Root Clear understanding of Nandroid

[rab228]

Hi Everyone, I purchased an EVO about a month ago, I do have some rooting experience on my old Samsung moment witch was my first try at rooting a phone. Bricked it once and had a sprint store correct the problem.
I am going to eventually root my EVO but want to make sure I have a way to revert back to OEM software. To do this I need to understand Nandroid a bit better. Is Nandroid already in the EVO or is it a market download? Can I copy my OEM software with Nandroid? DO I save the copy to my SD card or external hard drive? Can anyone explain a step by step process on using nandroid or is there a place I can look to better understand it. I have been reading several threads including the newbee threads...Just want to make sure I back everything up correctly before I start playing with the "operating system" so when I do screw something up I can revert back...Thanks in advance for your comments and directions...

 

[frenchy714]

Hi Everyone, I purchased an EVO about a month ago, I do have some rooting experience on my old Samsung moment witch was my first try at rooting a phone. Bricked it once and had a sprint store correct the problem.
I am going to eventually root my EVO but want to make sure I have a way to revert back to OEM software. To do this I need to understand Nandroid a bit better. Is Nandroid already in the EVO or is it a market download? Can I copy my OEM software with Nandroid? DO I save the copy to my SD card or external hard drive? Can anyone explain a step by step process on using nandroid or is there a place I can look to better understand it. I have been reading several threads including the newbee threads...Just want to make sure I back everything up correctly before I start playing with the "operating system" so when I do screw something up I can revert back...Thanks in advance for your comments and directions...

Having nand access (S-OFF) requires you to be fully rooted. It allows you to create a FULL system backup of your entire phone, exactly the way it is in case something should go wrong, and restore your phone to a point when it was functional (when you created the backup). It's not something that you find in the market and download but rather something that is in your phone but needs to be unlocked. When creating a backup, it is stored onto your sd card by default but can be transferred to your PC or external HD if you choose.

I recommend reading, "ROOTING For Dummies + Extra's" prior to rooting. Welcome to the forum.

 

[Xtremedays]

Welcome to the forums! As Frenchy said, you should start with reading the Rooting for Dummies guide stickied at the top of the forums. I would also read the Quick Intro guide as well as it gives some basic info on rooting and the terminology used. It actually takes less time to unroot your phone for service or repair than it does to root and flash a custom rom and kernel. In the case you would need to unroot, it would restore your phone back to "new, out of the box" condition. This forum is a great place to ask questions and get good info. Everyone is here to help, so feel free to ask.

 

[mbancroft]

rather something that is in your phone but needs to be unlocked. When creating a backup, it is stored onto your sd card by default but can be transferred to your PC or external HD if you choose.


GOOD QUESTION...I HAD NO IDEA THAT I HAD TO UNLOCK THIS.. I HAVE ALWAYS DONE A NANDROID BEFORE ALTERING MY PHONE... WHEN WOULD THE FILE BE CALLED ON MY SD CARD SO I CAN SAVE IT TO MY PC???

 

[Xtremedays]

rather something that is in your phone but needs to be unlocked. When creating a backup, it is stored onto your sd card by default but can be transferred to your PC or external HD if you choose.


GOOD QUESTION...I HAD NO IDEA THAT I HAD TO UNLOCK THIS.. I HAVE ALWAYS DONE A NANDROID BEFORE ALTERING MY PHONE... WHEN WOULD THE FILE BE CALLED ON MY SD CARD SO I CAN SAVE IT TO MY PC???

If you are using Amon RA it is stored in the folder called nandroid. If you are using clockwork I believe it is stored in the clockwork folder. When you rooted your phone and changed the security on your phone to s-off, you enabled the ability to make backups of the software on your phone. This is one of the biggest advantages to getting a permanent root from unrevoked versus a temporary root from something like z4root.

 

[frenchy714]

rather something that is in your phone but needs to be unlocked. When creating a backup, it is stored onto your sd card by default but can be transferred to your PC or external HD if you choose.


GOOD QUESTION...I HAD NO IDEA THAT I HAD TO UNLOCK THIS.. I HAVE ALWAYS DONE A NANDROID BEFORE ALTERING MY PHONE... WHEN WOULD THE FILE BE CALLED ON MY SD CARD SO I CAN SAVE IT TO MY PC???

If you're using Clockworkmod (which I haven't used in quite some time), they should be in a folder named "Clockworkmod" I believe. If you're using Amon RA, they're in a folder named "nandroid"

EDIT: Xtrem beat me to it!

 

[mbancroft]

aww ok.... well i origanaly had clockwork but have switched to amon ra bout 2 weeks ago.... I have not made a nandroid since this should I go a had and make a fresh one

 

[Xtremedays]

aww ok.... well i origanaly had clockwork but have switched to amon ra bout 2 weeks ago.... I have not made a nandroid since this should I go a had and make a fresh one

Definitely. Make one and after I would rename it so that you know what it is. You can't use any odd characters but just initials or something that tells you what it is if you ever have to restore one so there is no guess work.

 

[frenchy714]

aww ok.... well i origanaly had clockwork but have switched to amon ra bout 2 weeks ago.... I have not made a nandroid since this should I go a had and make a fresh one

Nandroid backups using CW recovery are not compatible w/ Amon RA and visa versa, so yes, make a backup using RA. You can't restore a backup created w/ CW w/ Amon RA.

 

[mbancroft]

wow glad I read this thread... thank you gentlemen....I am currently working on something and just a shot---- can you help me on it.....it involves using a command line on My PC for creating a splash screen..... this is where i'm at: got my file correct according to the thread and have started the command line and it spits out 3 arguments. my question is whats next.. Did it create the file. or is somthing wrong.. Here is the command text:
c:\nbimg>nbimg -f splash1.bmp -w480 -h800
=== nbimg v1.1
=== Convert NB <--> BMP splash screens
=== (c)2008 Pau Oliva - pof @ xda-developers

nbimg: unknown option -- f
Usage: nbimg -F file.[nb|bmp]

Mandatory arguments:
-F <filename> Filename to convert.
If the extension is BMP it will be converted to NB.
If the extension is NB it will be converted to BMP.

Optional arguments:
-w <width> Image width in pixels. If not specified will be autodetec
.
-h <height> Image height in pixels. If not specified will be autodete
d.
-t <pattern> Manually specify the padding pattern (usually 0 or 255).
-p <size> Manually specify the padding size.
-n Do not add HTC splash signature to NB file.
-s Output smartphone format.

NBH arguments: (only when converting from BMP to NBH)
-D <model_id> Generate NBH with specified Model ID (mandatory)
-S <chunksize> NBH SignMaxChunkSize (64 or 1024)
-T <type> NBH header type, this is typically 0x600 or 0x601