Erase data, erase data but save apps, save data

Wiping the data partition will remove ALL user data on the phone. That includes the Call Log, Contacts, SMS, User-installed Apps, etc. Note, this is the data on the phone's internal memory, not the SD card. The SD will not be modified.
Here are the basic partitions:
Boot - Self-explanatory
Recovery - Same
System - All system files and system apps (MMS, Dialer, etc)
Data - User apps and data
Cache - If you don't know what a cache is in computing, just look it up on Wikipedia
SDCard - Self-explanatory

 

Contacts are saved to your google account and will re-sync when you connect back to google with your phone. If you wipe data but save apps you will keep the apps but not the data that commonly corrupts when loading different ROMs.

 

Im confused ugh!

 

please explain. i cant guess whats wrong :icon_ banana:

 

for me im not really an expert...everytime i flash a new rom i do the same few steps

use my backup pro (app) to backup data and apps (apks n data)
i save my homescreens with launcher plus
i make a back up of my current rom using rom manager
i wipe all data and caches a few times (because everyone says to lol)
and then i reflash the new rom

i reenter google info...redownload my backup pro...open up mybackup...restore apps and reboot, restore contacts and data and reboot...then restore my homescreens with launcher pro..reboot my phone one last time and regardless of what ROM im using now my phone is essentially the same as it was...all my apps have their data, widgets contacts ...texts etc.. sometimes you have to replace your widgets but its not so bad...

some people have other methods of making and restoring backups this is just how i do it...i hope that helps