Root A couple of newbie questions.

[wankingweiner]

Ok so i was hoping to have a couple of questions answered regarding rooting. I figured i'd post here because i've been reading a lot about rooting the nexus one which is different from rooting the Motorola Droid for example.

Anyway i know that the process of rooting can be divided into 3 steps. First is to unlock the bootloader, then flash a new recovery image, then from here you can install new ROMs.

My question is what exactly does the recovery image do, and why is it needed? Are we actually flashing over the stock recovery image if there is one and are we losing the original one?

Also lets say i am rooted and i want to install a new rom, first i would backup the one i have running, and then i would flash the new one. So if i wanted to go back to the original is it already stored on the phone? So i just boot into recovery and restore from there right?

Bear with me im new to rooting, and im trying to learn as much as i can before i take the plunge when i get my phone.

Thanks

 

[Fabolous]

My question is what exactly does the recovery image do, and why is it needed? Are we actually flashing over the stock recovery image if there is one and are we losing the original one?

Also lets say i am rooted and i want to install a new rom, first i would backup the one i have running, and then i would flash the new one. So if i wanted to go back to the original is it already stored on the phone? So i just boot into recovery and restore from there right?

You are overwriting the stock recovery image. With the modified image, you can make backups, install ROMs, install unsigned updates, etc. None of this is possible with the stock recovery image.

When you make a backup, it stores you entire phone image onto a folder in your sdcard. Then, so long as those files are there, no matter what new ROMs you load, you can always restore back to that instance of your phone.

 

[wankingweiner]

thanks for clearing that up!

So when i make a backup that includes everything from contacts, apps, messages, heck even settings?

 

[rori]

...So when i make a backup that includes everything from contacts, apps, messages, heck even settings?

Yes, everything