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Confused about some rooting facts...

Psychokitty

Android Enthusiast
Dec 14, 2009
613
64
In the forum dog house.
Hiya,

I rooted my Droid only so I could get some apps to work. Screen-capture is a must-have for me, as an example. It's unlikely that I'll be doing anything too wild with regards to my rooted phone since it does nearly everything I want now.
I have a couple questions about some things that were not very well spelled out when I was reading up about rooting, and they still aren't made very clear or they are buried deep inside threads and I just can't find these answers.

First, what happens when the Android update is sent to my rooted phone automatically? I've read that some have disabled automatic updates (I think...) by renaming a particular file, but the posts that I read used acronyms that I'm unfamiliar with that make them difficult to understand.
Is my phone gonna brick from an automatic update? If this is true, -and sorry for any attitude, but if it's possible that someone could casually wake up to a bricked phone because of this, it should really have been a bit more prominently discussed or explained in these rooting threads.

I can't seem to find a simple answer to how to:

-unroot my Droid,

-and back up all of my apps & data in the event that I have to replace the phone.

-Do I back everything up before unrooting, or after unrooting? Say I'm gonna replace the phone because of all the dust under my screen, and I want the replacement to end up being an exact copy of this one. What will I need to do, in which order?

Thanks, folks.
 
I'll try to quickly go over all areas of concern.

If all you've done is root your phone and an update gets sent to your phone (because you haven't disabled that function), you will be asked if you want to update or not. I would simply choose "No". But then again, at that point in time, I would have already forced the update anyway, so it's moot. Could an update from Verizon brick a rooted phone? It probably depends on how much you changed your phone. Therefore, I disabled the update function. I'll just force updates from now on ... and I'm ok with that. ;)

I have read that UNrooting a phone is as simple as forcing the 2.0.1 update again. Makes sense to me. But I haven't done that, so I can't say with all certainty that it works.

Backing up apps, data, etc... First of all, one should be backing up their ENTIRE sdcard on a regular basis. (every couple weeks?) That is easy to do. Also, I backup my apps about once a week. Using "ASTRO File Manager" it is quick and painless ... takes about 1 minute. The apps get stored on your sdcard, thus the sdcard backup. Also, once I week I backup my Contacts. Again, easy and quick ... can be done right within the stock Contacts app. Quick, painless. Throws a file on the sdcard, yet another reason for the sdcard backup. ;)

Backing everything up before or after rooting makes ZERO difference. If I'm wrong, an expert will chime in. :)

I am fairly confident that if I got a brand new DROID, I could put MY sdcard in it and have it running just like my current one in less than an hour. Restore apps, restore Contacts, and go.

You might want to look into downloading a backup app from the Market. Sorry, I can't recommend any. There are some free ones, and some that cost you a few bucks. If you're really concerned about this, $5 or less is probably little money well spent. :)
 
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Well, I haven't done anything radical to my rooted Droid, and I've been updating all my apps with no ill effects. But then, I didn't really know that updating the OS could brick a rooted Droid until recently. -I also didn't really think about the idea that the more you monkeyed with system files, the more likely it could brick.

...So the bricking as a result of accepting an auto-update to the Android OS is not a given so much as a plausibility? I guess the part about "un"rooting by downloading the 2.1 update really was what had me so confused about that. It's kind of wierd that updating to the last release unroots it, but updating to the next release could kill it, no? -Or am I just not getting it still?

As for backing up the SD, I will search around inside Astro to see how to save everything to the card.
Yeah, Messwenger, 5 bucks for an app that saves your ass is fine. I already figure with the 130+ apps I have on her, the value of the phone is raised dramatically, and for very little money (just a few paid apps).

Thanks for all the great info.
 
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I doubt that an official update would brick a rooted only phone. If you simply installed apps that require root but don't alter system files then you should be fine. But I'm just guessing. I'll guess that you'll simply loose root and have to do it again afterward. Backup your apps and data.

Irony is that I rooted my phone (Magic) because us Rogers drones will never get an update. I rooted and then updated.
 
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Just another reason to backup apps and archive the old version once-in-awhile is ...

What if you download a free app, but then one day have to reinstall it for whatever reason and go to the Market and now it is no longer free??? :(

If you have the archived version, you can reinstall it from there, then update for free. This has already happened to me.
 
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Yeah, I was a freeware junkie a couple years ago with my XP laptop. Downloaded over 300 free programs. Blew my hdd and lost it all, When I went to download the best of those freewares, they were'nt free anymore. Luckily I had 90% of the original download files saved to dvd.
This has been on my mind since I got this phone, enjoying all of these amazing, free apps. ;)
 
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