Root I want to root... but

[Jcarmicha]

I've read through various pages and haven't really seen SOLID answers for the questions that concern me on the root process. I'm new to my droid having it for less than a month so I'll just jump out and ask the questions.

1. I've put a serious amount of time into my droid and would HATE to have to factory reset it. (I have all my contacts on it - A password database, and a boat load of pictures I don't want to lose) To root the droid are you required to factory reset?

2. Froyo I assume is the update for the Droid? When is this expected to be released? If a release is soon wouldn't it just make sense to wait to root after that?

3. The whole rooting process seems rather easy (I've had experience jailbreaking Ipod's - Setting a PSP to playSNES roms/ETC onto it) but there seems to be a lot of different things here (Cyangomod - Bugless Beast come to mind) what exactly is the difference..? And is there an easy approach to move from one to the other?

If anymore come to mind I'll go ahead and ask
Thanks

 

[OMJ]

1. While you do have to wipe if you want a custom rom and not just stock with root. You dont have to lose much. Your contacts are automatically backed up on googles cloud, you can look at and edit them on gmail on a pc anytime. Apps and app data can be backed up by titanium backup after you root and before you load a custom rom.

2. Why wait for froyo when you can have it now??

3. Lots of differences. Look at the change logs is my best advice I guess. Cyanogenmod is different than anything out there. Tons of extra features and goodies that no other roms have. Sapphire is the most similar thing to it but sapphire is still kinda in its infancy. Bugless Beast is largely stock with stuff done to make it faster and scripts to make things easier

 

[VIO]

People always seem to ask why they shouldn't just wait for stock. It seems like an odd question to me. Honestly its never really been a question about waiting, hell we wait on both sides, maybe not for updates but at least for stable roms, or ones built from source, etc. Either way we will always be waiting.

I tend to think that they better way to understand Custom Roms is not being on an accelerated manufacture update schedule (tho it is faster) but rather on a completely different track; one that runs parallel to Motorola's or HTC's. If you don't mind the manufacturer update plan/schedule then stick with it.

This has always been (for me anyway) about not having to depend on giant corporations to care about my phone and getting it the newest and best firmware. Not that there is anything wrong with that (hell thank you HTC and Moto for my phones!) But eventually they will stop caring about my phone but i'm sure people will be developing for the Droid long after that (g1 anyone?). And until then I might as well enjoy new benefits long before the "stock" droid owners

 

[gnath9]

If you like to tweak, tinker and customize then rooting is awesome but, Its not for everyone.
I myself have been rooted since droidmods 2.0.1 and have never looked back.

 

[Jcarmicha]

If you like to tweak, tinker and customize then rooting is awesome but, Its not for everyone.
I myself have been rooted since droidmods 2.0.1 and have never looked back.

Of course I love the customization process as it usually provides a large deal of benefits.

I'm thinking of taking the plunge here shortly just needed to wrap those questions up.

So with the Titaniumbackup I am able to backup my applications so if I ever wanted to remove the root process I'll still maintain the data I've done after the rooting process.

 

[JoeProcopio]

you can backup all apps, app data, and system data as well...say you have multiple custom topics in your news and weather widget....you can backup all your custom topics, and put them back in if you ever change roms...although you will need to make sure you have a copy of 2.1 settings somewhere as you can't put 2.2 settings back on a 2.1 rom...

i don't know too many people that have rooted their Droids and then gone back to stock, but as soon as you root your Droid, install SPRecovery or Clockwork (my fav) and back up your phone as it is....

that is the best thing about rooting, being able to basically make a clone of your phone save it, and then if your phone gets "f'd" up, flash back a known good copy...and off you go!

 

[JoeProcopio]

or you can play the wait and see game with Verizon, I was going to wait for 2.1, but when they postponed it way back on Jan 22, I rooted the next day and have been very happy with my phone...overclocking is a bonus, but having said that, CyanogenMod runs real snappy with just a slight 800mhz OC...and battery life is wonderful. plus all the great root programs out there...Root Explorer (see every file on your phone and delete excess stuff you can't normally delete..like Amazon MP3, or Visual Voice Mail....Titanium which is a root program, Juice Defender/Plotter/Ultimate Juice which extends battery life...which we all need on our Droids....Cachemate which clears your cache and helps make a sluggish phone snappy again...and many more!

 

[inssane]

1. I've put a serious amount of time into my droid and would HATE to have to factory reset it. (I have all my contacts on it - A password database, and a boat load of pictures I don't want to lose) To root the droid are you required to factory reset?

I really think you should look at the rooting stickies.
If you think that your pictures and contacts are wiped doing a reset, then really you know nothing about your droid, no offense, and probably shouldn't root until you learn a bit more.
The pics hang out on the SD card (which is untouched on a reset) and the contacts are synced via google, as with mail and calendar.

 

[inssane]

Of course I love the customization process as it usually provides a large deal of benefits.

I'm thinking of taking the plunge here shortly just needed to wrap those questions up.

So with the Titaniumbackup I am able to backup my applications so if I ever wanted to remove the root process I'll still maintain the data I've done after the rooting process.

Yes, but how can you restore apps to the phone without root - when the program requires root?

 

[JoeProcopio]

2 more things....you can use Astro File Manager to back up apps as well, but not settings...and it's not automatic like Titanium ( paid version)...and you can export contacts right in the phone application to your sd card a another backup.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

 

[gnath9]

its also a good Idea to export your contacts to a cvs file on your PC from gmail. That way you can import them in outlook if needed.

 

[VIO]

to be honest until you really know what does what and how it does it, you're probably going to lose some stuff.

Personally I don't trust Google's auto update so I manually back up everything; export contacts, TiBi for Apps (tho yes you already need root access to use this), SMS backup (app), pure calendar/messenger native export settings, ADW launcher backup.

Between all that I make sure I lose nothing, plus email and the like is already stored "off site" as it were.

Sure some of it is overkill but never hurts to be careful.

Also, as its been pointed out above nothing on your SD card is touched