septembergurl

Okay so I read on a website (of course didn't bookmark) that to do a soft reset you hold down the bottom volume key + call send button + call end button, then press the trackball to accept the reset. (It wasn't that simple, but that's a whole other story.)

Then I read on multiple other websites after I completed this process that a soft reset is actually just shutting off the phone and powering it back on.

So... has anyone else heard about the first process??? I have NO idea what I've done to my phone, since it's apparently not a soft reset.

gpa111

soft reset is just hold the power key and hit shut down I believe, sounds like you may have reset to factory?

someone else will confirm or deny this..

ive only done it through the menu system though

OfTheDamned

Sorry to tell you, but that actually sounds like a hard reset and it wipes the phone.

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rcn5008

I believe you performed a hard reset which resets the phone back to factory specs. As long as you had google contacts set to backup (I believe its on standard, you should be able to get all of your contacts within a few minutes when your phone syncs with your existing gmail account).

Also, all of your pictures/videos/content that you saved on your memory card will still be there as well.

The only thing you will have to re-do is setting your background, setting your home screens back to the way you like them, and finally re-downloading all of your previous apps.

Sorry you reset your phone

OfTheDamned

All you apps should show up in the downloads or my downloads part of the market so reinstalling them shouldn't be too bad. Do not exit the market until they are all reinstalled though or the list will clear.

septembergurl

Ah ha! Couldn't find the original site I found the directions on, but I found this site that listed the same ones, minus the part about the trackball. Except this site calls the process a hard reset instead of a soft reset:

Hard Reset HTC Droid Eris

I should add that nothing in my phone was altered after I completed this process (as in, the above site claims all data will be erased off the phone), Of course I'm not sure I completed it successfully since following the "directions" the phone is supposed to give during the process was a bit confusing.

Now I'm really mixed up... Hard reset, soft reset... these terms seem to mean different things to different people. Help!

rcn5008

Soft Reset = Reboot of the Operating System via a battery pull or another means. This keeps all of your existing app data/personalizations exactly the same but does a reboot of your phone.

Hard Reset = Sets your phone back to factory specifications and will erase anything located directly on the device (i.e. not on the SD card).

OfTheDamned

Glad to hear that you didn't actually wipe the phone. In the future I would recommend simply turning the phone off and then back on instead of messing with any of that other stuff.

smacky

Why did you do any kind of reset in the first place?

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septembergurl

That's good advice, OTD! And I am definitely going to take it!!

When you do this crazy complicated process I ran across you end up getting this screen that pops up that has tons of stuff scrolling down it (similar to what you see on a PC after it crashes then restarts) and gives you some options to press... not the easiest process under the sun because it doesn't give any indication of what the options you have will do. I just fumbled my way through it all. *WHEW* Definitely glad I didn't reset my phone!

So weird that I've only found two sites that mention this weirdness...

septembergurl

Smacky - basically, I did what I thought was a soft reset because I heard it's a good idea to do if you've deleted a lot of applications or are experiencing some lag.

smacky

Ok. That's good advice. But yeah:

soft reset- restart the device
hard reset- usually means going back to factory default settings

Save the latter for tough issues, stuff that doesn't go away after soft resets and tinkering with the settings.

septembergurl

Smacky - thanks! So now that I'm definitely clear on what exactly a soft reset is vs. a hard reset... what in your opinion is the best way to do a hard reset?

rcn5008

If you press menu, settings, then security, and finally hit factory data reset...this will do a hard reset for you.

Be aware like I said earlier that a hard reset will clear EVERYTHING on the device itself but none of your pictures or content that is stored on your memory card. You will have to re-install all of your applications and you will need to personalize your device again. Google *should* automatically pull all of your contacts back down that are stored in your gmail contacts list, but it may take a few minutes to get the whole list.

smacky

Go to Settings, Privacy, "Factory data reset."

This is for 2.1. I dunno about 1.5, but I know there is the same option. Might be in a different section of the menu.

Shnuddy

Unless you are having serious problems with your phone, you probably don't want to do a hard reset.

septembergurl

Yep, got it about the hard reset. Just wanted to know how exactly to do one in case I ever really need to. Thanks for all the info, guys!

MJL

You basically booted your phone into the bootloader program. Its the process used for installing root or the 2.1 leak.

ljbaumer

ok so i have a whole bunch of junk on my phone and i don't want to have to go through astro and find all of the junk files and delete them.

could i just "hard reset" and then re-install the stuff i actually want on my phone?

thetingster

Yes.

ljbaumer

thanks

i'll do that

thetingster

What I would like to know is there any difference in doing a hard reset the way the OP described or using the menu option of factory data reset? Or are they just different ways of doing the same thing?