• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Root ROM Switching help?

J

jpzsports

Well-Known Member
I'm currently using xtrSense and I've had it on my phone for a long time now. I love it and it's been such an improvement over stock. But I'm interested in switching things up and trying something new just for a change. I'm liking the looks of the new ADW EX so I think I might try a froyo ROM and give the new launcher a shot.

1. Which froyo ROM should I use? Looking for speed and stability

2. I want to be able to completely backup my current ROM, apps and all, so that I can make a full transition back if needed. I understand I need to make a nandroid backup and backup my SD Card. But how do I backup my apps and settings and everything? I suppose I need Titanium Backup. Do I need Pro?

Am I missing anything?

Thanks!
 
1) You can download ADW Ex (or any other launcher) and give it a try without changing your ROM. So unless you just WANT to change your ROM there is no need to do so just to try ADW.

2) When you make a nand backup ALL of your apps and settings are saved. Basically a nand is a 'picture' of your phone at that point in time, if you restore the nand the 'picture' is recreated just like it was at the time of the nand (yes, you can have more than one nand backup at any given time, they're saved to the SD card).

3) I highly recommend Titanium Backup to backup and restore your apps, spend the few bucks and get the paid version, with that you get 'batch' processing so you can restore lots of apps at one time rather than having to select them one at a time.
TB is good for moving apps and settings from one ROM to another. Though I recommend against restoring any 'system' apps or settings between ROMs, especially from 2.1 to 2.2 or vice versa. The system apps are sufficiently different between ROMs that often a restore of data or settings causes things to get buggy (or just not work). So when restoring to a new ROM only restore 'user' apps.

4) There is no such thing as a 'best' 2.2 (or 2.1) ROM, there is only what works well for you. I like and use Nonsensikal, but that's just me. You can see one of many discussion on the matter here
http://androidforums.com/eris-all-things-root/220905-best-2-2-rom.html
 
mhotovec said:
1) You can download ADW Ex (or any other launcher) and give it a try without changing your ROM. So unless you just WANT to change your ROM there is no need to do so just to try ADW.

2) When you make a nand backup ALL of your apps and settings are saved. Basically a nand is a 'picture' of your phone at that point in time, if you restore the nand the 'picture' is recreated just like it was at the time of the nand (yes, you can have more than one nand backup at any given time, they're saved to the SD card).

3) I highly recommend Titanium Backup to backup and restore your apps, spend the few bucks and get the paid version, with that you get 'batch' processing so you can restore lots of apps at one time rather than having to select them one at a time.
TB is good for moving apps and settings from one ROM to another. Though I recommend against restoring any 'system' apps or settings between ROMs, especially from 2.1 to 2.2 or vice versa. The system apps are sufficiently different between ROMs that often a restore of data or settings causes things to get buggy (or just not work). So when restoring to a new ROM only restore 'user' apps.

4) There is no such thing as a 'best' 2.2 (or 2.1) ROM, there is only what works well for you. I like and use Nonsensikal, but that's just me. You can see one of many discussion on the matter here
http://androidforums.com/eris-all-things-root/220905-best-2-2-rom.html
Click to expand...


Perfect! Thanks for the help.

Does TB specify what is a system app and what is a user app?
 
Yes, there are a couple of different ways. The system apps and the user apps have different icons beside them (I don't recall which is which, but there is a legend available). More importantly, one of the batch restore options is 'restore all user apps' - that makes it pretty easy to figure out. :)
 
In Titanium, system apps are colored green and red. Red ones should not be restore; green ones you may be able to, but resist the temptation to do so and just restore user apps+data, especually if you are going from 2.1 to 2.2, or vice versa.
 
Alright sounds good! Thank you both.

One thing that I like about Sense is the SMS preview on the bottom of the lockscreen. Is there any way I could get that on a non-sense Froyo ROM?
 
I don't know the answer to the sms question. I'm a very low volume sms type of guy (there are folks that send more message in 5 minutes than I send in a typical day, or even a week). I just use Handcent and think it's good enough for what I do.
 
Same here on the SMS issue. I don't care about that feature, so I don't even notice if it is there or not. There are third-party lockscreen apps that may do that; there is widgetlocker, which I guess allows you to put widgets on the lockscreen, so you could replicate that. Perhaps others will be more help, though.
 
Bobcat, that kind of depends on why you're asking the question.
Technically system data would be information that is stored and used by a system app, so no they are not the same.
However if you're asking because you're wondering if you can restore system data from a 2.1 ROM to a 2.2 ROM (or vice versa), the answer is "it's not a good idea".
 
Mhotovec, well before understanding a little better about Titanium Backup, I was going to change roms so I did a batch backup of " Backup all user apps + system data". Then after reading that to not backup system apps I'm thinking I screwed up. Also when I did the original root I followed all the directions and now I don't have any of the text messages, some being important and not knowing how to save them. Are they in the nand backup or gone.
 
It's perfectly fine to backup system apps with Titanium; you just need to be careful about restoring them across Android versions.

As for SMS messages, I like using two apps. SMS Backup & Restore is a quick and easy way to restore messages, and can be scheduled to run as you use the phone. Better, perhaps, is SMS Backup+. which backs up both SMS and MMS messages to a gmail label as you receive them (and every hour for ones that you send, if you don't receive any within the hour), and can then restore them when you install a new ROM (or do a data wipe.)

You can definitely restore SMS messages between xtrROM and xtrSENSE using Titanium, or between Kaos and CELB, but going between xtrROM and Nonsensikal will give you problems. SMS Backup & Restore or SMS Backup+, however, will work just fine between Android versions.
 
Yep, what Doogald said. :)

Assuming you did your nand backup before deleting the SMS message, then yes they are in the nand. So if you want them back you could;
1) make a nand of your current settings.
2) restore the previous nand
3) install Doogald's recommended SMS Backup and Restore
4) backup the messages you care about.
4a) if you're going to be changing Android versions (from 2.1 to 2.2 for instance) I'd suggest emailing the SMS message to yourself somewhere where you can pick up the messages on a PC.
5) restore the nand you made in (1).
6) If you haven't changed Android versions between nands then reinstall SMS Backup and Restore, then restore the SMS messages you saved.
6a) If you have changed Android versions and you need those SMS messages on your phone, then email them back to an email account that you use on your phone, or email them to you SMS on your phone.
6b) If you have a nand backup of your current settings AND you've changed Android versions then you could try to restore the SMS message to see if they work OK without screwing up the phone. If they don't they you're golden, if they do then you just restore the nand and you're back to (6a)

Isn't it great to have choices?! :)
 
White Widow is a 2.1 ROM.

In 2.1 ROMs *I* prefer xtrROM
[ROM][GPL][11/5/2010] xtrROM4.6.5 [cache2cache,apps2sd,jit,lwp,oc] - xda-developers
or xtrSense
[ROM][GPL][11/5/2010] xtrSENSE4.6.5 [cache2cache,apps2sd,oc,jit]-HTC Sense - xda-developers

In 2.2 ROMs *I* prefer Nonsensikal (the dev is no longer working on this one, I know that bothers some folks)
HTC Droid Eris - [ROM|Final Release][12/17] Nonsensikal v16.1 [CM 6.1.1|Black&Blue|Vanilla]
or FroShedYo
[ROM]{12/25} FroShedYo V9 FIX! [CM6.2-RC1]Red|Purple|Vanilla|Elegant|Pink][CPUBoost] - xda-developers
or Celb
[ROM][GPL] CELB Froyo 4.0(Custom cpu settings)12-26-10 - xda-developers

This list is strictly subjective in nature, and in no way implies that these ROMs or better than other ROMs. These just happen to be the ones that I've used and liked. I've tried other ROMs that I didn't care for. Generally what makes me prefer one ROM over another is something very minor, and most likely something that another user may not care about at all. Ultimately it's all up to what you like/don't like in a ROM that will determine if you like it or not.
Make nands, try new ROMs, find one (or more than one) that you like.
As long as you have a nand to go back to it's not much trouble to flash a new ROM, and some of us twisted folks even think it's fun. :)
 
I'm not looking at the screen so this may not be exactly right, but it should be close enough to get you there.
1) boot into recovery.
2) select nand backup/restore
3) select restore
4) You come to a screen that shows a code beginning with 'H' (your phone's serial number) select that code.
5) your nand backup(s) will be listed here. The names have dates embedded in them so you can tell what date the nand was created. Select the one you want and let it restore.
6) reboot the phone, this next boot will take a little longer than normal, after that your phone will look like it did when you created the nand.
 
Whooops, I did the nand restore and since I've only done it the one time I now have my stock rom back allthough I have the old sms's I'm not rooted anymore. I guess I'm back to where I was before rooting.
 
Nope, you're still rooted, the phone just looks like it did when you did the nand just after you rooted..
Save your sms messages and then flash a new ROM - if that's your goal.
 
I think I might be understanding this a little better. Nand basically takes a picture of the os. Restoring the nand is I'm looking at the sceen at that time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom