Root Hord of Rooting threads.

[Tyseyh]

Anyone else noticing the hord of threads about looking to root or wanting to gain space?

READ THE ROOTING FAQ.
It's been put together by people who are on this forum which is no easy job.

Read it, read it again.
Understand it.

Once you have read it, then ask away.

If you're looking for an option to gain internal space.
Once again, it's in the FAQ.

 

[saltire]

yep, although i do wonder how many try here after xda. What makes me laugh about xda is the folk wasting time/effort to post about not using the search, try google etc - why not just ignore the Q&A sub-forum altogether, you know what's likely going to be in there? or at least flag up the message about searching and add a pointer to the right place. Ah, how quickly we forget we were all noobs at some point.

 

[davoid]

folk wasting time/effort to post about not using the search, try google etc - why not just ignore the Q&A sub-forum altogether, you know what's likely going to be in there?

Yes, I agree with this... sometimes the reason someone has signed up for a forum is because they already have done a google search, which has brought them to that particular forum. On other forums (not this one, thankfully) people use the search facility and then get scolded for reviving old threads! When often the old thread is the only place they have found anything relevant to their problem.

I think the best attitude to answering noob questions is deciding whether it can be answered with a similar effort of composition to that of just berating someone for asking a question. If you're just going to say 'use the search' then you obviously just enjoy being unhelpful and superior with a disdainful attitude, especially if you then expend personal effort to elaborate on how annoying it is to reply to the same questions that are always being asked. (Not referring to Tyseyh, here )

However, some subjects are just too extensive to go into again from first principles, and that's when they need to be directed towards the prepared guides.

That's the thing I've noticed about this forum. People don't get annoyed about people asking the same old questions. It's more like pointing out the giant sign posts with a smile on your face.

 

[Tyseyh]

I would much rather someone dug up an old thread relevant to their question, it's what it's there for.

By all means I am happy to help anyway I can.
I just wonder sometimes if people read before posting.

Also, about the all being Noobs at some point... Completely agree.

I hope my post didn't sound arsey.

 

[davoid]

I just wonder sometimes if people read before posting.

I think it's taken for certain that some people don't.

I hope my post didn't sound arsey.

Nah

 

[saltire]

I just wonder sometimes if people read before posting.

I hope my post didn't sound arsey.

Some (most?) people don't read before posting, and i think we all probably recognise that - on here at least in early posts the effort is made to tell someone to read up and point them in the right place.

Nope not arsey - some folk notice and read stickies, others don't, so always going to have to point them in the right direction :shrug

 

[Tyseyh]

Guess we should get the fingers pointing at the stickies then eh.

 

[coos lick]

I must admit to be constantly astonished as to how freely some people here gift their valuable time going over the same issues. XDA is a very different environment.
I know this device is coming to end of life, but I'm always going to remember it fondly because of this forum rather than the school playground of XDA.

 

[Tyseyh]

I tend not to look at xda just because it's a mess.

 

[JDY]

Yea XDA is not a particularly nice place at times. Sometimes very unhlepful (not to myself but others) they tend to just have a go and tell you to search which you you defiantly should but people on AF tend to be more polite and give a link rather than just having a go.

 

[Hadron]

It's a different place, and has a different focus. XDA is at heart a developer forum, even if that really makes up a minority of the posts and forums, whereas AF is a user community. So it's understandable that the forum rules have different emphases.

Now taking my staff hat off for a second (because this is a personal comment, not a reflection of an AF position), I don't think that at all excuses the behaviour of some XDA members, most of whom are in no sense devs but take it upon themselves to "police" the forum by being rude and arrogant to anyone who asks a question in the wrong forum or fails to find the answer in a 1000+ page thread before posting, and in the process clogging threads up far more than the misplaced post would have done. Not to mention patting each other on their collective backs for how unpleasant they can be. I've got zero time for those people, and IMO XDA would be both a more pleasant and a more effective place if the moderators kept them in line. Even then though, it's not the whole forum: some threads such, as the GingerVillain ROM thread and EViollet's kernel thread, were in my experience perfectly pleasant and constructive places. Threads as well as forums can have their own culture, if the tone is set right.

Putting my staff hat back on now, it is a deliberate and intentional part of this forum that we don't behave like that here. The site rules and guidelines are explicit about this. But I don't think most people need to be told - spend a little time here and it's clear how AF works, and like most here I reckon it's better that way

But I should also add that it's not just the rules, but the members of a forum, who make the difference. When I joined this forum the pattern was set by the tireless way that SUroot (who had a different name back then ) and Rastaman in particular would advise people and help them fix their bricks, staying patient almost no matter how self-inflicted the problems were. There are many others here who do the same thing whenever they can help, and that's what makes this a great place.

 

[SUroot]

I got gunned down in the gingervillain thread. I was actually helping someone and got flamed :/

 

[Hadron]

Ah, sorry - I missed that.

 

[nicka3200]

I uninstalled my xda app the other day. I was just so feed up with the place.

I'm a noob myself with very little IT knowledge but have always found the people here helpful to anyone who wants to help themselves!

 

[ou7shined]

The thing is guys, it's really hard to instantly understand all the new terms and methods in doing this if you've not done it before. I've been flashing tech (phones, gfx cards, pc's, tv's etc) for years now but this is my first attempt at rooting an Android phone, yet I've been reading this section of the forum for 2 days solid now and I've only got as far as getting my phone to S-OFF and rooted... my eyes ache and my head feels like it's about to blow and I still don't know how to flash the ROM yet... I keep getting stuck at the terminology.

I've seen you guys being bugged by noobs like myself and it make me reticent to ask my mundane questions... believe me I've typed up 2 threads already then just deleted them as I know I'll just get shown the FAQ's... which I'm already trying to digest. But to me they are not mundane questions they are really scary and important and for all I know could mean the difference between killing my phone or not. The problem is further compounded by link after link all pointing me different directions for the next step of an allegedly simple part of the process - sometimes I have 5 or 6 tabs open... honestly it's taking all my concentration to keep up with it.

I'd rather just ask my stoopid question and have an answer tailored specifically to my needs just like the other noobs... but I feel I can't because I know I'll get there eventually on my own... at this rate maybe I'll have my ROM off my pc and onto my phone by Friday.

 

[davoid]

I say go ahead and ask your stoopid question

This is after all a forum. Maybe what is needed is a Glossary of terms, in your case.

Rooting and S-Off are the hard part! Flashing is easy. I notice however when checking just now that there is no guide for this in the All Things Root Guide.

Basically...
First of all, copy the rom file onto the SDcard (that rom on your PC ).

Then you want to boot into Recovery, and do a Nandroid backup.

Then, wipe the phone while in recovery (data and dalvik cache)

Then select 'install zip from sdcard'

'choose zip from sdcard'

and choose the ROM you previously copied onto your sdcard.

Then you reboot, and voila - new ROM!

 

[SUroot]

If there's anything you need clarity on, ask. Were happy to help in a "ive read the faqs, but...." situation.

Also, we prefer to address a lack of knowledge before you break your phone, rather than after.

 

[ou7shined]

I say go ahead and ask your stoopid question

This is after all a forum. Maybe what is needed is a Glossary of terms, in your case.

Rooting and S-Off are the hard part! Flashing is easy. I notice however when checking just now that there is no guide for this in the All Things Root Guide.

Basically...
First of all, copy the rom file onto the SDcard (that rom on your PC ).

Then you want to boot into Recovery, and do a Nandroid backup.

Then, wipe the phone while in recovery (data and dalvik cache)

Then select 'install zip from sdcard'

'choose zip from sdcard'

and choose the ROM you previously copied onto your sdcard.

Then you reboot, and voila - new ROM!

Brilliant mate thanks. :beer:

I think you may have actually answered my stoopid one too... which was, the instructions say to do a complete "wipe" before flashing. (I've been doing a lot of wiping in the last couple of days but probably not the sort it means ) I didn't know if it meant a factory reset or just SD card or both.
It sounds like it was talking about a part of the recovery list that I've not seen yet... hence the confusion if you've not done it before.

Now that you've opened up the flood gates, here's 2 more ...
How much of what is on your phone dissapears after flashing, are installed apps lost, does anything from the SD go?
If I wanted a completely fresh SD card for my new ROM should I somehow format it clean first, then any relavent files will be loaded with the flash?

Again, thanks.

 

[ou7shined]

If there's anything you need clarity on, ask. Were happy to help in a "ive read the faqs, but...." situation.

Also, we prefer to address a lack of knowledge before you break your phone, rather than after.

Ok. Will do. That's a good point.

btw I'm trying dGB first.

 

[Hadron]

I think you may have actually answered my stoopid one too... which was, the instructions say to do a complete "wipe" before flashing. (I've been doing a lot of wiping in the last couple of days but probably not the sort it means ) I didn't know if it meant a factory reset or just SD card or both.
It sounds like it was talking about a part of the recovery list that I've not seen yet... hence the confusion if you've not done it before.

The "wipe" is a factory reset. Nothing more.

The reason is that system data (e.g. settings) are usually not compatible between different ROMs, so if you change the ROM while leaving the data in place the chances are it won't boot. So the standard procedure is to back up user apps and their data, do a factory reset, install the new ROM, then restore the user apps and data (but not system data).

Now that you've opened up the flood gates, here's 2 more ...
How much of what is on your phone dissapears after flashing, are installed apps lost, does anything from the SD go?

Flashing itself won't affect any data. It's the wipe (which you do yourself) that does that.

The factory reset will erase all installed apps and their data. Hence you should back up anything you want to keep first. Titanium Backup is the app of choice, but that won't back up contacts, call logs or messages (as these are stored by system apps - actually it will back them up, but if you restore them on a different ROM you are asking for trouble). If you sync contacts with Google then they'll just restore automatically, otherwise "export" them to SD first (from the contacts app). SMS Backup+ is good for messages and call logs.

Nothing goes from SD except any apps that you've moved there.

If I wanted a completely fresh SD card for my new ROM should I somehow format it clean first, then any relavent files will be loaded with the flash?

There's no real need to worry about that.

 

[ou7shined]

The "wipe" is a factory reset. Nothing more.

The reason is that system data (e.g. settings) are usually not compatible between different ROMs, so if you change the ROM while leaving the data in place the chances are it won't boot. So the standard procedure is to back up user apps and their data, do a factory reset, install the new ROM, then restore the user apps and data (but not system data).

Flashing itself won't affect any data. It's the wipe (which you do yourself) that does that.

The factory reset will erase all installed apps and their data. Hence you should back up anything you want to keep first. Titanium Backup is the app of choice, but that won't back up contacts, call logs or messages (as these are stored by system apps - actually it will back them up, but if you restore them on a different ROM you are asking for trouble). If you sync contacts with Google then they'll just restore automatically, otherwise "export" them to SD first (from the contacts app). SMS Backup+ is good for messages and call logs.

Nothing goes from SD except any apps that you've moved there.

There's no real need to worry about that.

Hey thanks for that. That clears things up nicely. :thumbup:

Sorry for the late reply - I had to nip off to band practice last night and this is my 1st opportunity to get back online.

I already use SMS backup + and I exported my contacts to a google vcf file before rooting and believe it or not the very first app I installed after the root was Titanium and I backed up all user apps (actually I uninstalled all but 2 of them before starting all this) + system data... twice by mistake

So it looks like I'm good to go then.

The reason I want to format my SD is that there are 2 years of crap and residual folders from heaps of uninstalled apps on there and I just want to tidy it up - I get peeved when manually going through the list deleting unimportant files and I just feel like scrubbing the whole lot in a one-er and starting fresh.

Many thanks guys I think I've hogged this thread enough. Fingers crossed I'm not back in few minutes when I muck up the next bit.

 

[ou7shined]

...

Then you want to boot into Recovery, and do a Nandroid backup.
....QUOTE]

Woohoo I got stuck again.
I can't see an option for "Nandroid backup". I'm using Amon-Ra ... I chose it because it has a cooler name.

I see options for...

Nand backup
Nand + ext backup
Nand restore
Backup Google proprietary system files (looks interesting - what does it do?)
Restore Google proprietary system files


I've run out ouf time to do this now, I have a funeral to run to. I'll be back later.

 

[ou7shined]

Is it the Nand backup option?
(still at the funeral)

 

[davoid]

Yes, Nand is the option I would choose. I wouldn't know for sure, but it seems that the 'proprietary google' backup does just that - selectively backs up google system apps. You want a full system backup, so choose the Nand, which will allow you to restore back to where you are now - complete with customizations, contacts, messages, installed apps, everything.

You don't need the Nand + Ext option you are using a specially created EXT partition on your SDcard to install your apps to.

 

[Hadron]

Yeah, NAND backup unless you have partitioned the card, in which case NAND+Ext