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Root Universal Eris Root for Dummies!

This will be my first root. I have a lot of questions so please bear with me.
1. I need more info on the SD card-not sure about the root folder, is it already there or do I have to make one. Is there a thread explaning the SD card and what to do with it.
2. Can I root my phone without installing a new Rom untill I feel ready to try it. For now I'm ok with the OTA 2.1 I want to increase the speed.
3. Can someone explane the nand backup.
4. When i feel ready what it the best 2.2 Rom, I know that's a loaded question. I want something that don't have bugs and works with no problems.
5. When I root will I lose my contacts,pictures and whatever else on the SD card. I don't use google I export my contacts onto the card.
I have more questions but that's enough for now. Sorry that I'm a layman or noob (what is a noob). Thanks.
 
bobcat331,

I've tried to answer your questions in-line, in blue below:

1. I need more info on the SD card-not sure about the root folder, is it already there or do I have to make one. Is there a thread explaning the SD card and what to do with it.

The "root" folder of a filesystem (including the SD card) is the name of the filesystem itself without referencing any subfolders/directories underneath it. So for the SD card, the path /sdcard references the "root" (or top-level directory as its sometimes called) folder. For a Windows/DOS analogy, your C-drive might contain a folder called "Program Files" (referencd as "C:\Program Files"), but the "root" of your C-drive is referenced as "C:\". Make sense?

2. Can I root my phone without installing a new Rom untill I feel ready to try it. For now I'm ok with the OTA 2.1 I want to increase the speed.

Yes. Right after rooting (after making a Nandroid backup, of course), instead of flashing a custom ROM, you would flash a file called "engtools3.zip" (located here:

http://www.multiupload.com/L97EUYBG3V).

This will get you actual root cabability, but your phone won't be any faster. To make it faster via overclocking, you'll have to replace/update your phone's kernel by flashing Zanfur's overclocking patch. Read about how to do that here:

http://androidforums.com/eris-all-things-root/135849-how-do-i-flash-oc-patch.html#post1253948.

You might want to peruse this short thread regarding both of the above:

http://androidforums.com/eris-all-things-root/215725-rooted-running-kaosfroyo-but-id-go-back.html

3. Can someone explane the nand backup.

A Nandroid backup is a complete snapshot backup of your phone, excluding the contents of the /sdcard. It is invoked / performed via the custom recovery that you install during the process of rooting (the custom recovery is the key that opens the door to allow for rooting to take place). The Nandroid backup copies your phone's contents/setup to a folder on your SD card in this directory: /sdcard/nandroid/HTxxxxxxxx/BDS-ccyymmdd-hhmm.

4. When i feel ready what it the best 2.2 Rom, I know that's a loaded question. I want something that don't have bugs and works with no problems.

http://androidforums.com/eris-all-things-root/220905-best-2-2-rom.html

5. When I root will I lose my contacts,pictures and whatever else on the SD card. I don't use google I export my contacts onto the card.

Rooting itself won't make you lose any of that. Installing a custom ROM will replace your current Android O/S and cause you to have to re-setup your apps and any relationship they have with your data (although your data on your /sdcard should remain untouched). Search around for references to Titanium Backup (Pro). A lot of people use it (especially frequent ROM flashers) to help backup their data and apps and restore them after switching to a new ROM. You paid Market apps will auto-return. You free Market apps should be there on the first launch of the Market (I believe he'll "forget" about any that you don't install after the first launch).

- - -

Hope this helps. Cheers!
 
Thanks for the info. Gives me something to go on. While waiting for a reply I ran across White Widow. Any thoughts on it? Looks pretty cool.
 
bobcat331 said:
Thanks for the info. Gives me something to go on. While waiting for a reply I ran across White Widow. Any thoughts on it? Looks pretty cool.
Click to expand...

No direct experience with that ROM. The dev kind of moved on from the Eris to the Incredible, so, although he was very active at the time, I do not believe he has made any recent updates or tweaks.

Good luck.
 
I downloaded kernel-overclock-update-v3.zip to my computer and connected my phone and mounted as a disk drive but when I try to drag it to the phone it only shows three folders: .footprints, lost.dir, tmp this is what i was asking about earlier it doesn't show a folder for sd. do I drag it to one of the folders it shows. What am I doing wrong?
 
bobcat331 said:
I downloaded kernel-overclock-update-v3.zip to my computer and connected my phone and mounted as a disk drive but when I try to drag it to the phone it only shows three folders: .footprints, lost.dir, tmp this is what i was asking about earlier it doesn't show a folder for sd. do I drag it to one of the folders it shows. What am I doing wrong?
Click to expand...

I've only connected my phone to a Mac, but I'm pretty sure that the phone as a disk drive is the root of your SD card. All you should have to do is drag and drop the file to the drive that your phone shows up as. You do not want to put it into any folders on the drive. I'm almost certain what I'm saying is correct, but if someone with windows could verify it would be appreciated.
 
metlcat said:
I've only connected my phone to a Mac, but I'm pretty sure that the phone as a disk drive is the root of your SD card. All you should have to do is drag and drop the file to the drive that your phone shows up as. You do not want to put it into any folders on the drive. I'm almost certain what I'm saying is correct, but if someone with windows could verify it would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

I just did this very thing for the first time (thanks to some great advice) and that is correct. The phone will show up as a removable disk, that is your folder and anything you want on the SD card simply goes into that folder. You don't even need to open it up, just drag and drop - I made the mistake of trying to put something onto my SD card, that was pretty full, by opening the folder and I mistakenly put it into another folder already there...spent a little bit of time going through folders trying to find it :) so it's best, from my limited experience, to just not open it up:)

Also the Titanium back up pro I just used for the first time and it worked well for me. I'm sure I did something wrong when I went back and tried to restore apps because it kept telling me the SD card wasn't mounted. I simply went back and downloaded my apps, you won't need to do that because you will have the Titanium Back UP Pro before you change ROM's. It's an easy enough application to work with though and walks you through everything. All of my applications and settings are back up and when I feel ready I will probably try another ROM...I like the one I have but it's not 100% what I want, the wonders of being rooted :)
 
erisuser1 said:
What you do after that backup is a little bit different: rather than just "wiping and then flashing", you DO NOT perform a wipe - instead, you flash the "engtools3.zip" file which is mentioned in the "One Click" rooting method thread.
Click to expand...

If I may make a suggestion, I think the above step should be added as an option under the "finishing up" post on the first page. The steps are great, but I was lost for a couple hours when I tried installing and using Titanium Backup BEFORE flashing to a new ROM, and it said I didn't have root. I followed everything up to the point of wiping and flashing (which I don't want to do yet), and was confused that I didn't have root when I expected to.

Now I'm fine, thanks! I'll be using TiBackup to get everything archived, then one of these days, I'll flash over to and XTRA build from my factory 2.1 (now rooted).

And did I mention, thank you, EU1? This is a great guide.
 
mhotovec said:
From what I've read JIT makes the phone a bit unstable, and doesn't noticeably add to speed, so I'd say to leave it off.
Click to expand...

I have it on by default (CELB Froyo 3.4), and can't say I've noticed any obvious stability problems. The other day I was having some difficulty getting GPS fixes, so I decided to reboot; before I did that, though, I checked the uptime - 17+ days.

Imagine that - not flashing a new ROM in more than two weeks! ;)

eu1
 
erisuser1 said:
Imagine that - not flashing a new ROM in more than two weeks! ;)

eu1
Click to expand...

Clearly you're a sick individual...

From what I've read (no personal experience) jit sometimes causes problem with Pandora, and I think some other streaming programs. But it's one of those deals where it's only sometimes, and not for everyone. So clearly there is some combination of factors that causes the instability, not jit alone.
 
Well I just did my first root and I have to say that I don't know what took me so long to do it. I flashed White Widow 4.4 and so far no problems. Want to say thanks to Scary Alien for your help.
 
bobcat331 said:
Well I just did my first root and I have to say that I don't know what took me so long to do it. I flashed White Widow 4.4 and so far no problems. Want to say thanks to Scary Alien for your help.
Click to expand...

No problem. Hopefully, there's still some WW fans out there than can help answer any questions you have with that ROM.

Cheers!

P.S., you've checked-out all of the "[ROM]"-prefixed threads over at XDA (Droid Eris Android Development - xda-developers), right? There's a ton of them published over there too... Good luck.
 
My first guess is that you didn't wipe your phone first.
In the recovery menu there is a 'wipe' option, select that. On the wipe screen do the top two selections, then you can flash the new ROM.
It can take up to 10 minutes for a new ROM to boot up the first time, which is a REALLY long time when you're just sitting there watching your phone.
 
ok ok king of the dumb questions is here (ME) so i offically rooted. yay. but but i dont know how to get any of my apps back is this a mess up i did or... am i just stupid??
 
Go into the Market, go to downloads. All of the apps that you installed, free or paid, should be there. Be careful to install everything that you want in that first visit - after the first visit, only the ones that you paid for before will be there.
 
doogald said:
Go into the Market, go to downloads. All of the apps that you installed, free or paid, should be there. Be careful to install everything that you want in that first visit - after the first visit, only the ones that you paid for before will be there.
Click to expand...

It's also a great time to get rid of things you never use. Before reinstalling, think about how often you use the app and how easy it would be to just find it again when you do want it.
 
Could someone tell me where I can get some info on the sd card and partitioning it. I know I've ran across it somewhere just don't remember. Thanks
 
bobcat331 said:
If I wanted to go back to the factory rom ( I'm happy with WW 4.4 ) how can I check to see if it was backed up.
Click to expand...

If you did a Nandroid backup right after rooting (i.e., before flashing a custom ROM), then you should have a Nandroid backup in the /sdcard/nandroid/HTxxxxxxxx/BDS-ccyymmdd-hhmm folder (where HTxxxxxxxx is your phone's serial number; ccyymmdd is the date the backup was made, and hhmm is the (GMT, I believe) time.

This should/would contain your stock ROM, although you'd still be rooted if you restored it since you would still have a custom recovery.
 
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