I realize, there are a few different (small) threads that described, or contained information about flashing over stock. Even a thread of my own (Horrible title, used a rom's name in the title, effectively singled out everyone else). I've browsed these thread and added all info here.
Requirements:
Root & Safestrap 3.75 (*1)
Basic how to:
Reboot to Recovery/SafeStrap
Select stock partition
Make backup of stock partitions, ALL partitions.
Using advanced wipe: wipe /data (*2), /cache and /system
Install custom rom/gapps
Reboot and enjoy!
Pros:
Rom appears to load/run faster (*3)
If you don't use stock, you can now re-use this wasted space (*4) about 6gb's
Cons:
(XT912/KEXEC roms) If custom rom is flashed to stock - DO NOT UNINSTALL SAFESTRAP!! (*5) Must preform "Reversal"
Doing a factory restore will wipe stock slot (using batmans utility), while your slots (1-4) will stay intact because each slot is actually a file stored on the internal SD card, partition.
Can't use BP_Tools for flashing. Boots into safestrap instead. Must preform "Reversal"
3.65, 3.73 had some bugs/quirks that are NOT present in 3.75. In order to follow everything here, and NOT have to deal with errors other users had reported in the other threads, please update to 3.75 before following this guide. For example, users reported : Wiping stock, removed safestrap, causing blackscreen. Or, when wiping by checking all check boxes, safestrap would quit with error, and NOT wipe the remaining checked partitions. If such user wasn't aware of this, they would complain their rom wouldn't boot/crashes without knowing the cause. ***Okay, so 3.75 isn't perfect. Seems, after the first wipe/install, I wiped again... then it froze up on me. So make sure to reboot into the rom, then wipe again. (if you have to wipe again
Some/many applications will refuse to update if they were installed on the stock slot before installing the custom rom without wiping data.
Personal observation, no hard data. I remember at the time, when I first did this, there was a SIGNIFICANT increase in boot speed, stock vs slot
Slot 1-4 uses internal SD-card space. Stock slot uses partitions. Wiping the stock slot in hopes of making more room for slots 1-4 will not work. The only point of this is to re-use the stock partitions, so you don't have to waste space by creating a new slot.
Custom roms on XT912 use KEXEC to boot those roms, if you remove SafeStrap, your phone no longer can boot that custom rom, you will be stuck with a locked down/rootless abd shell and a black screen.
Reversal:
Backup custom rom / stock slot.
Restore stock rom / stock slot.
Boot stock, open safestrap, uninstall safestrap.
OR
Backup custom rom / stock slot.
Factory restore using Droid Razr Utility (Data wipe option)
You WILL have to WIPE DATA. The stock rom will "forever boot / hang" when your data partition "dirty" from your custom rom aka "Dirty flashing"
Related
The Situation:
I a currently stuck in ClockworkMod Recovery with no backups, no usable flashable ROMs, no ROM installed, a screwed up internal SD, and virtually no way to use the ADB or ODIN in Download, because my phone rarely, if ever, recognizes USB cords for anything but charging (This is a hardware, not software issue. It persists from ROM to ROM.)
Thoughts?
Additional Info
There's a lot, so I will be clear, as concise as possible, and will try to remember everything.
You might ask, "How did this happen?" or even "WTF?"
These are the steps I've taken:
Originally, I used OCLF for rooting + ext2 lag fix, followed by Team Whiskey's latest Bionix ROM. I hadn't removed the lag fix as I was told it should not matter. I was having a multitude of problems, so I wished to revert to Stock. When a standard nandroid restore didn't work, I searched and learned that flashing back to J12 should let my nandroid restore work. This did NOT work, however, and, once again, I was stuck in the boot sequence. I re-flashed the Bionix ROM to see if I could just live with it, and, no, I couldn't. I looked some more and found that, given I could flash a JFD or J16 (I believe) image, I could then perform a restore, then install a 2.1 kernel. I found the image and flashed it. THAT worked, but the nandroid was still refusing to cooperate.
Today, I flashed Team Whiskey's Obsidian V4.2 ULF Kernel ROM, succeeded, and found that my internal SD partition that hosts apps existed, but was 0.00KB. I thought about installing App2SD, but I decided I had too much room internally to want to deal with that. I tried to add a partition via CWM ROM Manager, but did not take into consideration the fact that it would need a ROM to flash once it had wiped and partitioned. I'm not sure how that partition creator is supposed to work, because it wipes the drive that the ROM is on. At that point, I somehow managed to get back in business by formatting w/ backup.
I tried flashing Obsidian V4.2 w/o the lag fixed kernel, thinking this was the issue with my internal partition system, but I never found out because install, post-wipe, failed at line 11. I could not turn the phone back on because it had no complete install, and nandroid was still not restoring, so I went through Recovery and factory reset, wiped cache, tried mounting and unmounting different file systems, including the sd-ext which refuses to mount, citing "E:INFO is WRONG Error mounting SDEXT:!".
I've installed Superuser, messed with the Lagfix and Tweak options, and reset default permissions in the ULF Kernel Menu. All to the effect of allowing the ROM flash to progress to line 85 before failing. I can't remember the errors it gave, and can't flash again, because, in my frenzy, I formatted the system, data, cache, and sdcard. I still have a nandroid available, but it has an md5 sum mismatch. There are three more viable ROMs on my external SD card, but I have no way of moving them to the internal, and the "install zip from sd card" menu won't access the CWM backup folder or the external because it says there aren't any there, which isn't true.
I am completely at a loss as to what to do. Is there any way to move files from external -> internal sd in recovery?
ANY help that isn't "You're screwed" would be appreciated.
Semi_Interested said:
The Situation:
I a currently stuck in ClockworkMod Recovery with no backups, no usable flashable ROMs, no ROM installed, a screwed up internal SD, and virtually no way to use the ADB or ODIN in Download, because my phone rarely, if ever, recognizes USB cords for anything but charging (This is a hardware, not software issue. It persists from ROM to ROM.)
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Email me [email protected]
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Semi_Interested said:
There's a lot, so I will be clear, as concise as possible, and will try to remember everything.
You might ask, "How did this happen?" or even "WTF?"
These are the steps I've taken:
Originally, I used OCLF for rooting + ext2 lag fix, followed by Team Whiskey's latest Bionix ROM. I hadn't removed the lag fix as I was told it should not matter. I was having a multitude of problems, so I wished to revert to Stock. When a standard nandroid restore didn't work, I searched and learned that flashing back to J12 should let my nandroid restore work. This did NOT work, however, and, once again, I was stuck in the boot sequence. I re-flashed the Bionix ROM to see if I could just live with it, and, no, I couldn't. I looked some more and found that, given I could flash a JFD or J16 (I believe) image, I could then perform a restore, then install a 2.1 kernel. I found the image and flashed it. THAT worked, but the nandroid was still refusing to cooperate.
Today, I flashed Team Whiskey's Obsidian V4.2 ULF Kernel ROM, succeeded, and found that my internal SD partition that hosts apps existed, but was 0.00KB. I thought about installing App2SD, but I decided I had too much room internally to want to deal with that. I tried to add a partition via CWM ROM Manager, but did not take into consideration the fact that it would need a ROM to flash once it had wiped and partitioned. I'm not sure how that partition creator is supposed to work, because it wipes the drive that the ROM is on. At that point, I somehow managed to get back in business by formatting w/ backup.
I tried flashing Obsidian V4.2 w/o the lag fixed kernel, thinking this was the issue with my internal partition system, but I never found out because install, post-wipe, failed at line 11. I could not turn the phone back on because it had no complete install, and nandroid was still not restoring, so I went through Recovery and factory reset, wiped cache, tried mounting and unmounting different file systems, including the sd-ext which refuses to mount, citing "E:INFO is WRONG Error mounting SDEXT:!".
I've installed Superuser, messed with the Lagfix and Tweak options, and reset default permissions in the ULF Kernel Menu. All to the effect of allowing the ROM flash to progress to line 85 before failing. I can't remember the errors it gave, and can't flash again, because, in my frenzy, I formatted the system, data, cache, and sdcard. I still have a nandroid available, but it has an md5 sum mismatch. There are three more viable ROMs on my external SD card, but I have no way of moving them to the internal, and the "install zip from sd card" menu won't access the CWM backup folder or the external because it says there aren't any there, which isn't true.
I am completely at a loss as to what to do. Is there any way to move files from external -> internal sd in recovery?
ANY help that isn't "You're screwed" would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, adb would be able to move files from external sd card to the internal one but if you don't know how to use it then Odin might be simpler. I'll pm you some instructions but if you cannot get your phone to be recognized in Odin because of USB issues then I'm not sure how to help.
I would really like to check out the recently released i717 official rom, but i don't want to have to go through the process of backing everything up, wiping everything, running odin, risking bricking my device, and then have to move all my data back over.
Is there a version of this rom that has been rooted and zipped so i can install it with twrp like every other rom i've ever come across?
thanks in advance,
cpgeek
If you use the Kies software on your pc it will install the stock rom and save your apps and data.
If you use the stock rom in the development section by pmtr3 you can flash that as a zip and it is rooted.
But when you change a rom to a different base you should factory reset and wipe first. If you skip this procedure (called dirty flashing) you can have troubles later.
rangercaptain said:
If you use the Kies software on your pc it will install the stock rom and save your apps and data.
If you use the stock rom in the development section by pmtr3 you can flash that as a zip and it is rooted.
But when you change a rom to a different base you should factory reset and wipe first. If you skip this procedure (called dirty flashing) you can have troubles later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you for your fast reply, I apologize my search-fu rather tanked on this one d'oh
thanks again though!
Yeah buddy, the xda apps stink. I usee the odin tar from samfirmware.com to get the stock JB. This morning I flashed the pmtr3 stock on top of what I had without backups or resets. But its the same base.
At least be sure to do usual wipes. If it borks your phone you can always fix it later.
rangercaptain said:
If you use the Kies software on your pc it will install the stock rom and save your apps and data.
If you use the stock rom in the development section by pmtr3 you can flash that as a zip and it is rooted.
But when you change a rom to a different base you should factory reset and wipe first. If you skip this procedure (called dirty flashing) you can have troubles later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should have spoke more carefully - I *always* run "factory reset", wipe "system" and "caches" from TWRP, it's the internal sd filesystem data that I wanted to retain which is separate from the OS image and it's active data files. I don't want to have to move around my music, pictures, app archive, etc.
cpgeek said:
I should have spoke more carefully - I *always* run "factory reset", wipe "system" and "caches" from TWRP, it's the internal sd filesystem data that I wanted to retain which is separate from the OS image and it's active data files. I don't want to have to move around my music, pictures, app archive, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You shouldn't have to worry about wiping your internal memory. I updated with kies and didn't touch my internal memory, and neither did kies. However it is recommended. I now have some extra folders that aren't being used on my internal memory. I'd delete them but last time I did that I kept getting errors. So now I make a spot on my external sd card saying "internal backup" and copy everything to it. Then I wipe internal as I do a factory reset. Once up and running I move what I need back to the internal memory from the sd backup.
Greetings - I've been through these boards and have tried to piece together the process of flashing ROMs. My questions are around the backing up of my Verizon S4 before flashing ROMS.
I used the all-in-one-root-tool to root my phone. (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2301720)
I have Carbon, Hyperdrive, Google Edition 4.6, Synergy, Liquid, Beans, CM, GAAPS, and both kernels (from above all in 1 pack) downloaded. Should I save all this on my external SD card? Do I move them over to my internal?
In order to backup, do you recommend TWRP, CWM, Nandroid, Titanium Backup, GooManager, etc? I'm still uncertain of the differences in these and not sure where i should save the backup files (on my external SD, laptop, etc?)
Once I backup, do I use CWM/Goo to flash one of the ROM's mentioned above, factory reset, clean cache, dalvik, data?
Sorry for the remedial question - and thanks in advance for any answers!
I have a guide right in this forum, also I have a link that may help you with roms, in this guide...good luck...
Thanks
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2351844
Also for backup procedure, I have that info in my guide link at the top.
huffbuck said:
Greetings - I've been through these boards and have tried to piece together the process of flashing ROMs. My questions are around the backing up of my Verizon S4 before flashing ROMS.
I used the all-in-one-root-tool to root my phone. (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2301720)
I have Carbon, Hyperdrive, Google Edition 4.6, Synergy, Liquid, Beans, CM, GAAPS, and both kernels (from above all in 1 pack) downloaded. Should I save all this on my external SD card? Do I move them over to my internal?
In order to backup, do you recommend TWRP, CWM, Nandroid, Titanium Backup, GooManager, etc? I'm still uncertain of the differences in these and not sure where i should save the backup files (on my external SD, laptop, etc?)
Once I backup, do I use CWM/Goo to flash one of the ROM's mentioned above, factory reset, clean cache, dalvik, data?
Sorry for the remedial question - and thanks in advance for any answers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, save them to your external sd card, at least that is what i do anyway.
i am using twrp installed via goomanager for my backups, as well as titanium backup pro. save the files to your external sd card as well, that way you have as much free space on the phone as possible since we have such limited storage.
i flash through twrp, and i do a 3x wipe on everything (cache, dalvik cache, data, and system) to make sure i have a complete clean install. this is probably overkill, but i would rather that than have a dirty flash.
hope that helps...
Help?
I did a backup with TWRP, saved the backup files to external SD, and laptop.
Flashed Liquid and Gapps. Rebooted. Phone is now black and vibrates intermittently and cannot get to TWRP.
I can get to ODIN download mode on my phone.
What do I do next to get this phone back up and running?
Do I flash back to stock rom: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2289325
Can I flash liquid again from Odin?
Hi everyone, new to the forum and I hope that my (likely) simple question is easy to answer!
I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 2, that was running the stock ROM at 4.1.2. I rooted the phone using the Odin tool, which worked first time, and I then proceeded to use ClockWorkMod (latest version I think) to flash a custom 4.3 Rom to the device (after taking a backup of the EFS folder to SD Card and my PC).
That has worked perfectly. I am loving 4.3.
The issue I have is internal storage.
When I did the custom rom install, I did:-
Wipe Data/Factory Reset
Wipe Cache Partition
Wipe Dalvik Cache
Format System
I then installed the custom ROM and latest GApps and all is good.
What is curious, and I just cannot seem to explain, is that the internal storage when I was on the stock ROM, reported I have over 6GB free, and now that I have gone over to the custom ROM, I have around 2GB free.
For me, that seems strange that I have lost 4GB of internal storage just for this ROM update.
I had assumed that the Data/Factory Reset and Format System would clear out all the rubbish ready for a clean install of the Custom ROM - but that does not appear to be the case.
How do I go about resetting my device so that I can clear down the internal storage to the extent that I can regain the lost space?
Any help is really appreciated.
Mark.
markwalsham said:
Hi everyone, new to the forum and I hope that my (likely) simple question is easy to answer!
I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 2, that was running the stock ROM at 4.1.2. I rooted the phone using the Odin tool, which worked first time, and I then proceeded to use ClockWorkMod (latest version I think) to flash a custom 4.3 Rom to the device (after taking a backup of the EFS folder to SD Card and my PC).
That has worked perfectly. I am loving 4.3.
The issue I have is internal storage.
When I did the custom rom install, I did:-
Wipe Data/Factory Reset
Wipe Cache Partition
Wipe Dalvik Cache
Format System
I then installed the custom ROM and latest GApps and all is good.
What is curious, and I just cannot seem to explain, is that the internal storage when I was on the stock ROM, reported I have over 6GB free, and now that I have gone over to the custom ROM, I have around 2GB free.
For me, that seems strange that I have lost 4GB of internal storage just for this ROM update.
I had assumed that the Data/Factory Reset and Format System would clear out all the rubbish ready for a clean install of the Custom ROM - but that does not appear to be the case.
How do I go about resetting my device so that I can clear down the internal storage to the extent that I can regain the lost space?
Any help is really appreciated.
Mark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would say, try to establish if the rom had 4GB of extra data or not initially. How much bigger was the custom rom compared to the stock rom?
If you have busybox or TerminalIDE installed ( hope you have!) , try running "du -a / | sort -n -r | head -n 30" and see if you can find any particularly large files, or directories that seem extremely bloated and compare them to the stock rom.
What are you using to determine how much disk space you have free? Windows via usb? df via terminal?
Prof
Hey Guys,
As an alternative to ROM slots, what you can do is,
1. Boot into 1st ROM, configure and download all the apps you want.
2. Take a Nandroid of; /System and /data and optionally; cache. But I don't use the latter.
3. Wipe Data, System, Cache, and dalvik.
4. Install 2nd ROM, boot, configure, install all the same apps (just for now)
5. Take Nandroid of /system only
To switch to ROM 1, restore the backup of its /system (should only take about 6-10 seconds as opposed to flashing data too.
To switch to ROM 2, restore the backup of its /system ""
The reason you MUST install all the SAME apps on the 2nd ROM is to rebuild the necessary data folders.
In
To install a new app, boot to rom 1 and install it, then switch to ROM 2 and wipe cache and boot or vice versa.
Have fun,
While this may work, be aware there are problems that could arise by doing this. They likely wouldn't effect much but some ROM's are picky. That aside your still partitioning your device and will lose X amount of space even with this method.
NighthawkXL said:
While this may work, be aware there are problems that could arise by doing this. They likely wouldn't effect much but some ROM's are picky. That aside your still partitioning your device and will lose X amount of space even with this method.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, especially with Xposed, some problems could definitely arise. But I switch between Hyperdrive and GPE via this method about 2-3 times a week. Over time, constant flashing takes its toll on the Drive, but I don't mind it much.
Actually... you aren't partitioning though... you can just take the backups to your SD Card and it wont take up any internal storage other than what the ROM is taking