GomerBoy

I am rooted and want to update to Gingerbread, so I need to ODIN back to stock and do the update manually. I am afraid though that when I ODIN, my apps like Titanium Backup and Bloat Freezer will be lost. Will that happen? Should I make a backup in recovery before I ODIN? Thanks.

regression

Yes, if you ODIN, you will wipe all data / apps. I had to do that to go from rooted Froyo to stock (non-rooted) Froyo. Then I installed the GB update.

GomerBoy

Okay thank you! I also have another noob question if you don't mind...if I put Titanium Backup and Bloat Freezer on my sd card, will they be saved when I ODIN?

regression

If you go back to stock, you won't be able to restore apps with Titanium. I doubt bloat freezer would work either. I used an app called ShareMyApps to email myself a list of my apps installed. I then used that list (which is a bunch of links to their Android Market page) to manually reinstall them. It was a pain, but the only way to get everything back since I wasn't rooted any longer.

GomerBoy

Most of my apps are on my memory card, so even with being on the memory card they won't be saved? Should I unfreeze everything that is frozen in Bloat Freezer then before I ODIN?

regression

I don't think the fact that they are installed on the SD card means they will be there when you hard reset. Someone else can chime in and correct me if I am wrong. I assume that the Android system knows which apps are installed (either to the phone's memory or SD card). And if you go back to stock, all that information gets wiped.

I guess it wouldn't hurt to unfreeze apps before you ODIN, but I don't know if it is necessary.

regression

Here is the app I used to save a list of apps I have installed on my phone:

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.mattlary.shareMyApps

DeepEmissions

I never had any luck trying to save apps in any form, use regression's said link for the best answer.

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Flaspeneer

Here's a question: What if you're more concerned about saving the data than the apps? Is there a neater solution than dragging and dropping all the files to your laptop's hard drive? I'm a professional editor and writer who actually works on copy with this phone.

Also: Any complications with PCs, Macs and Ext4? My two laptops' hard drives are a bit full to be re-partitioning for Linux.

Flaspeneer

For the benefit of others here, I'll convey what I learned by asking the same question at Android Central:

Back up everything to your SD using MyBackup, Titanium and SMSRestore -- that way, you know you're covered. Then back up your present state via Clockwork Mod in case anything goes wrong. After that, you can actually remove your SD card while flashing if you're superstitious, but know that Odin doesn't touch it.

After that, you have two choices:

1. Odin to Froyo and then accept the Sprint Gingerbread Upgrade or
2. Stay rooted and flash this Stock-Gingerbread-based ROM with the GPS fix and a few other enhancements.

I'll be trying one of the two tonight. I'm leaning toward number 2.

Last edited by Flaspeneer; November 17th, 2011 at 11:26 AM.

icecold

One thing to note, you will lose any MMS messages (or at least from what I have seen), no matter what method you use, minus a Nandroid backup. So be sure to save any of the content you want to keep.

Also, I'd do the nandroid backup regardless of what you end up doing. That way if the pros and cons aren't worth it to you, you can always go back to having everything exactly the same as you had previously.

Even though you will lose MyBackup or Ti Backup, you can always restore them from the Android Market. The backups are stored on your SD Card, so you can restore them after your use ODIN to go back to stock.

Now, if you aren't planning on at least Rooting your phone after going back to stock, you will lose some of the information available in the backups. I believe MyBackup will still allow you to restore the apps, but not the data, if I remember correctly.

Last edited by icecold; November 21st, 2011 at 11:37 AM.

Flaspeneer

Update:

Tried number 2, which didn't work out due to a glitch (CWM unable to read files, perform backups, etc.). Odin'ed to stock aided by the advice of The Man They Call Kelmar; updated from Eclair to Froyo and am now updating to official Gingerbread.

Luckily, I mailed a list of my apps to myself, backed up to MyBackUPs and Titanium, and even got screen shots of my desktop exactly as it was in case I need to go back.

Rather a roundabout way to update a rooted Epic, but at least it's all working out. Plus it'll be fun to play with pure stock Gingerbread for a few days. That way, I'll know exactly where a Gingerbread ROM improves on or deviates from it.