Root Swapping Roms - Am I oversimplifying?

[jayroller]

Ok, I've had an idea, I think I'm ok with it, but I reckon it's best to ask the experts first. (It gives me someone elese to blame if it all goes tits up, too... )

I'm currently running LeeDrOid v2.5.0 with A2SD, my sdcard is partitioned Fat32/Ext3 and all is running fine. However, I fancy trying a different rom (Starburst, to be precise), now - this is my plan (as such) and, eventually, my question...

1) Do a nandroid backup of this rom, take the sd card out and keep it safe
2) Insert a new, different sd card formatted for the new rom (with the new rom on it of course) flash the new rom, use the new Rom

Now the actual question is, if I don't like the new rom for whatever reason, can I put the old sd card back in, restore the nandroid backup, and end up back where I started? Or have I missed some gaping pitfalls in my plan? Any advice and ideas welcomed!

(In case it matters, the phone is s-off (thank you, alpharev) and running clockworkmod 2.5.0.7)

 

[MandaNick]

Yes, your plan would work. Depending what version of Starburst you choose, you probably don't need to swap SD cards though. If you don't mind me asking, what OS do you run on your computer? I know in OS X, there is a pretty simple way too backup your SD card to say, a thumb drive.

 

[jayroller]

Thanks for your reply! I'm using Windows Vista, (it came with the PC years ago and I've never bothered to change it) so it doesn't recognise EXT partitions at all (I am getting round to dual booting with either Fedora or Kubuntu, but this pc gives ACPI errors with linux installs, and I'm too lazy to spend the time fiddling with the power settings in the Bios. ) I usually use Gparted Live to sort partitions out, but I've found a program on windows that seems to be able to do it too, gonna have a fiddle with it later and see if it'll copy my current card, ext3 and all.

The reason I'm swapping the card out though, is my current card is an 8gb with a 512mb EXT3 for A2SD - for Starburst, I'm planning on a 1.5gb EXT4 partition for the DATA2SD. I've got a 16gb card arriving next week (well, 2 of them probably, but that's a long story!), and as I say if it all goes Pete Tong, then I've got my original card safe and well far way from the disaster zone.

 

[MandaNick]

Sounds like you got it pretty well thought out, let us know how it goes. (Some ACPI errors can also be solved by passing in a boot option from GRUB. Not sure which one though......)

 

[InfernalByte]

A2SD - for Starburst, I'm planning on a 1.5gb EXT4 partition for the DATA2SD. I've got a 16gb card arriving

Ext4 will "fatigue" your SD very quickly, and it'll give its boot sector the immediate humps!
EDIT: Love the JetSetWilly thing you got goin on

 

[jayroller]

Ext4 will "fatigue" your SD very quickly, and it'll give its boot sector the immediate humps!

Have you got direct experience of this? I ask genuinely, because I did look around about this issue and it seems some folks say yay, some nay; one bloke reckons it'll shorten the life of your card by around 5%, another seems to think it'll kill your card stone dead, kick your cat and cause all the bread in your house to go stale, and yet another believes it's just another file system and the only risk is data loss from delayed allocation... Personally I'm not that fussed about ext4, it's only because the Rom specifies it has to be so (and even says it'll convert non-believers Ext2/3 partitions!)

But that's by the by anyway: I tried the rom, thought "ooh, look, 888MB Internal Memory free", decided it didn't feel that much faster and I cba to configure it further, and went back to my LeeDrOid rom...

Then... eek I decided the whole point was to try something new and different, so I've flashed Reflex S 2.1.6, with Sense 2.1 (and some Sense 3.0 bits too) and I'm loving it big time. Basically, if anyone should read this and are thinking about rooting/flashing, then please, I urge you - do it! (but rtfm first, a couple of times!)

Thanks to this site (and xda!) and my own natural curiosity, I havent'd had this much fun in years! Which brings me on to...

EDIT: Love the JetSetWilly thing you got goin on

Ta la! It was JSW or Jetman from Jetpac, god I loved my Speccy.

 

[MandaNick]

I personally use Ext4 on various flash drives and it hasn't seemed to affect them at all.