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Root To root or not to root that is the question

T

TV!

Member
Hi Guys and Gals,

I have been a lurker on this site for months and have been thinking about rooting due to the lack of space issue us poor desire owners experience.

I have had the phone for over a year and love it too bits and would hate to brick the thing hence the reason I have not bothered going down the root route as yet.

Now I have read near enough absolutely everything on this forum and have went over Suroots guide numerous times and I have a pretty good understanding about how the whole procedure works. And if I do decide to root I would probably print all the instructions off before I attempt it and tick them off as I go just too make sure I don't miss any important steps. I even made a goldcard last year just for the hell of it when everyone else was doing it (lol I sound like an advert for drugs) I never even used the thing.

Now I love my phone as is (bog standard branded t-moblie 2.2 stock ROM) and to be honest the only reason I want to root is so I can resolve the low internal memory problem.

The reason I love my phone is that everything works there are no issues with the stock ROM.

So my question is this if I were to root is there a normal bog standard ROM that supports the app2sd. I just simply want what I have got with the ability to save all the apps to SD.

I have looked at most of the custom Roms and they do look very nice and I don't doubt they have certain benefits depending on which one you choose. But I also read about numerous problems like this doesn't work, that doesn't work or there is lag when making calls , or I'm not getting message notifications, my wifi doesn't work etc etc.

And too be honest I couldn't be bothered having to spend all the time dealing with the problem and then trying to finding solutions to these problems.

The most important thing for me is that everything works on the phone not 98% of the stuff but 100%.

So my question is this, is there such a thing as a custom ROM where the only thing that has been tinkered with is the fact it can copy all apps to SD. Or am I searching for the holy grail ?

Or do you think I am as well waiting on stock GB coming out. Will the stock GB solve this memory problem or am I still gonna have to think about going down the root route ?

Thanks for any replies, how you guys know all this stuff baffles me it is pretty amazing.
 
I also waited long time and finally rooted 10 days back when htc made the first announcement that gb will not be avlbl. Mine was an unlocked phone so slightly easy no goldcard stuff. Anyway rooted with unrevoked, flashed oxygen 2.1.3, soff and then sdext and then upgraded my sdcard. I am loving my android now. No issues. Better than before.
But issues are highly technical. You need to be prepared to spend lot of time. Generally if you follow the steps should be ok. But you need some knowledge when problems come.
 
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SUroot said:
The best froyo close to stock is still slightly optimised butworks flawlessly. If I wanted what you want I would use the rom I am about to recommend:

[ROM] [20/06] Pre-rooted Stock Froyo (2.29.405.5) [Optional mods] - xda-developers

More specifically the 2.29.405.5 with init.d support

Later on, there are optional mods you can add which will be of interest to you too :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the speedy reply SU, I will check this link out and make a decision once and for all.

I am just about to go out on the lash and the chances are i will be hung over like a dog tomorrow so it might take me a few days before i get a chance to look at it.

With my point about GB I know you dont have mystical powers (although some may disagree :p) but do you think GB will alleviate the memory issue or do think there will still be a problem ?

thanks again
 
GB as standard "move to SD" for apps moves a bit more than froyo so it will help somewhat if unrooted. If you're rooted, no need to worry about that so much.
 
Right folks took the plunge last night and here is what i have done so far.

1 Backed up SD card on computer
2 Rooted using unrevoked (must say was very easy no problems)
3 Took recovery straight away
4 Downloaded titanium backed up only the apps i downloaded
5 Partitioned SD card using Gparted (this was a nightmare took ages - tried doing it from card reader never worked - tried through recovery worked first time - maybe a note for the FAQ's)
6 Created gold card

Now when i partitioned the sd i never formatted the card first should i have ?

The reason I ask is that I downloaded quick system info and it says my A2SD storage is only 2.01mb in total. When i partitioned i created EXT3 of 1024mb.

I had to format the card this morning anyway to make the gold card so should i just partition it again ?

Final question - now that i have done the above 6 steps I take it the final step is to flash a custom ROM, is that me ready to flash a ROM ?

Thanks again guys and a final top tip for any potential rooter, read , read and read again the info is there in the guides i must have been studying them on and off for months. Then i would suggest you print off the FAQ's and the rooting guide so yo have them to hand and follow them step by step and its a piece of cake.
 
TV! said:
Right folks took the plunge last night and here is what i have done so far.


5 Partitioned SD card using Gparted (this was a nightmare took ages - tried doing it from card reader never worked - tried through recovery worked first time - maybe a note for the FAQ's)


Thanks again guys and a final top tip for any potential rooter, read , read and read again the info is there in the guides i must have been studying them on and off for months. Then i would suggest you print off the FAQ's and the rooting guide so yo have them to hand and follow them step by step and its a piece of cake.
Click to expand...


Feel exactly the same. Am about to do all this - but one question. When you say you did the partion "through recovery" is this via the bootloader? Or just plugging the phone in and enabling USB debugging?

This is the one bit of info I am not quite sure about! Can someone please define "though recovery" or "in recovery"?
 
TV! said:
Right folks took the plunge last night and here is what i have done so far.

1 Backed up SD card on computer
2 Rooted using unrevoked (must say was very easy no problems)
3 Took recovery straight away
4 Downloaded titanium backed up only the apps i downloaded
5 Partitioned SD card using Gparted (this was a nightmare took ages - tried doing it from card reader never worked - tried through recovery worked first time - maybe a note for the FAQ's)
6 Created gold card

Now when i partitioned the sd i never formatted the card first should i have ?

The reason I ask is that I downloaded quick system info and it says my A2SD storage is only 2.01mb in total. When i partitioned i created EXT3 of 1024mb.

I had to format the card this morning anyway to make the gold card so should i just partition it again ?

Final question - now that i have done the above 6 steps I take it the final step is to flash a custom ROM, is that me ready to flash a ROM ?

Thanks again guys and a final top tip for any potential rooter, read , read and read again the info is there in the guides i must have been studying them on and off for months. Then i would suggest you print off the FAQ's and the rooting guide so yo have them to hand and follow them step by step and its a piece of cake.
Click to expand...

you need to flash a rom that supports a2sd+
 
TV! said:
(this was a nightmare took ages - tried doing it from card reader never worked - tried through recovery worked first time - maybe a note for the FAQ's)
6 Created gold card
Click to expand...


In the FAQ it doesnt mention card readers at all:

1) Backup your SD card contents to your PC
2) Download GParted Live cd, burn to CD and boot to it GParted -- Live CD/USB/PXE/HD
3) Connect your device in Recovery mode and mount as USB mass storage
4) Resize the existing FAT32 partition from the back, leaving space after it and create an EXT partition in the space. Steps for the GUI are below.

  • In the drop down menu (top right) select the SD card (be careful not to select your HDD)
  • Right click on the FAT32 Partition and select resize
  • Press the Up arrow on "Free Space Following" until you have the desired sizes
  • Click Resize
  • right click in unallocated space and select New> EXT format of your choice
  • Click Apply

TV! said:
I had to format the card this morning anyway to make the gold card so should i just partition it again ?
Click to expand...

Partitioning breaks the gold card. You need to partition, then upload the goldcard image.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

SU when I was mentioning the FAQ's I wasnt having a go. I just meant you could maye put a mention that you dont wanna use a card reader at this step.

The only reason i mention this is that i was reading this post http://androidforums.com/desire-all-things-root/356699-new-rooter-needing-encouragment-lol.html

and post 27 & 28 mentions the use of a card reader and after I read that I assumed using the card reader would be no problem (hour later i realised this was not the case.)

With regards my last post can you confirm why quick system info says my A2SD storage is only 2.01mb in total. When i partitioned i created EXT3 of 1024mb.

Thanks again
 
Oh I know you werent having a go. There is no reason why a card reader shouldnt work though.

Not sure why a2sd says 2MB. What a2sd ROM did you flash?
 
I still havent decided which one to plump for. I rooted last night an havent really had a chance to have a look at them in great detail yet.

I know my original post was about wanting as near as stock FROYO but now im thinking what the hell why not see what's out there.

I really like sense and am wanting to stay with sense (each to there own :p)


Could you maybe recommend a good sense ROM that supports A2sd+ and final question (well for the moment:D) from reading the Apps2sd FAQ they say "install a custom ROM which has support for a2sd+"

Does this mean if the ROMs has support for a2sd+ you dont have to download any addon or anything basically the a2sd+ is incorporated within the workings of the ROM ?
 
Ahh, for QSI to show the correct A2sd size, you usually need to be on an a2sd script based rom.
 
Can someone just explain what "recovery mode" is please?? Lots of references and instructions to do it but I don't quite know what it means!
 
Recovery is part of the phone traditionally used to do a factory reset when you can't get into android. It's software that is separate from the android OS.

Rooting with unrevoked replaces the HTC recovery with a custom one that also allows you to flash Roms
 
VOL down + Power to turn on and get to the bootloader. Use volu8me within the bootloader to Highlight the "recovery" option and press power to select it. Once in recovery, volume of trackball can be used for navigation, but only trackball is used to select an option. Power turns the screen off as it does in Android.
 
Rastaman-FB said:
teppics stock 405.5 rom with init.d support
then flash the a2sd module

you will need to wipe before flashing
Click to expand...

Hi Guys, im in the process of flashing and have a couple of quick questions.

I downloaded the rom and the a2sd+ files to my SD card then via recovery did a wipe data/factory reset.

Then installed zip from sd card and it did its loading thing I am now at the point where i should be re-booting but do I reboot then let the system boot up and then turn the phone off and go back into recovery and do a wipe and then flash the a2sd or can I flash the a2sd whilst im still in recovery just now ?

Do i need to boot before flashing the a2sd ?

Hope this makes sense
 
TV! said:
Hi Guys, im in the process of flashing and have a couple of quick questions.

I downloaded the rom and the a2sd+ files to my SD card then via recovery did a wipe data/factory reset.

Then installed zip from sd card and it did its loading thing I am now at the point where i should be re-booting but do I reboot then let the system boot up and then turn the phone off and go back into recovery and do a wipe and then flash the a2sd or can I flash the a2sd whilst im still in recovery just now ?

Do i need to boot before flashing the a2sd ?

Hope this makes sense
Click to expand...

flash then boot without wiping again mate
 
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