Flashing rom questions

[Guest silvos3189]

How do you guys keep the programs and etc stuff on your phone after you flash your rom?

The only time I flashed, I ticked the preserve device contents options, but everything was still deleted except for the stuff I had in the "my storage" section.

But all the changes I made in contacts and other stuff, and all the programs still disappeared.

so what do you guys do to keep the programs you installed?

or does everyone keep reinstalling everything they have after every rom upgrade?

sorry 1 more question, I am still not too sure what the eboot and phone part of the rom flashing is for. I read that it's safer to just upgrade with the pda part, instead of the phone and eboot, so what's the point of the phone and eboot and is it really necessary?

[Guest Tylwith]

How do you guys keep the programs and etc stuff on your phone after you flash your rom?

The only time I flashed, I ticked the preserve device contents options, but everything was still deleted except for the stuff I had in the "my storage" section.

But all the changes I made in contacts and other stuff, and all the programs still disappeared.

so what do you guys do to keep the programs you installed?

or does everyone keep reinstalling everything they have after every rom upgrade?

sorry 1 more question, I am still not too sure what the eboot and phone part of the rom flashing is for. I read that it's safer to just upgrade with the pda part, instead of the phone and eboot, so what's the point of the phone and eboot and is it really necessary?

Hi Most of us just reinstall the programs after flashing one rom. Just backup you contacts/sms using a program like ppcpimbackup(free just put the exe in your sd card for example)

Eboot is like the bios of your pc (it's my understanding not to sure about it)

the phone part is the part to manage the phone feature like signal strengh, communication etc...

most of the time you don't need to change the phone part or eboot.Only if the pda part conflicts with them you may have to flash them. Or sometime also for performance, battery life you may need to flash.

but if you screw up the update of the eboot you can not flash again so have to go to samsung serrvice center.

hope it helps

[Guest silvos3189]

hmm is it possible to use something like spb backup to backup then restore the programs and games back to the phone so we don't have to reinstall?

[Guest GeneNZ]

hmm is it possible to use something like spb backup to backup then restore the programs and games back to the phone so we don't have to reinstall?

I think if your willing to flash your phone, you accept the fact that you need to reinstall your applications. Windows Mobile has a registry, just like a normal Windows machine, that gets modified when you install an application. Flashing a phone with new firmware is like clean installing your computer with Windows. Some people have this strange idea that flashing a phone is like upgrading your Windows version on your PC from one version to another, using an in-place upgrade path. There is no such thing. Using that analogy, if you clean install your machine, you have to reinstall your applications - you can't just copy the Program Files and restore them in the same location, because registry settings won't be restored. Sure it might work for some applications, but it won't for all.

This isn't to say that there are some applications that can backup your applications and what not. But I think everyone would agree to say that its better to just reinstall your applications. If you decide to go the route of restoring applications from backup, then you are asking for trouble with your applications.

[Guest silvos3189]

I think if your willing to flash your phone, you accept the fact that you need to reinstall your applications. Windows Mobile has a registry, just like a normal Windows machine, that gets modified when you install an application. Flashing a phone with new firmware is like clean installing your computer with Windows. Some people have this strange idea that flashing a phone is like upgrading your Windows version on your PC from one version to another, using an in-place upgrade path. There is no such thing. Using that analogy, if you clean install your machine, you have to reinstall your applications - you can't just copy the Program Files and restore them in the same location, because registry settings won't be restored. Sure it might work for some applications, but it won't for all.

This isn't to say that there are some applications that can backup your applications and what not. But I think everyone would agree to say that its better to just reinstall your applications. If you decide to go the route of restoring applications from backup, then you are asking for trouble with your applications.

thanks for the reply... i guess i should just keep a folder on my memory card at all times for all the cab files from the programs and games. But do you think it'll work if i just backup the My Storage which has nothing to do with registry and just contains the stuff from the programs and games? And then I restore that backup after I reinstall everything. Would that be possible to restore my saved games and settings?

hmm and possibly do the same for contacts and messages?

i guess i'm saying would it work if i dont touch the registry at all and just save the my storage? I guess i dont really mind reinstalling it's always starting back from the beginning of games or having to keep changing settings that kills me.

[Guest GeneNZ]

thanks for the reply... i guess i should just keep a folder on my memory card at all times for all the cab files from the programs and games. But do you think it'll work if i just backup the My Storage which has nothing to do with registry and just contains the stuff from the programs and games? And then I restore that backup after I reinstall everything. Would that be possible to restore my saved games and settings?

hmm and possibly do the same for contacts and messages?

i guess i'm saying would it work if i dont touch the registry at all and just save the my storage? I guess i dont really mind reinstalling it's always starting back from the beginning of games or having to keep changing settings that kills me.

I'm unsure exactly what you mean. If your talking about standalone files, like Saved Games, or Word/Excel Documents, that stuff should be backed up and can be opened anywhere. What I'm talking about is specifically Program/Application files/binaries, or the thing that make the application actually do stuff. It doesn't matter if these files are kept in Main Memory/My Storage/SD Card/Thin Air, the application installs generally make modifications to the registry which is always kept in Main Memory, and may place DLL's in other locations in main memory. When you flash, the registry and DLL's gets wiped and the Program may or may not work. i.e., just because the Program Files are still there doesn't mean they will work. One thing is for sure is that all your shortcuts are going to be screwed up.

So being more concise: Standalone files (Office documents/Saved Game files), can be backed up and opened with their respective applications. Program Files, may or may not work after a flash. I am deliberately very 'loose' about this, because different backup programs may or may not work, but by my experience I've never seen one that constantly works or is better than a clean install - especially since the base ROM itself is a moving target and constantly changing too.

If you want to know what I do - I flash so often that I don't even use "My Storage". I just store everything on my MicroSD (16GB is more than enough for me). (Side Note: I know there is a 'Preserve Storage' for My Storage, but I know I'm bound to forget checking it at some point that I don't even bother with it). I basically have a folder in my SD Card with all my CABs in it, then I reinstall all my CABs. In terms of contacts, I just use Outlook to hold my contacts and sync the phone after a flash. For messages, I'm not that fussed and just wipe them. There is lots of tools that cater for backing up contacts and messages, like PIMBackup. But I don't consider my messages that important (they are all Personal).

As I said, if your willing to flash, you take the positives with the negatives. 95% of Omnia 2 users (heck, 95% of all WM users) don't even know what a ROM is, let alone how to flash the ROM. So most applications won't be designed for the constant need to reinstall (particularly games). So you need to weigh out if your willing to loose all your progress is games (not to mention the chance of ruining your phone by bricking it), with the gain of getting a newer but not necessarily better or faster ROM.