Question About ROMs for Droid X

[OctaviusMaximus]

Hey guys,
I am kinda sorta new to this ROMs stuff, I have been reading the chatter for a long time yet have never had or attempted to get a custom ROM for my X.
I am rooted on stock 4.5.602. There are no other modifications to the phone. Now as I understand the process to load up a custom ROM is
0) Put the ROM in /sdcard.
1) Take an app backup with TB.
2) Boot into droid2 bootstrap recovery.
3) Take a backup of the data partition.
4) Install the rom through bootstrap recovery.
5) wipe data/cache.
6) activate the phone and re-setup google accounts and such.
7) Restore Apps with TB.

At this point I should have a phone with all the apps that I previously had but none of the data. The step that I can't put into the process is restore the backed up data. Where and with what would I accomplish that?

Also I am looking for a stable gingerbread ROM to switch to and I was looking at Liberty GB. If there are any that work better than the Liberty GB or if there are any instabilities with it (other than very minor quirks as is the case with basically every ROM), I would like to know. If there is an AOSP ROM for the X, I would appreciate that the most. The overall look and feel of the VZ 4.5.602 ROM is very 'blue' and I want to move away from it. I would like to have the dark gray notification bar with the green icons if possible. The other concern is the battery hog that the Droid X is and I would like to have a ROM that might help with that but that is not that big of a concern right now. I would like to have something that looks good and is functional.

 

[JSM9872]

Your steps look pretty solid to me. I would say that during step 3 you should do a full back up and not just data. Also, reverse steps 4 + 5, you should wipe first then install. And as far as restoring backed up data there really is not a place to do that other then the data that titanium has saved for the user (downloaded) apps. If you restore data to other apps you may end up experiencing some issues.

And one word of advice, make sure you know how to SBF in case something goes wrong and you get stuck in a boot loop. I would look up some guides and make sure you have everything in place should something go wrong. It stinks having to figure it out once its too late.

 

[OctaviusMaximus]

Cool. Now I have a question about SBFing. Since .605 can be rooted now, can you now SBF to .605 instead of .340, root and then try again. Also what if I screw this up royally and/or don't like the rom, how do I reset the process and bring it to where it was before I started? Is there a way to package the current state of my phone and restore it later? And then, is there a way to package the current state of the custom ROM and then restore it later? The steps for custom vs. stock can't be that different.

 

[JSM9872]

Currently there is no SBF that I am aware of for .605 (I would imagine there will be soon), there is one for .602. I have been using it and rooting with the one-click quite easily. As far as going back from the custom ROM to stock, you would be able to use the full back up I recommended doing in step 3. And you are right about the steps being the same for if you want to go from one ROM back to another. As long as you make the back ups you can restore them provided they are on the proper kernel version.

 

[leftspin]

Cool. Now I have a question about SBFing. Since .605 can be rooted now, can you now SBF to .605 instead of .340, root and then try again. Also what if I screw this up royally and/or don't like the rom, how do I reset the process and bring it to where it was before I started? Is there a way to package the current state of my phone and restore it later? And then, is there a way to package the current state of the custom ROM and then restore it later? The steps for custom vs. stock can't be that different.

from what I have read you cannot flash .602 ROMs on .605, so you will need to make sure you're on .602. If you screw up really badly the worst that happens is you would need to SBF, but if you don't like the ROM you can just wipe data/cache/dalvik and then flash a different one as long as it also uses the .602 kernel. You will also need to download an app from the market called ROM Manager, from there you can backup the entire phone (whether it is a custom ROM or stock rooted) and also flash your custom ROM.

 

[debrad0307]

You were also asking about gingerbread roms... liberty GB is good. I used it until just recently when I decided to just go to the rooted stock gingerbread rom. To be honest, I like gingerbread based roms.a lot better than froyo although, I must say, there are a lot more themes for froyo liberty than there are for liberty gingerbread.

Tappin and talkin on my DROIDX

 

[OctaviusMaximus]

Okay so make sure that I stay on the .602 ROM instead of the .605 ROM, affirmative. Is ROM Manager and ROM Toolbox Pro by JRummy16 (which was what I was recommended) comparative in functionality? As in would ROM manager and ROM toolbox both backup the entire ROM? Also what are the benefits of backing up the ROM in recovery vs. backing it up with an app? I also am leaning towards ROM Toolbox because apparently I can download a bunch of different ROMs right from the app. Although I'm not sure if I want to engage my phone in a download upwards of a few megs. What are your guys' thoughts?

 

[clueless77]

I have been successfully flashing ,598 and up on, 605

Just letting you know

Yes I agree learn how to SBF it has served me well

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums

 

[leftspin]

Okay so make sure that I stay on the .602 ROM instead of the .605 ROM, affirmative. Is ROM Manager and ROM Toolbox Pro by JRummy16 (which was what I was recommended) comparative in functionality? As in would ROM manager and ROM toolbox both backup the entire ROM? Also what are the benefits of backing up the ROM in recovery vs. backing it up with an app? I also am leaning towards ROM Toolbox because apparently I can download a bunch of different ROMs right from the app. Although I'm not sure if I want to engage my phone in a download upwards of a few megs. What are your guys' thoughts?

ROM manager will also allow you to download ROMs straight from the app, with the added benefit of it being the app you use to flash clockwork recovery. ROM manager and ROM toolbox hare similar though, I prefer ROM manager but ROM toolbox has a few more features

 

[OctaviusMaximus]

ROM manager will also allow you to download ROMs straight from the app, with the added benefit of it being the app you use to flash clockwork recovery. ROM manager and ROM toolbox hare similar though, I prefer ROM manager but ROM toolbox has a few more features

So what happens if I don't have clockwork recovery? It seems like ROM Manager has the upper hand in general ROM management/install/backup but if I want to theme liberty, I would have to get their toolbox anyway? Would the free version of the ROM Manager do? Would the free version of ROM Toolbox be fine? I just don't want to spend the money yet, I probably will but not yet.

 

[leftspin]

the free version of both will be fine, theming isn't done through ROM manager

 

[OctaviusMaximus]

Sweet! Sorry for the barrage of questions but let's say that I backed up my apps using TB and I picked the Apps+System Data option. Should I still not restore the data that those apps have been backed up with? Or when TB restores an app, will it restore the data too? I think that the system data was backed up when I created a nandroid backup earlier today. It would be nice to have some way of storing the settings of the apps that I have installed, is this possible and safe to restore to a new ROM?

 

[JSM9872]

When you use TB to back up your user (downloaded, market) apps it does back up your settings and data for them. Upon restoring them after flashing a new ROM you will have the option to restore just apps, just data for those apps, or you can restore both. System app data should not be restored, it causes problems.

 

[OctaviusMaximus]

So just to clarify, I'm allowed to restore the downloaded apps and then the data for those downloaded apps without any problems? But just not restore system app data.

 

[JSM9872]

That is correct.
You could probably get away with restoring data for system apps on some ROMs but honestly all I have ever seen is people bringing up issues related to it. There is actually a pretty good guide for titanium stickied in the Droid Hacks section. It has been a while since I read it but it was helpful when I first got it.