Factory reset

[ricks]

Can I do a factory reset on my Moto droid with the sd card out? And what will happen with the phone. What will be deleted?

 

[hookbill]

Can I do a factory reset on my Moto droid with the sd card out? And what will happen with the phone. What will be deleted?

Don't know why it wouldn't, but if you are worried about losing something of your SD card then I'll tell you that you have nothing to worry about.

A factory data reset from your privacy section of your settings will remove all data and delete apps. Apps can be restored in your downloads in the market and contacts will be restored when you log your phone back in via gmail.

 

[HarvesterX™]

A factory reset won't touch anything that's stored on your sdcard. What it will do however is load up the OS as it was when you first purchased it...meaning you will need to download any apps you've installed over again and redo any settings you've changed. The good news is you won't have to pay for any paid apps you've purchased because this informatiion is all tied to your google account and stored on google servers. This also applies to your contact list and anything in your calendar.

After resetting and rebooting your phone you will have to follow the instuctions to sign back in to your google account and I don't remember but you also might have to follow the prompts to activate your phone again. All of the above is quick and painless but I didn't want you to freak out when rebooting ypour phone for the first time lol.

So technically you won't lose too much because normally important application data is stored on your sdcard and if it's not (like your contact list) then it's backed up on google servers. It's also a fairly painless process but if you aren't using an app to backup and restore app data, then all your settings not stored on the sdcard will have to be redone. This includes having to setup all your screens again with any icons/shortcuts/widgets/settings. Some home replacements such as ADW have options to backup your screen settings and data to your sdcard so you can quickly recover.

Other than having to redo your screens, reset all your settings, and redownload all your applications (if not using a backup program) that's about all the caveats I can think of. I'm kinda pressed on time so feel free anyone to correct or add anything in this post that I might have left out or gotten wrong. I've reset my droid many times though and haven't ever ran into any problems where I've lost anything important. Oh...you also might want to export all bookmarks you have and then import those back after you reset. I've always forgotten to do that and gotten ticked everytime when I remembered that I could. I use Dolphin HD and there is a plug in that does this nicely. I have never tried with any other browser though.

I keep remembering little things. You also might want to copy any important folders from your sdcard to your computer...such as pictures, ringtones, music, game files, etc...and then format your sdcard to help ensure you get a clean reset. After you format it you can always move your files back. This is optional and I will stress again though there is no need to remove your card because the factory reset won't delete anything.

Good luck and I will check back later to see how things went for you.

 

[ricks]

I think I am going to hold off on the reset because I hear that with me running a live wallpaper the phone just goes thru the standard or last wallpaper on file before going to the live wallpaper on the phone. Can anyone confirm this?

 

[HarvesterX™]

Not exactly sure what you are talking about. I don't see what having a live wallpaper running has anything to do with a reset. Do you know the thread or url you got that from? I'd like to read that. I've reset with live wallpapers running before and had no issues nor I see why someone would have issues. Maybe I don't understand what you meant...

 

[ricks]

Not exactly sure what you are talking about. I don't see what having a live wallpaper running has anything to do with a reset. Do you know the thread or url you got that from? I'd like to read that. I've reset with live wallpapers running before and had no issues nor I see why someone would have issues. Maybe I don't understand what you meant...

My problem I thought I had was whenever I turn my phone on in the morning say, as it powers up and gets to the unlock screen. I unlock the phone and a hello kitty wallpaper appears that my daughter saved as wallpaper. Only for a second then goes to my live wallpaper. This morning I changed the wallpaper to a regular non live wallpaper, and then switched back to my live Droid Eye wallpaper and now when I power my phone on it shows the non live wallpaper for a second and goes to my live wallpaper. I think that the phone just has to show the standard wallpaper first then go to the live one I have set. Can someone try this and see if it does the same thing? I only wanted to do a reset because I thought it was a problem.

 

[Bear in NM]

And you will also want to make sure you have synced up with goggle prior to the reset. Some folks have syncing turned off, and if you have made many app/contact changes to the phone without syncing, these could be lost.

Craig

 

[HarvesterX™]

Ah ok that makes more sense lol. Yeah that sounds like normal behavior as the live wallpaper app will loa but before it does you will see whatever standard wallpaper you have set. I can't test it for you right now since I'm at the hospital but that sounds correct.

 

[SiLVERFIRE]

I have a question about the factory reset.

I'm using SPRecovery and if I did a factory reset in there but decided to use an old backup, would it restore everything back exactly how it was before I did the factory reset?

I'm planning to try out Froyo and I would need to do a factory reset, but if I wanted to go back to Android 2.1 Smoked Glass, would it be possible for me to do another factory reset and then restore a backup and have everything be exactly the same? Specifically, my app settings and home screen layout.

 

[aldaudio]

will a factory reset remove the proof of being rooted?

 

[nooter99]

Don't mean to hijack your thread, but I have a couple of rookie questions:
When doing the factory reset, can it be done WITHOUT the sd card installed in the phone?
If not, are you guys saying that nothing will be deleted from the card?
I understand all the stuff about the apps and contacts having to be downloaded and synced, but I'm a little confused about the sd card. I have a lot of pictures (both camera and downloaded) and music that I don't want to lose. I know I could transfer everything to a PC first, but if that's not an option, will all my sd card stuff still be there after the reset? As you can tell, I know next to nothing about these fancy contraptions!

 

[SiLVERFIRE]

Don't mean to hijack your thread, but I have a couple of rookie questions:
When doing the factory reset, can it be done WITHOUT the sd card installed in the phone?
If not, are you guys saying that nothing will be deleted from the card?
I understand all the stuff about the apps and contacts having to be downloaded and synced, but I'm a little confused about the sd card. I have a lot of pictures (both camera and downloaded) and music that I don't want to lose. I know I could transfer everything to a PC first, but if that's not an option, will all my sd card stuff still be there after the reset? As you can tell, I know next to nothing about these fancy contraptions!

I too was very cautious about doing a data wipe/factory reset but after doing it once, I felt very comfortable doing it again there after.

Basically all it does is goes in and resets everything to as if you first got the phone - excluding the recovery console. So if you have SPRecovery, it's still there.
REST ASSURED... because this was a major concern for me, that everything on your sdcard will be absolutely fine. You can back it up if you want an extra sense of security, but trust me... it's not necessary.

What will be reset:
- You'll lose your texts.
- You'll lose all your application settings like set ring tones and stuff.
All your applications will need to be reinstalled. (Paid apps are still paid for.)
- You will lose your call logs.

What you wont lose:
- Contacts, these are backed up through your Google account which was an option you selected when you first signed in on the phone. They may not show up right away because the phone needs to sync with the cloud, but rest assured - they are still there.
- Paid apps, you will obviously need to reinstall them, but your Google account keeps track of all of this stuff so once you sign back into your Google account, any and all paid apps will still be marked "Paid" in the market and you can re-download them without paying for them again.
- Absolutely nothing on your sdcard will even be touched. Pictures, music, files, everything will still be perfectly in tact.

I hope I made the one post to hopefully answer your question, because even after searching all over the place... I wasn't able to find any of this out without actually doing it myself. xD

 

[nooter99]

Thanks SILVERFIRE! One last question and I'm done.
Does Google have my free apps stored, or just the paid ones?
Also, if I backup all my apps to the sd card before the reset, will that somehow make it easier to re-install them?
I lied, that was 2 questions!

 

[SiLVERFIRE]

If you find an app that can back up the apps onto the sd card, that should definantly make the process a lot easier because you'd be able to just install them from the apk instead of trying to find them all on the market again.
I mean ease is a matter of opinion though, you're getting the same thing from a different location.
One advantage of backing your apps up though would be if you've been evading an update for an application on the marketplace. If you don't back it up, you're kind of screwed because you'll be getting the latest update off the market. I've been doing this with Dolphin for the longest time now. Haha.

Also, Google doesn't necessarily store your apps. It just keeps track of what you have and puts it back onto your phone once you sign back into Google with it. I don't know if it will automatically reinstall paid apps though, I'm looking down here and I don't see Root Manager anywhere, so I'm going to have to go reinstall that.

 

[PhoenixGTR]

Astro and Estrongs can backup apps.

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