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Root So, have any fellow newbies rooted an Epic lately?

I used to be newbie to it. Took a lot of reading and planning for me to actually take the jump, but it was painless and easy. Make sure you follow the directions exactly. You can't really break your phone in the rooting process, it just won't root it. However, you can break it doing things you aren't supposed to once you have.

The one thing I learned after rooting it is to purchase Titanium. This allows you to backup your apps and data. The nice thing about it though is, you can look through all the apps and processes on your phone and "freeze" them as opposed to uninstall them. This allows you to freeze something and then keep working on your phone. If you run into bugs or anything, you can unfreeze it instead of have to worry about reinstalling. I tested a lot of programs and stuff like that before I deleted, and now my phone runs great without the stuff I don't want.
 
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Rooting is fairly painless. The scariest part is not knowing what you are doing (which is why we recommend reading a LOT first).

When I first rooted my Hero, I thought I had bricked my phone. :( I, unfortunately, hadn't read too much about it and as a result, I spent 7 hours panicking and trying to figure out how to get my phone to work. It took me another few months worth of reading before I felt the urge to root. More importantly, it took me that time to read and feel comfortable with the process and what I was doing.

Remember, we are always here to help, but we may not be available the minute/hour that you run into a problem so it's important to have an idea of the "1, 2s and 3s" of it all.
 
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I rooted my EVO but a friend wanted me to do his epic.

This is the guide I followed.
One Click Root & Recovery for the Epic 4G! v2.5.5 Now has ClockworkMod Redirector! - xda-developers

It was super quick and it worked.

That is exactly my story. I had never seen an Epic 4g until my buddy brought it over to root. I had no time with the phone and got right down to rooting it and had no issues whatsoever...a very nice rooting experience!!! Be not afraid....go for it!!!
 
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If my usb cable arrives in the mail today, I will definitely try rooting tonight! I can't wait...

The usb cable that Samsung provided me stopped working with my computer. My laptop won't recognize my Epic anymore. I really hope it's a faulty cable. I tried downloading the drivers...uninstalling them..restarting my laptop...you name it. I am pinning my hopes on it being a faulty cable. My laptop just stopped recognizing my Epic one day out of the blue...let's hope!
 
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Rooted! It was SUPER EASY!

Now, how do I do the back up of my current system before installing a custom ROM?

Thanks!

Boot into recovery(hold power button,volume down, and camera button....I think...I am EVO guy).

When the menu comes up, select nandroid, then select backup.....simple as that!!!!

And if you ever found yourself in a true "recovery situation", then you would do the same thing except you would select "restore" and then it would give you your choice of backups and it would restore to that backup.

Windows systems have "system restore" points that are done automatically. All we are doing when we do a nandroid backup is manually creating a system restore point...since the phone does not do i t automatically like windows does....just a little FYI...
 
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Once it is done it will revert back to the original menu. One of your choices will be "Reboot Now" or something of that nature. If it is not one of your choices, there is always a "Go back" slection and keep selecting that until you have a "reboot" choice.

Just realize that your volume up and down button is your "cursor" and the power button is your "enter" button....or selection button.
 
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Once it is done it will revert back to the original menu. One of your choices will be "Reboot Now" or something of that nature. If it is not one of your choices, there is always a "Go back" slection and keep selecting that until you have a "reboot" choice.

Just realize that your volume up and down button is your "cursor" and the power button is your "enter" button....or selection button.

Camera button is your enter/selection button button. :)
 
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Back up complete! Thanks guys!

Before installing a new ROM, when they say do a full wipe....is a full wipe the process when you do the 3 wipes in that clockworkmod menu?

Correct... with the Epic and or buggy version of clockwork recovery, you want to wipe data, cache and Dalvik cache (found under advanced) each three times prior to flashing a new ROM.
 
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Sorry about that misinformation...:)...it was an EVOism.

I wipe the cache....and then the dalvik cache....and then do a factory reset/wipe....and then install the ROM. Good luck!!!...and be not afraid!!!

Wait... Evo... in the Epic forum... and no one has killed each other yet??? ;) j/k of course. You are welcome to hang out, help out, chat, etc here. :)

No worries, I do things like that ALL of the time!




And to add what flybaker mentioned, feel free to ask questions along the way if you are unsure! :)
 
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I think I am at the point of installing a custom ROM.

Everything has been incredibly easy so far. I took the advice and read up on everything at XDA. My question is, where in this whole process do people brick their phones? Is installing the ROM the riskiest part? ..it does seem super easy to do...
 
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Do I also have to do a factory reset before installing a custom ROM as well? Would this get rid of my root access?

Yes, you should wipe and no it does not get rid of your root access.

And as far as your other questions go. The other "themes" or "add-ons" that you are referencing...yes, you just flash them like you would a ROM. I clear cache and dalvik but I do not do a full wipe when installing addons/themes. generally speaking, if it is a zip file, you have to flash it. If it is an apk, you can install it via something like Astro File manager or even Rom manager(I think....I don't really use RM). Have fun!!!
 
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...and you are likely past the part of bricking your phone most. Just don't take any shortcuts(like failing to wipe). That is what gets people in trouble is when they get careless. Even not wiping usually won't brick but it could cause issues. If you are gonna mess around with this stuff(sounds like you are...:)), I would look into getting something like Ti backup...although I have heard there might be issues with it and the Epic. Just find a way to backup your apps/data so you don't have to install them manually each time you flash a ROM. Thasall I got. Have fun!!!!
 
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Got a custom ROM running! It was so much easier than I thought it would be. Nothing to be terrified of if you do your due diligence.

Thank you Flybaker and Kelmar. You guys are extremely patient and helpful. You guys answered questions that I would have been terrified to post on any other forum (the real basic noob questions). I now understand the whole process a lot better. It has been a blast learning all this stuff.

Many, many thanks.

Oh, I am sure I will have more questions coming soon enough....
 
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