Root After update - can I restore a saved custom ROM?

[ramjet73]

There is a third option that nobody seems to know about:

The Evo 3D Stock recovery, found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1554777 works fine on the Evo V 4G.

I was on stock everything (hboot 1.57, stock kernal, stock rom) EXCEPT recovery (had TWRP 2.3.1), S-ON, with the Superuser patch. I used joeykrim's Flash Image GUI app to flash this stock recovery (tried to flash with android terminal, couldn't make it work, decided $0.99 is worth making this easy).

I then went to "system updates" and the update installed fine using this recovery.

This saves all of your settings and data, but you will have to re-root though adb afterwards, because the update breaks superuser.

If you are already rooted with a custom recovery a nandroid backup taken before relocking, flashing the RUU.exe and installing the OTA can be restored after re-rooting and you won't lose any of your setup. Seems like this method should work but my preference is still to flash the RUU.exe and apply the full OTA since that ensures everything is in sync at 100% stock before unlocking, re-rooting and restoring the nandroid. I'm not sure why some people can't see the OTA online but if that is the case the only way to get the benefit of the new firmware is to be S-OFF and flash it through the bootloader as a PG86IMG.zip file.

Edit: If you are using the stock ROM and want the software patches included in the OTA you wouldn't want to restore a nandroid taken before the OTA update is applied, so your method might be easier in that scenario since it does avoid the app installation and setup after the OTA. However, you would still need to re-flash a custom recovery and re-root as you pointed out.

As long as you are not having problems you should stick with what works for you.

ramjet73