Root Nandroid how much does it back up?

[handy5876]

Hi
Wanted to learn more about nandroid. On inspecting clockworkmod directory image files for boot, cache, data, recovery, sdext and system are available. These are the backup image files for the following partitions:-
partition image
mtd1 recovery
mtd2 boot
mtd3 system
mtd4 cache
mtd5 data

Now mtd0 is the misc partition. What about bootloader? What about radio? What about splash. Does this mean nandroid doesnt work for splash, misc, bootloader(hboot) and radio. Now mtd is nandflash. Where is hboot and radio located.

 

[Rastaman-FB]

it doesnt back up misc, bootloader/hboot or radio. this is not part of nand. these are spl/nvram

misc i believe is actually part of nand but is never flashed or modified as it contains carrier data
misc is mtd0

but basically nandroid only backs up the android os nand partitions and not manufacturer

 

[handy5876]

That's cool. Ok.
Can you back up the radio and hboot someway and restore back on calamity.

 

[SUroot]

No. But you can't do anything to the bootloader without being S-off anyway. And if you want to change radio, you just flash it (carefully).

 

[handy5876]

Ok. I can't back up radio and hboot. btw why so careful about radio? Isn't bootloader the first guy. I mean you are into bootloader and then you can get the radio back right?

 

[SUroot]

You have to be careful that the file for radio is not corrupt and power is not lost during the flashing process as this can corrupt the radio. The Radio is in NVRAM and unlike the NAND, is impossible to repair once corrupt. So you must be careful when doing this.

Once rooted, you can flash radio's via custom recovery (Which you access via the bootloader). This unpacks the radio.zip into the cache partition (so it must have enough free space to do this).

If you are S-off, cache is irrelevant as you can use fastboot (also availble via bootloader or can directly boot to it with Back+power from off) and fastboot flash from a PC whilst connected to USB.

 

[handy5876]

OK I get it. I can change the radio if required from bootloader but if something goes wrong with nvram then its a problem.

But what about bootloader itself. It cant change itself right. So no way to flash a bootloader. Or is there ? I saw after soff alpharev title in pink has come in bootloader though the version of hboot is same. It must mean that bootloader has been modified in some manner. When the custom partition tables are flashed dont they also affect the bootloader.

What I am trying to say is I got nandroid backup for all my other partitions but nothing for bootloader. Can I keep a hboot handy around somewhere and flash it when needed?

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[SUroot]

Alpharev S-off flashes a modified bootloader. Unless you use an RUU, you can't accidentally modify it yourself so no risk of anything going wrong.

Being S-off gives you the option to hlash alternative hboots from Alpharev, which change the partition layout. If you have a problem with hboot, you can simply flash another one from Alpharev.

I do not know what would happen if you flash an original hboot from a PB99IMG.zip. I wouldnt recommend trying.

 

[handy5876]

Btw what is this ruu and pb99thingy? I searched but could not get any clear explanations like in your guides. Thanx in advance.

 

[Hadron]

RUU is a ROM Update Utility. It's a (Windows) program that will replace your phone's entire software (bootloader, radio, recovery as well as ROM), and will unroot (and wipe) your phone in the process. They have 2 uses for us: fixing extreme software problems, and returning the phone to official software if you need to send it in for repair (because if they find modified software on it they are likely to refuse to repair under warranty, even if it's a pure hardware problem).

PB99IMG.zip is a software update applied via the bootloader: stick the PB99IMG.zip on the root of your SD card, boot into the bootloader, and tell it that you do want to apply the update. The commonest use of this to do the same job as an RUU and replace everything - useful if you need to run an RUU but the phone won't talk to USB. But you can also use this to just replace the hboot - alpharev make their customised hboots available in this form, as well as as imgs that can be flashed using fastboot.

Note that the current alpharev hboots will not be replaced by running an RUU - if you want to S-On again, you need to apply their "downgrader hboot" first. This is good if your reason for applying the RUU is to fix the phone, more work if you actually want to unroot and return to stock.

 

[handy5876]

Thank you for the crystal clear answer.