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Root How to understand root and bootstrap, etc.

Z

zkrocek

Lurker
Hello!

I am new to the community here and have tried searching for the information I need. I still end up confused.

Rooting was the easy part and I know what it is and what it does. What I don't understand is what Bootstrap Recovery is, how to use it, or when to use it. Miraculously, I managed to get Eclipse installed on my phone after root and it has been working for a while. I've made many changes over the past months to my phone and I would like to flash to the newest Eclipse version (and update my phone to the recommended OTA .902 for the ROM).

That being said, I don't want to brick my phone. I almost did it the first time as I got stuck on a loop at the load screen and got frustrated when I followed the directions to the detail!

I just backed up my user apps and system data using Titanium Backup. Would anyone be willing to assist me in this process (or point me to where I need to go to read an idiot-proof guide on it)?

Thank you!
 
Recovery is very crucial because you need it to do some very important things.

#1 on the list which i hope you did as soon as you rooted was made a Nandroid backup within recovery.

After that Recovery is used to flash different roms and mods, which you may already know since your running one.

I like to make a backup in Recovery though before trying out any new mod or Rom. That way incase something goes bad you have a good restore point to go back to.
 
trophynuts said:
Recovery is very crucial because you need it to do some very important things.

#1 on the list which i hope you did as soon as you rooted was made a Nandroid backup within recovery.

After that Recovery is used to flash different roms and mods, which you may already know since your running one.

I like to make a backup in Recovery though before trying out any new mod or Rom. That way incase something goes bad you have a good restore point to go back to.
Click to expand...

This is interesting. I read that ANY backup of your current ROM and setup can be done with many apps, like Titanium Backup. That's what I used as I backed up all user apps and system data. It's not critical for me as I like to make a fresh start every now and then, but it IS useful for making sure I don't have to re-download all of my apps.

The guides would say things like "run this, then run that" but I had and still have no idea what they did. For this example, I have installed a program called "Bionic Bootstrapper". I am supposed to back up my apps (which I do via Titanium Backup), run bootstrap recovery, then reboot recovery?

From there, I need to clear data, correct? After that I can install new ROM from SDCard manually and hope for the best?
 
back ups are always good try to reload the system data across different roms can cause problems before flash wipe data/cache/dalvik after flash wipe cache/dalvik/ fix permissions. i get no bootloops doing this happy flashing
 
the Nandroid backup that you create is more of a system image. So TiBu is great for backing up certain things in between flashing roms but a Nandroid backup is used as a safeguard in case something goes wrong in a major way you would just restore to that Nandroid backup.

I tell everyone that as soon as you root and have a custom recovery installed you should make a stock-rooted Nandroid backup using recovery. That way if you ever need to get to stock for some reason you just flash that in recovery.
 
I will remember that. I was just trying to update to the .902 OTA at lunch and found out that Moto is on .904 now. I'm not sure the new Eclipse ROM will work on that OTA, so it looks like its up to me to manually find .902 floating around on the internet.

So if I want to update, I can do so when I find .902, then backup using TiBa (or should I nandroid even now before flashing?), download new ROM version onto SDcard, run bootstrap recovery, then reboot recovery, wipe data, flash new ROM, done.

Are these the correct steps for not messing up my phone again? I read the above poster's steps but it's all a little hazy for me. I will be attempting this soon. Sometimes the best solution is to get your feet wet.
 
well remember you can't use TiBu unless your rooted. So if for some reason you end up flashing a complete stock image Like SBF (that is what we used to have to do on the DroidX) then you would need to re root to use TiBu.
 
zkrocek said:
I will remember that. I was just trying to update to the .902 OTA at lunch and found out that Moto is on .904 now. I'm not sure the new Eclipse ROM will work on that OTA, so it looks like its up to me to manually find .902 floating around on the internet.

So if I want to update, I can do so when I find .902, then backup using TiBa (or should I nandroid even now before flashing?), download new ROM version onto SDcard, run bootstrap recovery, then reboot recovery, wipe data, flash new ROM, done.

Are these the correct steps for not messing up my phone again? I read the above poster's steps but it's all a little hazy for me. I will be attempting this soon. Sometimes the best solution is to get your feet wet.
Click to expand...

Don't worry about .904 because MOTO is up to .905 but neither one is an official release. You can get the 5.9.902 fxz file here http://androidforums.com/bionic-all-things-root/480176-how-flash-5-5-893-5-9-902-rsdlite.html. Since you did not make a backup of your stock rooted system this is the only way to get the update coming from a custom ROM. There are step by step directions and all the download files on that thread. Once you flash the fxz you will need to re root using motofail which you can get here http://androidforums.com/bionic-all...gs-root-guide-updated-2-14-12-a.html#motofail .

After all that you can restore your apps using TiBa but only restore the apps and not the data as it was saved based on your previous system.

Set your phone up how you want it.

Then run bootstrap, go into bootstrap recovery and make a nandroid backup.

Reboot.

You are now ready to flash the custom rom of your choice that is based on 5.9.902.

Here is the link to Eclipse 2.2 based on 5.9.902. [Rom] Eclipse v2.2 (2/27/12) - Eclipse - RootzWiki
 
zkrocek said:
Hello!

I am new to the community here and have tried searching for the information I need. I still end up confused.

Rooting was the easy part and I know what it is and what it does. What I don't understand is what Bootstrap Recovery is, how to use it, or when to use it. Miraculously, I managed to get Eclipse installed on my phone after root and it has been working for a while. I've made many changes over the past months to my phone and I would like to flash to the newest Eclipse version (and update my phone to the recommended OTA .902 for the ROM).

That being said, I don't want to brick my phone. I almost did it the first time as I got stuck on a loop at the load screen and got frustrated when I followed the directions to the detail!

I just backed up my user apps and system data using Titanium Backup. Would anyone be willing to assist me in this process (or point me to where I need to go to read an idiot-proof guide on it)?

Thank you!
Click to expand...

A recovery image is the system level software for your Android device that lets you perform several maintenance and recovery tasks. The stock recovery image is quite limited in what it allows you to do and therefore, flashing a custom recovery image is requiredto gain full control of your device
 
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