Nervous Noob

[dudemansir]

Hey all. So I am thinking it is time to upgrade to GB seeing as how our update has been pushed back to an unforeseen date. I know nothing about rooting though and am fairly terrified to destroy my phone.

I had previously installed z4root which worked fine and i used it to rename some .apk in the startup. While i am confident in my ability to follow a guide, I guess i am just overwhelmed with the number of different roms.
1. How do you decide which one to choose?
2. If a rom doesn't work out for you, how difficult is it to switch?
3. do you need to completely wipe the phone again?

 

[clouse2013]

Hey all. So I am thinking it is time to upgrade to GB seeing as how our update has been pushed back to an unforeseen date. I know nothing about rooting though and am fairly terrified to destroy my phone.

I had previously installed z4root which worked fine and i used it to rename some .apk in the startup. While i am confident in my ability to follow a guide, I guess i am just overwhelmed with the number of different roms.
1. How do you decide which one to choose?
2. If a rom doesn't work out for you, how difficult is it to switch?
3. do you need to completely wipe the phone again?

1. Just flash a rom, try it out, and if you like it, keep it. Its all personal preference so you must choose the right one for you.
2. It is very easy to switch. just boot into recovery (using Kousch's bootstrapper) and wipe cache/data and install the new rom.
3. you need to wipe data before installing a new rom. Get Titanium backup from the market(for free) and it will back up all of your apps even when you switch roms. Make sure you back your contacts up either on your sd card or google too.

Really, custom roms are the way to go. I reccommend trying either HeXen or Angel. but its all up to you.

Also, do you have a droid 2 or a droid 2 global? I saw droid 2 in your profile.

 

[dudemansir]

damn it sorry!!! i totally thought i was in the D2 forum

When using Titanium, do you just back up EVERYTHING to the SD card?

Clouse... what is it you dig about Angel or Hexen?

 

[clouse2013]

damn it sorry!!! i totally thought i was in the D2 forum

When using Titanium, do you just back up EVERYTHING to the SD card?

Clouse... what is it you dig about Angel or Hexen?

I just back up everything with titanium. and if you just have a regular d2 i would go with liberty rom first and see if you like it. I believe they have a pretty stable liberty gingerbread. But whats nice about all custom roms, not just angel or hexen, they improve battery life and the themes are very nice. Lots of performance tweaks as well. You will find those with most custom roms.

 

[dudemansir]

yeah i was taking a look at liberty. just lots of stuff i am not totally sure of. right now i am following http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...asy-guide-rooting-backup-rom-flashing-d2.html

I guess i am finding the bootstrapping section to backup my room a bit confusing. so you i use bootstrap to backup the current rom (stock) i am using at the moment before putting the new rom in. after adding the new rom, if i want to go back to stock i run bootstrap and find the previous rom or something?

"get your phone to the exact state it was in at this point....all you would do is unroot, remove a few apps, and you are totally stock and ready to return it should you need to. Of course you can always go the SBF route as well."

just unrooting gets me back to the previous rom? what does that mean remove a few apps?

 

[clouse2013]

yeah i was taking a look at liberty. just lots of stuff i am not totally sure of. right now i am following http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...asy-guide-rooting-backup-rom-flashing-d2.html

I guess i am finding the bootstrapping section to backup my room a bit confusing. so you i use bootstrap to backup the current rom (stock) i am using at the moment before putting the new rom in. after adding the new rom, if i want to go back to stock i run bootstrap and find the previous rom or something?

"get your phone to the exact state it was in at this point....all you would do is unroot, remove a few apps, and you are totally stock and ready to return it should you need to. Of course you can always go the SBF route as well."

just unrooting gets me back to the previous rom? what does that mean remove a few apps?

When you make a backup, you can open the bootstrapper app and go back to that exact state that it was in before. to completely unroot, you need to remove the bootstrapper(this app blocks verizon updates etc...).

 

[dudemansir]

liberty seems to have some bugs floating around. i was thinking of giving zombiestomped or apex a run

 

[clouse2013]

Go for it. Its all personal preference. If u need help, just pm me

 

[Asphyx]

Why don't you try the CM4D2 release?

It can be found at Rootwiki and it might even be officially supported on the Cyanogen site by now!

 

[blumpkinblake]

1. How do you decide which one to choose?
2. If a rom doesn't work out for you, how difficult is it to switch?
3. do you need to completely wipe the phone again?

There isn't really a surefire way to tell which rom is best. The best way to choose a rom is to try one, and if it runs nice on your phone, then you keep it.

If the rom is laggy or slow, switching to a new rom is as simple as downloading the new rom, wiping, and installing it.

Yes, you need to wipe your phone again.

However, wiping your phone is not as bad as you think. It takes me maybe 15 minutes to setup everything after I completely wipe everything.

Here's how I usually install new roms on my friends phones:
1. Backup apps and data with Titanium backup pro
2. Backup contacts just incase
3. Backup the current rom.
4. boot to recovery and wipe data etc.
5. install new rom
6. go to market and install titanium backup pro and begin restoring.

Also, for launchers like ADW Launcher, you can backup the settings and the homescreens so you don't have to setup anything but the widgets.

 

[dudemansir]

blumpkinblake... i am going to drop GB in in a few moments. someone recommended using MyBackup since it backed up contacts, messages, and i think app settings.

i am using this small guide to get GB up and running
Droid 2 Gingerbread (2.3.3) - Release - PreRooted

 

[jmichaelm]

someone recommended using MyBackup since it backed up contacts, messages, and i think app settings.

I have only used Titanium for app backup and I trust it. If I was going to try out MyBackup I would back up an app I did not worry too much about e.g. a free game after playing a level. Then delete it and reinstall from backup and verify the data was there (does it see I already played one level?)

All the disclaimers are there not to "scare" you but to remind you that you are reponsible for the results. You should verify things work on your own. Don't wait till you need 911 to see if your can actually call and talk to somone after your new rom is installed.

GL and hope you like your new rom as much as I like mine

 

[dudemansir]

GB installation went rather flawlessly. perhaps i will give zombiestomped or apex a go.

 

[clouse2013]

GB installation went rather flawlessly. perhaps i will give zombiestomped or apex a go.

As Asphynx said, dont pass up the CM4D2. Thats a pretty slick rom. Very very fast and all from source.

 

[dudemansir]

i will look into it. i just installed Gb and getting an annoying error, "the process android.process.media has stopped unexpectedly." on every reboot. no texts happening.