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No SD card, but what is ODIN?

WormDoes

WormDoes

Android Expert
Ok, I'm going to start this by saying while I am a guide and know a lot about Android and help many people with their device(s), I admittedly don't know much (read: anything) about Samsung phones. It's basically like I'm a noob (to some degree) all over again, lol. With that being said, I asked in IRC last night if it was going to be a PITA to flash ROMs and such without an SD card and was told to Google ODIN.

My question to those more familiar with Sammy, what is ODIN, what exactly does it do and how will it make it easier to flash ROMs on the GN.

Thanks in advance
 
Odin is a software that allows you to flash either a rom,or a kernel...its not hard to use at all..if u have ever used rad lite for a Motorola phone its almost the the same thing in certain ways
 
I haven't used a Moto Android device, can't stand Moto. So, ODIN is an app that you use to flash things, is it similar to ROM Manager? Or is it more like CWM where you boot into it, flash your zips and then rebooted into the OS? Also, do you have to do full wipes with ODIN? That's my main concern, having to do a wipe and losing everything that's stored on my phone because it's not stored on an SD. It seems like a huge pain, especially because once you do that wipe, the zip you want to flash is now not there anymore.

Sorry if these seem like basic, stupid questions. I just want to know 100% what I may be getting myself into with a Sammy device
 
Does this mean we can not use ROM manager and swap (and backup) ROMs on the go? Will you actually have to connect to a PC to change ROMs?
 
stanfna said:
Does this mean we can not use ROM manager and swap (and backup) ROMs on the go? Will you actually have to connect to a PC to change ROMs?
Click to expand...

My guess is you can't use ROM Manager, but why would you want to anyways? I'm sure there's a way to make and restore backups with ODIN just as you can manually with ClockworkMod/TWRP
 
Its an app that goes onto your computer and u put your phone into bootloader mode and when I flashed kernels on my fascinate it never did wipe anything, I never used it to flash roms but it can be used for that to..I always flashed roms from my sd card when I get home ill try n find the thread that tought me how to use it..and no its not similar to rom manager
 
tsargent347 said:
Its an app that goes onto your computer and u put your phone into bootloader mode and when I flashed kernels on my fascinate it never did wipe anything, I never used it to flash roms but it can be used for that to..I always flashed roms from my sd card when I get home ill try n find the thread that tought me how to use it..and no its not similar to rom manager
Click to expand...

Ok, that makes sense. I was hoping that it was nothing like RM. That thread would be definitely be useful, thanks in advance.
 
trophynuts said:
you may want to read through the how to root section on the Nexus S. I assume it will be similar.

http://androidforums.com/nexus-s-all-things-root/420759-ultimate-root-thread-roms-kernels-how.html
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I took a peak at it before starting this thread. I was more just wondering at this point what exactly ODIN was. I now know it's a program you run on your PC to flash zips.

Basically, the only questions I still have at this point are: (that I can think of atm ;))

A. Can you mount the storage to backup/add from PC?
B. When doing a data wipe does the storage not get touched?
C. Is ODIN the only option and is it stable?
 
Odin as far as I have used it is stable..I cannot answer the back up part cause I had a sd card in my fascinate for that..but u can flash .tar files with Odin also
 
I'll answer most of these questions for you, still working on getting that other thread updated. :)

A. Can you mount the storage to backup/add from PC? Yes definitely
B. When doing a data wipe does the storage not get touched? That's correct, there are two options one to wipe data, and one to wipe the SD. Even though it's internal storage, it still reads and shows as SD storage.
C. Is ODIN the only option and is it stable? ODIN is really the only option if you "brick" your device, most Samsung devices are nearly impossible to brick. I haven't had to use ODIN once with my Nexus. I still use CWM to pretty much do everything, ODIN is just there for "just in case" situations where there is no other option to restore, or mount your device.

What is Odin? Odin Multi Downloader is a software program tools that is used to flash the firmware (stock ROMs or either Custom ROMs) on Samsung devices that runs in Android OS. . It's usually included in firmware packages, it comes with different versions and built to be used in a desired Samsung Android Phones product.
Click to expand...
So basically if you buy a Galaxy Nexus, you will most likely never have to use ODIN.
 
So if I was to flash a custom rom on they galaxy nexus and I do data wipe my music and pictures will still be there like it had a sd card? And how to do put ur backups on a computer
 
tsargent347 said:
So if I was to flash a custom rom on they galaxy nexus and I do data wipe my music and pictures will still be there like it had a sd card? And how to do put ur backups on a computer
Click to expand...

That's correct, unless you wipe SD data as well. As long as the Galaxy Nexus supports CWM all you have to do is go to sdcard/clockworkmod/backup/ and your stored backups are in here. So if you need to do a full SD wipe, just save the backup to your computer, and put it back in the same folder after you wipe.
 
B2L said:
I'll answer most of these questions for you, still working on getting that other thread updated. :)

A. Can you mount the storage to backup/add from PC? Yes definitely
B. When doing a data wipe does the storage not get touched? That's correct, there are two options one to wipe data, and one to wipe the SD. Even though it's internal storage, it still reads and shows as SD storage.
C. Is ODIN the only option and is it stable? ODIN is really the only option if you "brick" your device, most Samsung devices are nearly impossible to brick. I haven't had to use ODIN once with my Nexus. I still use CWM to pretty much do everything, ODIN is just there for "just in case" situations where there is no other option to restore, or mount your device.

So basically if you buy a Galaxy Nexus, you will most likely never have to use ODIN.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much, B2L. This was very helpful. My concerns about not having an SD card are not naught after this post.
 
So would it be a leap to assume that if you have NO MS Winblows (just Linux and MacOS) in the house you are SOL with ODIN and flashing ROM's?
 
B2L said:
C. Is ODIN the only option and is it stable? ODIN is really the only option if you "brick" your device, most Samsung devices are nearly impossible to brick. I haven't had to use ODIN once with my Nexus. I still use CWM to pretty much do everything, ODIN is just there for "just in case" situations where there is no other option to restore, or mount your device.

So basically if you buy a Galaxy Nexus, you will most likely never have to use ODIN.
Click to expand...

mntbighker said:
So would it be a leap to assume that if you have NO MS Winblows (just Linux and MacOS) in the house you are SOL with ODIN and flashing ROM's?
Click to expand...

Read the quoted post above. ODIN is a 'just in case' you run into trouble program, like RSD Lite for Moto or an RUU for HTC. Most of the flashing is still done through CWM as B2L said in one of his posts
 
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