Root New Nexus 7, root asap or wait?

[RunamuckRez]

So I've been lurking on the forums for about two weeks now to gather info and I'm not sure what I should do. My girl picked me up a nexus 7 to go away on vacation with so I can bring all my books, movies, etc and keep myself occupied while we sit on the beach. I just unboxed it today and put a screen protector (zagg, and not thrilled with it but only thing around), and a case so I'm well protected before even using it. It's charging up right now so I can start mucking with it later tonight. I notice that there is a fairly easy to use root tool and was considering rooting right away. Mostly because I hate having to re-install all my apps/data and loosing all my save games. Is there a down side to be aware of (loss of warranty aside?). I'm slightly familiar with rooting through rooting my old eris, but I haven't rooted any of the new generation stuff (like my HTC rezound) mostly because I find the unlocking process a little intimidating. Not in any rush to flash roms or anything, but I would like back up ability etc. Any thoughts?

Rez

 

[El Presidente]

When it comes to rooting, I rarely do it within the first couple of weeks of owning a device because I like to be sure that there are no obvious hardware issues before voiding the warranty. That being said, the toolkit you mention (I presume Wugs?) can return you to stock so there's no trace of your tablet being rooted.

If it's backing up data etc you're concerned about, the toolkit will do that too. You don't need root to back stuff up, so you can back it up rooted or not, you just need root to restore.

The tool makes everything easy too, almost too easy tbh. The "hardest" part is the driver install, but you're walked through it and it is mega easy, you just need to do things manually.

I was sorta semi annoyed that it was all done silently, the inner geek in me was dying to see what was going on.

 

[RunamuckRez]

So if I followed that correctly, I can set up the toolkit, get the appropriate drivers, set usb debugging, plug in the Nexus, back up both apps and data (save game etc), unlock, root, and add CWM or TW(?), then flash or not, restore apps and data and Im good to go? One of the more annoying parts to me about rooting is loosing data from saved files etc, so if i can avoid that I'm thrilled nad have no problems waiting to root. Out of curiosity is the back up method used through the tool kit, does that more or less invalidate titanium backup?

 

[Hunter5]

I would suggest to do what El Presidente states, although I rooted and flashed a custom rom within 1hr of purchasing, I don't suggest that unless you feel comfortable with doing so. I decided with bb7, has the performance I want with the customization I was looking for. Rooting with the Wugs toolkit is a piece of cake, and I assure you that I am a rookie, but very simple. Your the only one that can decide whats right for you. Good Luck!

 

[RunamuckRez]

Thanks for the advice, I guess my main hangup is that if I play a few games, unrooted, I' do not want to loose the save game files/data (esp for some of the longer RPG type games) on them when I do decide to root. Does the tool kit do that?

 

[John Bean]

I had the same concerns when I decided to root my Nexus 7 after weeks of use and with all sorts of accumulated data.

I used the backup feature of the toolkit and restored after rooting with absolutely no loss of data. It works very well.

 

[RunamuckRez]

I had the same concerns when I decided to root my Nexus 7 after weeks of use and with all sorts of accumulated data.

I used the backup feature of the toolkit and restored after rooting with absolutely no loss of data. It works very well.

Thats great and now I dont feel so bad about not rooting yet. Does that backup feature work even when flashing over to a new a rom?

 

[El Presidente]

Thats great and now I dont feel so bad about not rooting yet. Does that backup feature work even when flashing over to a new a rom?

Yeah, what I did though was restore after rooting, then backup with TB.