM manager - not sure if that's needed or not
Thanks guys
PS, sorry for posting in the wrong section

tuttjs said:
Hoping you can help me a little further;
1) Done successfully
2) Done
3) How do I boot into CWM? I installed Titanium back up, and ROM manager - not sure if that's needed or not
Thanks guys
PS, sorry for posting in the wrong section
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
camera button, down volume and power on.

I suggest you try them all and figure out what you like or don't like. Also try out the ODIN program so when you accidentally bork your phone you will know how to fix it right away.

Got it. I assume this is backing up to my SD card. Do I not wipe my SD card?
Thanks, this should be the last question!

tuttjs said:
Got it. I assume this is backing up to my SD card. Do I not wipe my SD card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only way you will wipe your SD card is if you partition it for A2SD support. The factory reset wipes all your data and might be a good idea if you are going from one rom/kernel to another. CWM backs up to your SD card. I have about 6 backups and can restore several different roms if I want. If you try all the roms out and make backups of all them it will be easy to go back to what you want.
A program called ROM Manager will make it easy to rename your backups.

Wipe gone wrong? Apps remained??? :S

Hi
I just flashed my phone with coredroid 8. I wanted to get rid off all the aps and make it virtually new as I bought this from a previous owner and it had their data on it.
But all the apps remain? Why?

SmokingDesire said:
Hi
I just flashed my phone with coredroid 8. I wanted to get rid off all the aps and make it virtually new as I bought this from a previous owner and it had their data on it.
But all the apps remain? Why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you just flashed the ROM on top of the other one or you've done a full format?

Hi I did wipe clean and cache in cwm. It installed fresh however all apps are there.
Shall I format my SD card and flash again?
Sent from my HTC Desire HD

SmokingDesire said:
Hi I did wipe clean and cache in cwm. It installed fresh however all apps are there.
Shall I format my SD card and flash again?
Sent from my HTC Desire HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm that's really odd, can you try following these steps on how to install your ROM clean, just find it there in the post
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1226016
Thanks to memnoc

Hi what ROM do you use? I am using coredroid 8 but waiting for 7.6..
Need to know how to do a clean install. Radio is flashed fine.
Can you please copy and paste instructions here thank you.
Sent from my HTC Desire HD

Did you factory reset/reset data, and system? Wiping your SD card won't get rid of apps.

1. format system
2. format data
3. format cache
4. wipe dalvik cache
5. wipe cache partition
6. wipe data/factory reset
7. DON'T REBOOT flash rom
8. reboot and wait (first boot may take long)
If you do it like this you will have a 100% clean system. After setup your Gmail account all your apps should get restored by Android Market (may take a couple of minutes). If you don't want your apps to be restored open the market go to "my apps" and cancel the download.
Sent from my Revolver powered Asus Transformer

Okay great. The apps came back because of my gmail account.
Erm, can I format my SD card or will that mess up my rooting, clock work recovery and ROM manager etc?
There's alot of junk left from previous user. Id like to have a complete clean start.
Sent from my HTC Desire HD

Sure you can but make a backup of your card before you do it. Maybe you need your fotos, music aso.
There is no problem with root or recovery because its on the phone not on the card.
getapatalked by DESIRE HD

just got hd2!

hey guys! I just received my hd2 in the mail! its got gingerbread 2.3.7 on it currently and mag loader and spl 2.08. ok, now, it has all the guys information on it (guy i bought it from) so i was thinking about doing a factory restore of the phone (assuming that will install windows on it), but will that mess up anything with magloader? or will it still be on there cause its like a bios thing not an OS thing?

?

1st of all, congrats on your purchase
2nd, if you do a factory wipe, it will only wipe /data and /cache. It is a common misconception that "factory reset" within android will delete android and re-install windows, but that is not the case. A factory reset will only wipe all user data, but not the system itself.

thanks!
ok, so just to be clear, it will simply just put a fresh copy of 2.3.7 with no user data?

TripleP46 said:
thanks!
ok, so just to be clear, it will simply just put a fresh copy of 2.3.7 with no user data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, It will simply delete user data generated by the rom and user.

If anyone Soft-Bricks their Nexus 7

If you did Soft-Brick your new Nexus 7 2013 and you cannot access your Nexus 7 from your computer or a Factory Reset does not help please follow this guide. :crying:
(This is way different than the 0 Internal Storage bug. Go here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2380913 )
Step 1: Download and install Wugs toolkit from here: http://www.wugfresh.com/nrt/
Step 2: Let it download the files it needs and choose what device your have EXACTLY what you have.
Step 3: Install the universal drivers by finding the Initial Setup part which is the big bar at the top. Go to the Step 2 tab and install the Universal Drivers and then let that install. It installs ADB so you can access ADB even in recovery if you could not before.
Step 4: Launch the Advanced Utilities in the bottom left and you will need a new ROM. Go here to get one: http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2411
gApps: http://goo.im/gapps
Step 5: Once you have those two things go to Flash Zips at the top right and tell it that the file is on the computer. Go to add files and add the ROM then GAPPS and enable to the left that it is a ROM but disable the nandroid backup because you really don't need it at the moment. Also have Wipe Dalvik, Cache, and Data on at the bottom.
Step 6: Confirm it and let it flash. Done! It will take about 5 minutes. Go eat or do something while waiting. It might take less but if you want to be on the safe side just let it run until your device powers on. :victory:
I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING THAT YOU DO WRONG.
If you have any questions or comments please leave some.:good:

So, use a toolkit to install a ROM. How is this some magical fix?

khaytsus said:
So, use a toolkit to install a ROM. How is this some magical fix?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never meant for it to be a "magical" fix. It is just a fix for a soft-bricked Nexus which had a rogue ROM and a Factory Reset would not fix nor was ADB working. Maybe someone has this happen and if you have a Backup from lets say Titanium Backup you kind of don't want to Format Data. So if you could just appreciate if I made a tutorial for the less fortunate in Android I am sorry. Skip the thread next time please

WeRSpecialPeople said:
Also have Wipe Dalvik, Cache, and Data on at the bottom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You say here to wipe data.
WeRSpecialPeople said:
Maybe someone has this happen and if you have a Backup from lets say Titanium Backup you kind of don't want to Format Data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And here not to format data. Though wipe and format are not the same, the end result to the user is still that the data is gone. So I'm not sure whether you mean for the data gone or not.
WeRSpecialPeople said:
If you have any questions or comments please leave some.:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Usually, the better option is to find the most similar ROM to the one that the data partition was populated with, so there will be a smaller likelihood of problems. For example, an older working nightly of the same ROM. Dirty flashing a random ROM is less likely to be problem-free.
2. Out of curiosity, why a toolkit, especially when flashing a ROM zip from recovery (not even ADB or fastboot) would work just as well?

bananagranola said:
You say here to wipe data.
And here not to format data. Though wipe and format are not the same, the end result to the user is still that the data is gone. So I'm not sure whether you mean for the data gone or not.
1. Usually, the better option is to find the most similar ROM to the one that the data partition was populated with, so there will be a smaller likelihood of problems. For example, an older working nightly of the same ROM. Dirty flashing a random ROM is less likely to be problem-free.
2. Out of curiosity, why a toolkit, especially when flashing a ROM zip from recovery (not even ADB or fastboot) would work just as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright Formatting Data wipes the whole device usually. Wiping the data gets rid of the users apps. Lets say you have a backup in storage/emulated/legacy. It will still be there after you wipe the data.
1. Yes but that is the users choice. I couldn't find a definite stock ROM to the device so I will just let them pick.
2. If you want me too I could make a tutorial using ADB if you really want me too. This was just a 5 minute tutorial on a toolkit and I understand that most people here do not like toolkits but it is a really easy way. Just tell me if you do want me to add ADB tutorial as well and I will. :silly:

WeRSpecialPeople said:
Alright Formatting Data wipes the whole device usually. Wiping the data gets rid of the users apps. Lets say you have a backup in storage/emulated/legacy. It will still be there after you wipe the data.
...
Just tell me if you do want me to add ADB tutorial as well and I will. :silly:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think formatting data wipes the whole device...just the data partition. Same as wiping data. The kernel and ROM in the boot and system partitions respectively stay. Wiping data wipes all user data as well, not just apps. In either case, I don't think sdcard gets wiped.
Since I won't be using it, I personally don't mind what you do with the toolkit, but users need to be aware that it's not the most problem-free method.

bananagranola said:
I don't think formatting data wipes the whole device...just the data partition. Same as wiping data. The kernel and ROM in the boot and system partitions respectively stay. Wiping data wipes all user data as well, not just apps. In either case, I don't think sdcard gets wiped.
Since I won't be using it, I personally don't mind what you do with the toolkit, but users need to be aware that it's not the most problem-free method.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sdcard is on /data so if you wipe data (including factory reset) the sdcard is 'formatted'.

khaytsus said:
Sdcard is on /data so if you wipe data (including factory reset) the sdcard is 'formatted'.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it now...how odd. Has it always worked like that on every device? On my Galaxy Nexus, TWRP specifically ignores the sdcard mount point.
EDIT: okay, I think I understand the confusion. I meant that wiping data/factory resetting from recovery doesn't wipe sdcard. I know that doing so from Android does.

Reset S4 with broken LCD

Hi guys, i've broken my Galaxy s4 lcd some day ago, and yesterday i've decided to sell it on ebay.
But now i have to wipe it. The problem is that i am running a custom Touchwiz rom and Philz touch recovery. So i don't think i can use Kies to make a factory reset.
I can use Odin to flash a stock image etc... But i don't know how to solve completely my problems.
Can someone help me? Thx

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=41392134
Take help from this
"If someone helps, never forget to hit thanks ? "

DeepankarS said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=41392134
Take help from this
"If someone helps, never forget to hit thanks ? "
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the replay.
However, the Galaxy S4 doesn't have fastboot mode, but only download mode and recovery mode, so I don't know how to use the commands...

OmniSlyfer said:
Thank you for the replay.
However, the Galaxy S4 doesn't have fastboot mode, but only download mode and recovery mode, so I don't know how to use the commands...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Odin will fix it.
Flash the stock ronin Odin. All your user data will be (sort of) removed.
A skilled user could still recover your user data' but most people won't even know its there.
You will not need the phone's screen to work at any point in the Odin process.

Skipjacks said:
Odin will fix it.
Flash the stock ronin Odin. All your user data will be (sort of) removed.
A skilled user could still recover your user data' but most people won't even know its there.
You will not need the phone's screen to work at any point in the Odin process.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh ok perfect
I've just finished to flash the stock rom, I hope evrything worked fine. I'll try to install Kies3 to see if I can maybe do another wipe or something else to delete definately all my data inside (including photos etc...). Any suggestions?

OmniSlyfer said:
Oh ok perfect
I've just finished to flash the stock rom, I hope evrything worked fine. I'll try to install Kies3 to see if I can maybe do another wipe or something else to delete definately all my data inside (including photos etc...). Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Odin will wipe the data as well as Kies will.
But neither really removes the data. Both just remove the directory structure which makes it easy to sort the data.
To really remove the data you need to overwrite it with new data. That is much more difficult to do without access to the screen on the phone.
You could do it in recovery with the device mounted via usb to a computer. But you generally need to select that in recovery using the touch screen.
You can also push data to the device to overwrite using adb, but its more difficult.
All in all though...unless you have evidence of your participation in a crime on the phone, don't be so worried about it. It will be okay.

Skipjacks said:
All in all though...unless you have evidence of your participation in a crime on the phone, don't be so worried about it. It will be okay.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahahahahahah

Skipjacks said:
Odin will wipe the data as well as Kies will.
But neither really removes the data. Both just remove the directory structure which makes it easy to sort the data.
To really remove the data you need to overwrite it with new data. That is much more difficult to do without access to the screen on the phone.
You could do it in recovery with the device mounted via usb to a computer. But you generally need to select that in recovery using the touch screen.
You can also push data to the device to overwrite using adb, but its more difficult.
All in all though...unless you have evidence of your participation in a crime on the phone, don't be so worried about it. It will be okay.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahahah. Thank you so much for the explanation
I think the buyer will find some photos of me in the phone, i hope he will not die coz of my ugly face
I think this thread can be closed.

Skipjacks said:
Odin will wipe the data as well as Kies will.
But neither really removes the data. Both just remove the directory structure which makes it easy to sort the data.
To really remove the data you need to overwrite it with new data. That is much more difficult to do without access to the screen on the phone.
You could do it in recovery with the device mounted via usb to a computer. But you generally need to select that in recovery using the touch screen.
You can also push data to the device to overwrite using adb, but its more difficult.
All in all though...unless you have evidence of your participation in a crime on the phone, don't be so worried about it. It will be okay.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since Google implemented Trim in Android 4.3, it's impossible (as of yet) to recover deleted data. I tried several guides here on XDA on data recovery and none of them work anymore.
See for example this article.
http://forensic.belkasoft.com/en/why-ssd-destroy-court-evidence
So basically if you delete a file or format your system, the data is really gone.

Lennyz1988 said:
Since Google implemented Trim in Android 4.3, it's impossible (as of yet) to recover deleted data. I tried several guides here on XDA on data recovery and none of them work anymore.
See for example this article.
http://forensic.belkasoft.com/en/why-ssd-destroy-court-evidence
So basically if you delete a file or format your system, the data is really gone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That article was one of the most awesome nerdy things I ever read. I had no idea about the garbage collectors on solid state memory.

Skipjacks said:
That article was one of the most awesome nerdy things I ever read. I had no idea about the garbage collectors on solid state memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From my experience, flashing stock firmware with Kies DOES NOT wipe the user data/files from phones SD card. I have to always do factory reset from stock recovery to wipe it.

tomtro74 said:
From my experience, flashing stock firmware with Kies DOES NOT wipe the user data/files from phones SD card. I have to always do factory reset from stock recovery to wipe it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It wont ever wipe the external sd card
The internal sd card should depend on the tar file and if it formats that partition or not.
I never really paid attention to it myself because I have never had to flash a full stock restore on my S4 so I have no idea what the standard for S4 firmwares is.
The internal data partition though should be wiped with a full stock firmware in odin every single time.

Skipjacks said:
It wont ever wipe the external sd card
The internal sd card should depend on the tar file and if it formats that partition or not.
I never really paid attention to it myself because I have never had to flash a full stock restore on my S4 so I have no idea what the standard for S4 firmwares is.
The internal data partition though should be wiped with a full stock firmware in odin every single time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it's not. Believe me. I used to flash stock rom on S4 number of times and I can confirm that flashing stock rom with Odin DOES NOT WIPE any user data. Your photos and other files stays intact as well as the apss ( you may loose some apps internal data ) until factory reset is performed either from stock recovery or from rom itself.

tomtro74 said:
Well, it's not. Believe me. I used to flash stock rom on S4 number of times and I can confirm that flashing stock rom with Odin DOES NOT WIPE any user data. Your photos and other files stays intact as well as the apss ( you may loose some apps internal data ) until factory reset is performed either from stock recovery or from rom itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well how about that.....you learn something new every day!

OmniSlyfer said:
Hi guys, i've broken my Galaxy s4 lcd some day ago, and yesterday i've decided to sell it on ebay.
But now i have to wipe it. The problem is that i am running a custom Touchwiz rom and Philz touch recovery. So i don't think i can use Kies to make a factory reset.
I can use Odin to flash a stock image etc... But i don't know how to solve completely my problems.
Can someone help me? Thx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if your S4 opens, just connect it to the PC and then the internal memory will appear
delete whatever you wants