Database Users

Understanding the root process

Hi all,
I am interested in trying custom roms for various reasons on my G2. With the recent breakthrough in allowing full root, now seems to be a good time to try.
What I don't seem to be grasping is the whole process so, here is what I think* needs to be done, and I'd appreciate a more seasoned person to set me straight
1. Obtain full root via RAGE or oneclick Visionary method
2. Install RomManager
3. Obtain Rom
Here is where I kind of get blurry on the whole topic.
Once I have the files needed, Does RomManager do a nandroid backup so I can revert back in case I want to revert back to stock? Is this how I would revert back to stock or do I need to find the original pre or post OTA rom for the g2?
Does a program like Titanium Backup allow me to backup all of my apps and settings so they are easily restored no matter the rom, or if I revert back to stock?
Thanks in advance all, I have been reading every subset of these forums but I still feel a bit scared to try and wanted to get the facts straight before trying. I'm mostly just concerned that I wouldnt be able to revert back to stock if I had to.

gjm777 said:
Once I have the files needed, Does RomManager do a nandroid backup so I can revert back in case I want to revert back to stock? Is this how I would revert back to stock or do I need to find the original pre or post OTA rom for the g2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
rom manager can perform the backup, wipe, and install of a new ROM all in one go, you just need to tell rom manager where the ROM is on the sdcard and it will ask if you want to backup and/or wipe first
gjm777 said:
Does a program like Titanium Backup allow me to backup all of my apps and settings so they are easily restored no matter the rom, or if I revert back to stock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i do not know if titanium backup will restore the settings within the apps, but the backed up apps will work on any custom ROM you install on your phone.

Thank you for making that more clear!
So when wiping for a new rom, you want to wipe the cache, and do a full system wipe as well?
Lastly, now that I have the stock g2 rom backed up (did it manually via recovery, not in the rommanager app) I can flash as many roms I want to try them, but really can revert back to stock based on that backup. I guess what I'm saying is, I dont have to revert to stock before trying out a new rom right?
Thanks again, this is a huge help!

With your ROM backed up, that's essentially a "screenshot" of the state of your phone at that time. So yes, you can jump from ROM to ROM, clearing data, and whenever you're ready to go back to stock, you just restore your stock ROM and pretend nothing happened.
And yes, I recommend wiping everything when flashing a new ROM. Although if you're coming from the same type of ROM (I.E HTC Sense to another HTC Sense) you can probably get away with not wiping data.
And with Titanium Backup, I do reckon that settings are kept. When you restore apps, you're given the option to restore the app or app+data.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

Perfect,
Thanks for the help all, much appreciated.

[Q] How can I backup oficial Desire Z rom etc.?

I am going to have my new Desire Z in a few days and I want to root it. I have a question, how can I backup all of oficial rom, kernel, radio ets.? Because I am not sure if I will send it to HTC for warranty in a few months or in 2 years. What do I need to do before rooting my device for not to have any warranty problems? Thanks for now...

Deadly Sto(R)m said:
I am going to have my new Desire Z in a few days and I want to root it. I have a question, how can I backup all of oficial rom, kernel, radio ets.? Because I am not sure if I will send it to HTC for warranty in a few months or in 2 years. What do I need to do before rooting my device for not to have any warranty problems? Thanks for now...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you're going to have to downgrade in order to get root, which will wipe the device as far as I know.
After you've downgraded and rooted, you can then use ROM manger to make a 'nandroid' backup of the device. It effectively makes a perfect copy of the entire device, and saves it to your SD card. After you flash a new ROM or anything, you can always go back and restore that nandroid backup, putting you exactly where you were when you made the backup.
It should be noted that when you send it into HTC for repair, you'll want to unroot it anyways, which will wipe the device again and return to stock w/ S-ON (you dont want to send it to HTC with your info on it anyways), so keeping the stock rooted ROM isn't completely necessary (although it is a good idea to have around for troubleshooting reasons).

martonikaj said:
Well you're going to have to downgrade in order to get root, which will wipe the device as far as I know.
After you've downgraded and rooted, you can then use ROM manger to make a 'nandroid' backup of the device. It effectively makes a perfect copy of the entire device, and saves it to your SD card. After you flash a new ROM or anything, you can always go back and restore that nandroid backup, putting you exactly where you were when you made the backup.
It should be noted that when you send it into HTC for repair, you'll want to unroot it anyways, which will wipe the device again and return to stock w/ S-ON (you dont want to send it to HTC with your info on it anyways), so keeping the stock rooted ROM isn't completely necessary (although it is a good idea to have around for troubleshooting reasons).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off all thank you for your post...
Second; The things that I understand;
1) I have to downgrade and root my phone
2) I must have a nandroid backup (I will learn what it is and how to do this), so i will have a backup which will help me to restore me device again when i want.)
3) I need to S-ON my device again when sending to HTC.
4) The mst important is saving nandroid backup will save my device
Are these true or will i have to study more?
By the way, I want to try sense 3.0 but i am not sure to have virtuous rom. do you recommend to get it? Which is best; to have a gingerbread rom w/ sense 2.1 or froyo rom w/ sense 3.0? As i know, virtuous rom doesn't have gingerbread now but it might have soon...

Deadly Sto(R)m said:
First off all thank you for your post...
Second; The things that I understand;
1) I have to downgrade and root my phone
2) I must have a nandroid backup (I will learn what it is and how to do this), so i will have a backup which will help me to restore me device again when i want.)
3) I need to S-ON my device again when sending to HTC.
4) The mst important is saving nandroid backup will save my device
Are these true or will i have to study more?
By the way, I want to try sense 3.0 but i am not sure to have virtuous rom. do you recommend to get it? Which is best; to have a gingerbread rom w/ sense 2.1 or froyo rom w/ sense 3.0? As i know, virtuous rom doesn't have gingerbread now but it might have soon...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep you got it. After downgrade/rooting (follow Wiki guide), use ROM manager (download in the market) to flash ClockWorkMod Recovery. Then use that to make a backup. It saves the file to your SD card. Copy that file to your computer for safe keeping (good to have it in 2 places if you really wanna make sure you keep it).
To get S-ON later if you need to send in for repair, follow the Wiki to unroot and that'll be done. It should be noted that unrooting the phone will flash it back to completely stock setup, so the stock nandroid backup isn't necessary to keep in order to send back to HTC. The only real reason to keep that rooted stock backup around is for troubleshooting problems, etc. you can always go back to the stock ROM to try things.
As far as running Virtuous for Sense 3.0 or 2.1, that's all personal preference. I advise just trying different ROMs and seeing which you like. Everyone likes something different. Just remember to nandroid the one you're on before switching so you can go back if need be.

[SOLVED!] How can I backup oficial Desire Z rom etc.?
martonikaj said:
To get S-ON later if you need to send in for repair, follow the Wiki to unroot and that'll be done. It should be noted that unrooting the phone will flash it back to completely stock setup, so the stock nandroid backup isn't necessary to keep in order to send back to HTC. The only real reason to keep that rooted stock backup around is for troubleshooting problems, etc. you can always go back to the stock ROM to try things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I quess to have a nandroid backup is necessary to send back to HTC before you told me. Thank you for this. I will try lots of roms and decide which one i want.

I was just going to make a post about the same subject until I saw this. I also too want to back up my G2 stock rom. I'm currently returing my old G2 inplace of a replacement G2. I want to know how I can back up the stock rom without rooting? I downloaded rom manager but need root to continue. My old phone was rooted and had all my backups that way. I wanna try out the new 2.3.4 from OTA when I get the notification to do so, but just incase I don't like it I wanna go back to stock then root. So how can I do a full backup without root or doing a factory data reset? Thanks

Kilroy672 said:
I was just going to make a post about the same subject until I saw this. I also too want to back up my G2 stock rom. I'm currently returing my old G2 inplace of a replacement G2. I want to know how I can back up the stock rom without rooting? I downloaded rom manager but need root to continue. My old phone was rooted and had all my backups that way. I wanna try out the new 2.3.4 from OTA when I get the notification to do so, but just incase I don't like it I wanna go back to stock then root. So how can I do a full backup without root or doing a factory data reset? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only way to do a full backup is to root and use ROM manager to make a nandroid backup. Like I said before, backing up the stock ROM is nice for troubleshooting etc. but in order to un-root you'll have to completely wipe the device and will install the stock ROM again.
If you want to try out 2.3 you can use CM7 (which is stock 2.3 w/ some improvements), or wait for the official OTA to be pre-rooted then you can flash it after you've rooted.

Deadly Sto(R)m said:
I quess to have a nandroid backup is necessary to send back to HTC before you told me. Thank you for this. I will try lots of roms and decide which one i want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea sorry for the confusion if I made it sound that way. The action of un-rooting the device will put it back to stock, you don't have to save the stock ROM. The only reason to do so is if you like to have the stock rooted ROM around just in case you want to try something on it.

martonikaj said:
Yea sorry for the confusion if I made it sound that way. The action of un-rooting the device will put it back to stock, you don't have to save the stock ROM. The only reason to do so is if you like to have the stock rooted ROM around just in case you want to try something on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got all you told me. Thank you for all.

Deadly Sto(R)m said:
I got all you told me. Thank you for all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome. GL.

Thanks for the info. Finally can get the desire z re-done

[Q] Returning Nook - partition question

I am returning my NC - dropped it, cracked the frame and volume keys no longer work. It's covered under my extended warranty, thank goodness!
I was running the MiRage rom on my emmc. I was able to restore to stock using TWRP (again, thank goodness for a touch screen recovery!).
I had redone my partitions to have 2 GB for my apps. Not being a developer, just someone who knows how to read instructions well, I'm wondering if when I restored my NC to stock, did it also restore the partitions, or is there something else I need to do before I send it back?

It would not restore original partitions... you will need the zip file for that as well.

So, if I follow the instructions in this thread (using TWRP instead of CWR) and restore to 1GB data/5 GB media, do I then need to reflash B&N stock image afterwards? Do I need to wipe before restoring the partitions?

shouldn't need to reflash stock... wiping not necessary.

@dizzyden - I have seen so many of your posts in the NC forum. Always helpful. Always with answers. Thank you for your help in my time of need.

[Q] Custom Roms (mb526)

Hi there,
If I made a nandroid backup, then installed a custom rom (with gapps) and didn't like the rom that much and wanted to go back, would I just restore my nandroid backup?
I have looked around if you are wondering, I'm just not 100% sure as of yet.
Cheers,
z3r0-grav1ty

Sure
Hi it shouldn't be a problem with restore there is plenty information about how to do this on this forum, but if U flash device once U probably won't go for older system again...
Or if there is a warranty issue I always use sbf file to go back to "factory condition"

0lsztyN said:
Hi it shouldn't be a problem with restore there is plenty information about how to do this on this forum, but if U flash device once U probably won't go for older system again...
Or if there is a warranty issue I always use sbf file to go back to "factory condition"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I have an sbf just in case for factory resets. It is unlikely that I want to change my current ROM, but I was just wondering.

[Q] Looking for stock ROM Thinkpad Tablet

Hello and greetings from germany.
I know that there is already a thread with stock ROMs, but because I am not allowed writing into a develop thread I have to write here.
I am looking for a stock ROM (android flavor doesnt matter) for my TPT: 16GB, 3G (ericson card), EU only (bought in germany, i think I need a WE ROM).
Anybody help me?

AW: [Q] Looking for stock ROM Thinkpad Tablet
Sorry, I forgot to ask:
Is it possible to flash an UK version to a WE Tablet? Or will thisbrick my device?
Sent from my ThinkPadTablet using xda app-developers app

thinksepp said:
Sorry, I forgot to ask:
Is it possible to flash an UK version to a WE Tablet? Or will thisbrick my device?
Sent from my ThinkPadTablet using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried some if the stock ROMs. Can't get them to boot past the lenovo screen

shawnvfd said:
I've tried some if the stock ROMs. Can't get them to boot past the lenovo screen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
has anyone been able to go back to stock and boot thru the lenovo screen without loops?

shawnvfd said:
has anyone been able to go back to stock and boot thru the lenovo screen without loops?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried several times, but have the same problem; stuck at logo screen. It happens even when I use my own nandroid back or the no_bloat nandroid backup.
Does anyone know a solution?
thanks
DRW

drw170 said:
I have tried several times, but have the same problem; stuck at logo screen. It happens even when I use my own nandroid back or the no_bloat nandroid backup.
Does anyone know a solution?
thanks
DRW
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't done this myself, but I know the standard fix when you restore a previously working nandroid and it doesn't boot is to wipe data, cache, dalvik, flash nandroid, fix permissions.
If that doesn't work then use the reformat data zip that koshu posted in the cm10 for tpt thread, but be sure to backup the nandroid from your tpt to your computer or an external sd first since it will format the internal sd card.

I went back to stock ICS from CM10 several times but had no issues at all.
I have a ROW 16 gb TPT.