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Root Installing roms and doing "data wipes"?

Ecks

Well-Known Member
Jun 17, 2010
108
2
I just rooted my phone and I'm not in the know with how to install roms, however most of the rom sites indicate how to install. Most of the roms I've visited recommend doing a data wipe and a cache wipe. Is this something I have to do every time I want to install a rom? I just did a factory reset for the 2.2 OTA and, quite frankly, it was a pain in the butt to get my phone back to how I had it.

So, am I going to have to do a factory reset every time i want to try a rom?
 
data wipe and cache wipe will make your phone look like default. You will have to get all your apps back and set your widgets up right.
However you only have to do wipes with new rom installs. If you are updating a rom you dont have to.
I use titanium backup (if you buy it you dont have to press ok for each app)..

So I timed it roughly once
  1. I wiped phone installed a new rom and kernel. (10 mins)
  2. Rebooted phone installed themes and arabic librarys (10 mins)
  3. Did the setup thing (10 minutes)
    • google account sync
    • facebook sync
    • set up wifi from market.
    • downloaded titanium backup from marketplace
  4. Ran the batch restore process and walked away. (checked back in 30 mins and it was done)
  5. I went through setting up all my apps back (15 mins)
    • Swype
    • Google Voice
    • adfree
    • Fix permissions in rom manager
  6. Put the widgets back how I like them (15 mins)
  7. Uninstall bloatware I don't want (10 mins)
  8. Done. (there is small things that still need to be done but I set them up when needed)
So roughly about 100 mins to get a fully setup phone again. (I say roughly because sometimes when its doing something I forget to look at my phone for a few minutes, If I was hands on the whole time it could be shorter)
 
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Thanks for that. Few more questions I haven't been clear about.

1) A full wipe is a factory reset right? I've done this through hboot I think -- is this the proper way to do it?

2) Can I have multiple roms installed on my phone and switch between them? I'd hate to try a rom, then want to try a different rom, decide I don't like it and go back to the original rom I started with.... only having to wipe my phone again... would be nice to have multiple roms installed and if I wanted to switch, I could do so without a wipe. Is that possible? Or is my phone a one-rom kind of device?

Oh, and do I have to format my SD card? :(
 
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Thanks for that. Few more questions I haven't been clear about.

1) A full wipe is a factory reset right? I've done this through hboot I think -- is this the proper way to do it?

2) Can I have multiple roms installed on my phone and switch between them? I'd hate to try a rom, then want to try a different rom, decide I don't like it and go back to the original rom I started with.... only having to wipe my phone again... would be nice to have multiple roms installed and if I wanted to switch, I could do so without a wipe. Is that possible? Or is my phone a one-rom kind of device?

Oh, and do I have to format my SD card? :(

1) You can do it through Clockworkmod if you're in recovery, but the easier way I usually do it is through ROM Manager. Once you download the ROM you want, go in to ROM manager and select Install ROM from SD card, and then when you select a file it always asks you 2 things, if you want to make a back and if you want to wipe data and cache. Check the box for backup and it will do it for you.

2) You can't have multiple ROMs installed at the same time and easily toggle between the 1 you like and don't like. What you can do is create a Nandroid backup whenever you want to switch a ROM and save a backup of each ROM you try. Then you can just restore it if you don't like the new 1 and it puts things to the exact same setting. I also recommend renaming the backup files so you know which is which. This is what I do. They're kind of big files so I usually put them on my PC and then move them back to the SD card only if I want to restore. Restore takes about 15 minutes which is annoying, but at least you'll be back to your rom you like.

Lastly, you don't have to reformat the SD card when switching ROMs or clearing cache. I formatted it once when I got the phone and haven't touched it since. Although, if yours isn't formatted to FAT32, you may want to go ahead and just do that once because you can't update the radio without that. Hope that helps!
 
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1) You can do it through Clockworkmod if you're in recovery, but the easier way I usually do it is through ROM Manager. Once you download the ROM you want, go in to ROM manager and select Install ROM from SD card, and then when you select a file it always asks you 2 things, if you want to make a back and if you want to wipe data and cache. Check the box for backup and it will do it for you.

2) You can't have multiple ROMs installed at the same time and easily toggle between the 1 you like and don't like. What you can do is create a Nandroid backup whenever you want to switch a ROM and save a backup of each ROM you try. Then you can just restore it if you don't like the new 1 and it puts things to the exact same setting. I also recommend renaming the backup files so you know which is which. This is what I do. They're kind of big files so I usually put them on my PC and then move them back to the SD card only if I want to restore. Restore takes about 15 minutes which is annoying, but at least you'll be back to your rom you like.

Lastly, you don't have to reformat the SD card when switching ROMs or clearing cache. I formatted it once when I got the phone and haven't touched it since. Although, if yours isn't formatted to FAT32, you may want to go ahead and just do that once because you can't update the radio without that. Hope that helps!

You should not rename nandroids, as it's been said to cause problems in the past. I just copy mine to my computer, and put a txt file in there with notes about each one like:

2010-09-14.21.44.37 - Virtuous 2.7 + Custom Kernel
 
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Thanks to all of you for contributing answers. I never thought about making backups of each installed rom. Looks like I'm going to have a busy morning now :)

Oh and one last thing. If I find a theme I like, how do I apply it? Does the rom have a feature that sets the theme or is this something done through rom manager? I really liked the revolution theme on virtuous
 
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You should not rename nandroids, as it's been said to cause problems in the past. I just copy mine to my computer, and put a txt file in there with notes about each one like:

2010-09-14.21.44.37 - Virtuous 2.7 + Custom Kernel

Damn, good call. My bad on the false information. Luckily, I've never had to revert to one of those ROMs so didn't experience any issues. Thanks for the heads up though, I'll make sure to do a new backup of what I'm running now in case something goes wrong.
 
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Thanks to all of you for contributing answers. I never thought about making backups of each installed rom. Looks like I'm going to have a busy morning now :)

Oh and one last thing. If I find a theme I like, how do I apply it? Does the rom have a feature that sets the theme or is this something done through rom manager? I really liked the revolution theme on virtuous

In my experience, you just flash the theme through ROM manager or clockwork as you would with any zip file. Just be careful when installing themes to make sure it's compatible with whatever ROM you're running. Usually the theme creator will list the specifics of what is compatible. Just to be safe, do a nandroid before trying anyways.
 
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Thanks for that. Few more questions I haven't been clear about.

1) A full wipe is a factory reset right?

this one never got answered. A full wipe is not the same as a factory reset. A factory reset will restore your phone to the factory setup. While a full wipe will basically format your phone. If you try to start your phone after a full wipe without installing a rom it wont work
 
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