Root advice for newbs that want custom roms or kernels

[melophat]

ok, so the DInc is my first android phone.... I'm a programmer and have been doing work on computers in alot of different aspects for about 15 years, but i'm hesitant to get into the custom rom scene because my phone is very important for my job. So, i'm looking for tips and tricks from people who have rooted and had custom roms on their phones before.. what should I do as far as backups? what are good tools to have on my computer and/or phone? what do I need to watch out for? how do i flash a custom rom and/or a kernel? any info or tips would be appreciated and maybe if we get some good replies in here, we could sticky it for all the other phone mod newbs to have a place to start with. Thanks ahead of times, guys/gals!!

/edit:

found this thread for custom roms. seems like good info, but still, i'd like overall info in addition to rom specific stuff.
http://androidforums.com/all-things-root-incredible/108456-guide-flashing-customs-roms.html

 

[melophat]

bump... nothing?

 

[lgldrgdlr]

as long as you back up with nandroid (and titanium backup for apps) before doing anything, you're fine. you will always be able to go back to stock if necessary

 

[coolbone]

As long as you're fully rooted (via unrEVOked) and have the patience, you can do just about anything. Just make sure you do nandroid backups in recovery of successful flashes (and before you start) and you'll have good re-starting points if you accidentally mess something up.

Happy Flashing!

 

[melophat]

I've got a nandroid and a full titanium backup and wasn't to start flashing soon.. Does titanium also bacup contacts/emails/texts, etc?

 

[fortesquieu]

I've got a nandroid and a full titanium backup and wasn't to start flashing soon.. Does titanium also bacup contacts/emails/texts, etc?

That's exactly what I am trying to find out. I have flashed a new rom, finding a way to get my contacts back.

Anyway, forgot about backup assistant! Use it.

 

[lgldrgdlr]

I've got a nandroid and a full titanium backup and wasn't to start flashing soon.. Does titanium also bacup contacts/emails/texts, etc?

That's exactly what I am trying to find out. I have flashed a new rom, finding a way to get my contacts back.

Anyway, forgot about backup assistant! Use it.

your contacts should have bee synced with your google acct. when you flash a rom, you set all that up again...just sign in and sync and they should come back



Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

 

[Frenchy180]

your contacts should have bee synced with your google acct. when you flash a rom, you set all that up again...just sign in and sync and they should come back



Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

Will facebook contacts transfer that way?

 

[Tony N.]

I'm rooted but Titanium Backup says it could not get root access. Does Ti Backup work for the Incredible? I get notification of Superuser giving permission to Ti Backup as well. The only thing I've done that's out of the ordinary was Adfree Android.

 

[Frenchy180]

I'm rooted but Titanium Backup says it could not get root access. Does Ti Backup work for the Incredible? I get notification of Superuser giving permission to Ti Backup as well. The only thing I've done that's out of the ordinary was Adfree Android.

click on "Problems?" and it will download a working version of busybox which is required for Titanium Backup to work. Someone pointed this out to me when I was trying to get it to work.

 

[melophat]

your contacts should have bee synced with your google acct. when you flash a rom, you set all that up again...just sign in and sync and they should come back



Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

I don't use gmail for my contacts.. they are normally synced through my personal exchange account.. unfortunatly, when i moved from my bb to my DInc, my exchange provider f*&^%^ed up my account and lost all of my contacts and calender entries.. so now i have all my contacts set up as htc sync contacts... is there a way to move them to my gmail account or back onto my exchange server from the phone without having to manually re-enter them into exchange/gmail?

 

[melophat]

also, does nandroid backup all that stuff too? basically, i'm willing to screw around with new roms, but i want to make sure that if i have a nandroid backup, i can reflash it and get my phone back to exactly how it was when the backup was made, emails/contacts/txts and all.. any help is much appreciated!

 

[Bearly]

Guys, I saw Ti Backup but it said "requires root."

If that's true, why is it being recommended to people that are attempting to root?

 

[melophat]

ok, so this is what I've been doing.. full nandroid backup, full titanium app and data backup.. wipe/flash new rom.. when you want to go back to your backup, boot into recovery, wipe the cache and the data, then restore your nandroid backup.. after it's done, boot into your phone then do a full data restore in titanium... thats how i've gotten all my emails/gtalk/messages/contacts, everything back..