Root New guy here, looking for some info.

[Nefarsus]

Hello everyone. I'm new to the phone scene. I upgraded to my first smart phone a Bionic mid December from a 6 year old crappy phone. I rooted my phone last night with tehroot and 43v3r Root. Downloaded Titanium Backup and really love it. But I would like to try out Ice Cream Sandwich to see what that's all about and maybe try overclocking and a battery performance mod. So I have a few questions.

1 What and how do I backup my original phone files to my computer in case something goes wrong and I need to revert everything back?
2 Where is Ice Cream Sandwich for download? Is that the 901 I see posts about? I'm currently using 5.5.893.XT875.Verizon.en.us
3 I tried to get the Rom KIN3TX but when I click on the link there is nothing there for download. Is there another place to get this, or is it no longer available? Is there something similar to that to try out?

I'm really new to all of this and am trying to piece together all of the information but it's still a bit hard. I went to the All thing Roots guide, but I really don't know what all the programs listed are for, like Pathsaver and Bootstrap. Any pointers would be appreciated. Thanks!
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/11382-rom-kin3tx-v10-120811/

 

[SNeitzel]

Welcome!
Start in the http://androidforums.com/bionic-all...-all-things-root-guide-updated-1-20-12-a.html sticky, under the section about the bionic bootstrapper and how to make a backup via clockwork recovery (CWR)/nandroid. Basically, the bootstrapper temporarily replaces the stock recovery software on your phone and lets you reboot into a custom recovery (CWR). From there, you can make a full backup of your phone software in the exact state it is in and save it on your SD card. That is your safety net. If anything happens you can go back and recover your phone from that file. Very useful if you want to try a custom ROM or a couple of them. You can make multiple backups and switch between ROMs rather easily.

Don't worry about pathsaver, it's a tool for those of us that installed some leaked updates and ended up off of the official update path. Pathsaver let us get back on it.

As far as ICS, it's still a work in progress from what I am aware of and is not really ready for daily use. No, the .901 update is not ICS, even though many wish it was...
If you really want to try a custom ROM check the http://androidforums.com/bionic-all-things-root/441018-bionic-roms.html sticky. There are a few posted there that are still being actively developed.

 

[Nefarsus]

Thanks for the information. What exactly is the .901 update then? Is it something I should get? The main thing I wanted to get out of Rooting was better battery performance, and try overclocking. Is there one ROM that offers this or are these apps that I have to get. If they are apps do they have to be used with a specific ROM? I was also planning to write up a super beginners guide for people like me who have absolutely no prior knowledge in the phone rooting area. I'm sure you guys get asked these same question a lot. I'm really excited to try all these cool features out and really get a feel for Rooting.

Is the KIN3TX ROM available somewhere else? From reading threads, it seemed like that was a good one to try out, but like I said, when I click the link it takes me to a thread at Rootzwiki and there is nothing there in the first post.

Also, I'm looking at the CWR and it says

What you are going to need:
The Bootstrap APK
What is APK? Is that the Bionic Boostrapper above it?


Sorry if these questions are dumb. It's just not so easy to piece everything together with almost no knowledge of this hobby.

EDIT: Ok so I downloaded Bootstrap and figured out afterwards what everything meant. Upon first looking at the All things Root thread I thought Bootstrap Guide and CWR Nandroid Backup / Restore Guide were 2 separate items. A little confusing at first haha. I am currently backing up my phone with the CWR. As soon as it's done I will try out a ROM. I understand that this is saving my phone to the SD card in case of an issue, but is there a way to save my phones current files to my computer somehow? Isn't it possible that something can go very wrong and the phone won't boot and possibly not even have the ability to get to the SD card? Just trying to be cautious and protect myself.

 

[Thom]

I'm really new to all of this and am trying to piece together all of the information but it's still a bit hard. I went to the All thing Roots guide, but I really don't know what all the programs listed are for, like Pathsaver and Bootstrap. Any pointers would be appreciated. Thanks!

Part of your question (about system upgrades) does not require you to be root-ed. Two sources of information that I think you will find useful are ...

http://androidforums.com/motorola-droid-bionic/438060-bionic-reference-terms-links.html#post3398984
... and ...
http://androidforums.com/motorola-droid-bionic/421050-post-your-tips-bionic-here.html#post3261351

Both are intended to be repositories of information gathered from a fairly large number of contributors to the parent forum.

... Thom

 

[Nefarsus]

Thanks, I have given them a quick once over and will go through everything later today. I do have a quick question. How do I get to the SD card when my phone is plugged into my computer? Example, I want to download the Eclipse ROM and in the video on youtube the guy says it's best to download it on the computer and then transfer it to the SD card.

 

[Thom]

On the home page of the Bionic pull down the Notifications.
Select USB connection
Select Charge Only
Now the Bionic has exclusive control of the SD and SD-Ext cards

When done
On the home page of the Bionic pull down the Notifications.
Select USB connection
Select USB Mass Storage
Now the PC has exclusive control of the SD and SD-Ext cards

... Thom