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Root Is there a Basic Guide to ROMs?

Mysteryman

Mysteryman

Member
So, like a lot of people, my HTC Desire is running out of memory for applications and I would like to take advantage of the option to use part of the microSD card to increase the amount available.

I've managed to S-OFF and root the phone and now I am not sure what to do next.

Is it necessary to put a different ROM on the phone and, if so, what does this mean?
  • A different User Interface?
  • Re-install all the applications?
  • Set up all the applications?
  • ??????
Thanks - any advice appreciated!
 
When flashing a new ROM you need to wipe data (factory reset) via recovery before flashing the ROM, so yes you will lose any apps that are not included in the new ROM system. However Titanium backup will back up & restore your apps. A word of caution though restoring system data across ROMs can cause problems & is not recommended.
 
Just to add, it's worth buying the pro version of ti backup, just for the batch restore feature alone. (great when setting up a new rom).
 
Flashing the ROM won't remove them, but you have to do it yourself.

The problem is that unless the new ROM is very similar to the old one, the chances are that the system app data and settings aren't compatible. So you need to do a factory reset to remove all of that stuff before flashing the new ROM, which also removes all of your own apps. If you don't, you might suffer strange, minor performance problems, or you might have major instability or the phone won't boot at all.

So the advice is that before flashing a new ROM you should:

* back up all of your apps and data using Titanium Backup.

* back up messages and contacts separately - these are part of the system data. Titanium Pro can back these up in xml format, which is transferable between ROMs, but the default backup of these is not. There are many message backup apps in the Play Store (will also back up call logs). If all of your contacts are synced with Google then they are backed up anyway, otherwise export them to SD from the People app (or do this anyway, to be safe!).

* There is an option to back up some more of your app data with Google (in the Privacy menu). By all means try try that if you want, but make the other backups as well in case it doesn't do everything (I've not really used this myself, so don't know how reliable it is).

* Make a backup from recovery (a "nandroid" backup) before you do the factory reset.

* When, and only when, that's complete, do a factory reset from recovery. You can then install the new ROM .zip (which you should already have copied to your SD card).

* Reboot (expect the first boot to be a bit longer than usual), then restore your different backups. Only restore user apps from Titanium, not system settings (though if you have Pro you can restore XML backups of messages, and contacts if you need to).

The Desire All Things Root Guide sticky post (red link in my sig) has a links to the "rooting faq", which has a more succinct explanation of the basic steps.

The other key thing is, always read the first couple of posts in the ROM's thread (usually at XDA-developers) to see whether it has any particular requirements, e.g. sd card partitions of a particular size.

The most important is, make that nandroid backup before you remove or change anything. As long as you have that, you can always return the phone to the state it was in when the backup was made. The backup itself lives on the SD card, so as long as nothing happens to that you are fine (I keep a few copied to my laptop as well). That little slogan in Nicka's sig is a good one :)
 
Everything you need to know to flas a new ROM is in Suroot's Root FAQ

How do I flash a custom ROM?
First, find a rom that you want from here:
XDA Developers - Desire Index

It lists all the good roms. Be aware that you already need to be rooted. If you want to use apps2sd+, you will also need to have partitioned your card first. See the apps2sd+ FAQ in my signature.

Be aware that you may need to wipe. However, for stock / HTC sense based roms for the desire (not including ports such aas the desire HD ports), you MAY get away without doing a data wipe. AOSP (vanilla) roms will definitely need a wipe

Its always best to take a nandroid backup of your existing rom. See the Nandroid section further on in this FAQ.

Also you should backup your apps and data. Titanium Backup is a great app for this. However, I also use mybackup pro for sms and call logs, but there are alternatives out there.

If you have to wipe, this is due to an incompatibility with system settings from your old rom. See the wiping section, also further on in this FAQ.

So (based on clockworkmod recovery):

1) download you chosen ROM onto SD card
2) Do all your backups
3) Boot into recovery manually (see recovery section earlier)
4) Choose "wipe data / factory reset"
5) Choose "Install zip from SD card"
6) Once complete, choose "reboot system now"

It can take 10 minutes to boot up first time, so give it this long before taking further action. If it still has not booted, pull out the battery, but ONLY when the boot animation is on. NEVER during a flashing process.

If you can obviously see the boot animation looping, this may be due to the lack of wipe. Pull the battery and boot into recovery and perform the wipe.

Once booted, if you wiped, set up the phone with network and market access and download Titanium again and whatever data restore app you used for sms (if desired).

If you wiped, be careful which option you choose to restore. You dont want to restore system settings, so "restore missing apps with data" is a good one to choose.
Click to expand...
 
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