Does updating to JH2/JH3 require a format?

[qwertyaas]

I'm still on the stock FW that came with the phone. If I update to JH3, will it automatically format and reinstall (is it a full rom) or is it just an update?

If it does format, is there a good app to backup my apps and such (would Titanium help or does that do a full restore including the OS?).

Also, does anyone know a good app to backup/restore/transfer SMS? At the AT&T store, they transfered all my texts from my BB to this phone in a couple minutes but forgot to ask what they used for it.

 

[djsams]

I just did this yesterday in fact. Yes, it will completely return the phone to stock state, however you won't lose any of the content on your internal or external SD's, unless you tell Odin to repartition.

Once I flashed, I used SuperRooterExtreme (you can find it on XDA), and restored my stuff with Titanium. The easiest thing to do is make a full backup of your apps+data, then after you're restored/re-rooted, go in and select all the stuff that you want to restore. Basically you want anything that is green or white with a line through it. Green is settings and useful data (your contacts, messages, etc), and white with the line is apps that are missing that you have a backup for. Ignore the red items, as they're all things like the phone app, and the core stuff the phone needs to run, which is all replaced by JH3 anyway.

The pay version of Titanium makes this a one-step process, otherwise you'll have to restore each item one at a time.

Following this process, I was able to flash to JH3, root, lagfix, and restore all my apps in about 30 minutes. The only things you'll have to re-do manually are your background and your widgets. It's really that simple.

 

[qwertyaas]

So prior to flashing JH3, I would have to root in order to backup correct?

Is there any app that backs up apps without rooting that I can restore one by one?

After the flash, I would probably use the one-click Root/Superuse/Lagfix as opposed to SuperRooterExtreme.

 

[snapper.fishes]

I just did this yesterday in fact. Yes, it will completely return the phone to stock state, however you won't lose any of the content on your internal or external SD's, unless you tell Odin to repartition.

Once I flashed, I used SuperRooterExtreme (you can find it on XDA), and restored my stuff with Titanium. The easiest thing to do is make a full backup of your apps+data, then after you're restored/re-rooted, go in and select all the stuff that you want to restore. Basically you want anything that is green or white with a line through it. Green is settings and useful data (your contacts, messages, etc), and white with the line is apps that are missing that you have a backup for. Ignore the red items, as they're all things like the phone app, and the core stuff the phone needs to run, which is all replaced by JH3 anyway.

The pay version of Titanium makes this a one-step process, otherwise you'll have to restore each item one at a time.

Following this process, I was able to flash to JH3, root, lagfix, and restore all my apps in about 30 minutes. The only things you'll have to re-do manually are your background and your widgets. It's really that simple.

If you want to keep your mini diary entries, your sms, your contacts, you will need to backup the "red lines" as well.

 

[qwertyaas]

If you want to keep your mini diary entries, your sms, your contacts, you will need to backup the "red lines" as well.

The contact list has a built in backup/restore feature and I already found a pretty good SMS backup (you can even view the texts in the backup file to make sure it all exported).

 

[Extract0r]

Following this process, I was able to flash to JH3, root, lagfix, and restore all my apps in about 30 minutes. The only things you'll have to re-do manually are your background and your widgets. It's really that simple.

With JH3, don't forget the GPS log fix. JH3 has GPS log enabled and will leave log files every time you use your GPS. Here is how to do it.

xda-developers - View Single Post - [STOCK ROM] I897UCJH2 (Captivate)

 

[djsams]

If you want to keep your mini diary entries, your sms, your contacts, you will need to backup the "red lines" as well.

I backed up everything, however I restored only the green items and the missing apps. In the listing of what was in the backup, the contact data and sms data was separate from the actual app, and the data was a separate green line, whereas the app itself was a red line item. Sorry, should have made that a little clearer.

re: Extract0r, that is one of the things that SRE does automatically. It also installs the 1.2 overclocked kernel, enables sideloading, and a handful of other useful tweaks.