Questions on CWM / Nandroid / Smartflash / NVflash

[Guest]

Hi all,

n00b here. i should be getting an Optimus 2X soon, and have been reading up on rooting, custom ROM, CWM, etc.

i sort of have some (vague) idea of what's going on, but at the same time confused with some terms. Hope that fellow forumers can help to enlighten me on some stuffs.

Clockwork Mod Recovery: if i understand correctly, this replaces the SPRecovery. When starting phone, hold both volume up and down, then select "recovery" to get to CWM. From there, can choose to flash ROM, backup ROM, etc. Correct?

ROM Manager: "front-end" application for CWM, so that don't have to manually restart phone and hold volume up and down to flash ROM, backup ROM, etc. Instead, from ROM Manager, can select ROM to flash, backup ROM, and it will take care of it (automatically restart ROM and flash/backup ROM). In addition, it can check for ROM updates, etc. Correct?

Question: ROM Manager has an option to "flash Clockwork Mod Recovery". So would it be correct to say that we should install ROM Manager first (from market), then use it to flash CWM? Otherwise, how else can we flash CWM?

Question: ROM Backups taken using CWM / ROM Manager are known as Nandroid backups?

Question: After installing ROM Manager / CWM, i can (and should) make a (Nandroid) backup. Then if my phone gets bricked for whatever reason, i can just boot into recovery and flash the backed up ROM?

Now, the thing is, i don't quite understand how Smartflash and NVflash fit into the picture.

Paul has came up with:

SmartFlash stock baseband release (http://android.modaco.com/content/lg-optimus-2x-2x-modaco-com/335494/25-mar-smartflash-stock-baseband-release-1035-21-20110315/)

NVflash stock ROM release (http://android.modaco.com/content/lg-optimus-2x-2x-modaco-com/335474/25-mar-nvflash-stock-rom-release-v10b-dated-1300166062-15-03-2011/)

From what i gather, SmartFlash and NVflash are 2 different ways of flashing ROM?

Then, is it that both are actually the same ROM, but just that one is meant for SmartFlash and one is meant for NVflash?

And that, of course, we can't use ROM Manager / CWM to flash either of them?

Actually, since i can use ROM Manager / CWM to backup/restore ROM in the event that my phone gets bricked? What is the benefit of using these 2 ROMs?

Cheers, and thanks Paul for the great work!!

Regards,

n00bsh1t

[Guest bondis]

Clockwork Mod Recovery: if i understand correctly, this replaces the SPRecovery. When starting phone, hold both volume up and down, then select "recovery" to get to CWM. From there, can choose to flash ROM, backup ROM, etc. Correct?

Yes, If you hold down power and volume down (after you have installed Clockwork) you will enter Clockwork...

Here you can make a backup and flash various things.

ROM Manager: "front-end" application for CWM, so that don't have to manually restart phone and hold volume up and down to flash ROM, backup ROM, etc. Instead, from ROM Manager, can select ROM to flash, backup ROM, and it will take care of it (automatically restart ROM and flash/backup ROM). In addition, it can check for ROM updates, etc. Correct?

To my knowledge ROM Manager does not work with the O2X, but Paul has made a application which make it possible to boot directly into Clockwork (https://market.android.com/details?id=com.modaco.twoxrecoveryboot).

Question: ROM Manager has an option to "flash Clockwork Mod Recovery". So would it be correct to say that we should install ROM Manager first (from market), then use it to flash CWM? Otherwise, how else can we flash CWM?

No, I think the only known way today is to following this: http://android.modaco.com/content/lg-optim...-lg-optimus-2x/

Question: ROM Backups taken using CWM / ROM Manager are known as Nandroid backups?

Yes

Question: After installing ROM Manager / CWM, i can (and should) make a (Nandroid) backup. Then if my phone gets bricked for whatever reason, i can just boot into recovery and flash the backed up ROM?

Sort of right, but the ultimate guide for restoring a bricked phone is done through NVflash described here: http://android.modaco.com/content/lg-optim...062-15-03-2011/

From what i gather, SmartFlash and NVflash are 2 different ways of flashing ROM?

Then, is it that both are actually the same ROM, but just that one is meant for SmartFlash and one is meant for NVflash?

And that, of course, we can't use ROM Manager / CWM to flash either of them?

Actually, since i can use ROM Manager / CWM to backup/restore ROM in the event that my phone gets bricked? What is the benefit of using these 2 ROMs?

SmartFlash is flashing the Baseband (not the ROM it self), ie the software that has the GSM driver WiFi driver and soon...

The NVflash flashes a new ROM, sort of the same as Clockwork.

I belive the Clockwork just copies files to different parts (and may execute various scripts for converting the filesystem and other tings). NVflash I belive is the NVidia way of flaching NVidia chipset so this will be the ultimate way to restore a bricked phone.

I think we will see a lot of ROMs that can be flashed by Clockwork, and we will have NVflash to handle bricked phones that Colockwork cant handle.

[Guest]

Hi bondis,

Thanks for the clarification! i think i understand more now. Didn't realise that the GSM stuffs wasn't all in the ROM, hence didn't know about the baseband thing.

So Paul has actually came up with 4 things for the 2X:

1. CWM Recovery

2. SmartFlash Stock Baseband - Updated version of the baseband that comes with the phone. Improves call quality. Also needed if flashing the MCR EXT4 ROM (4).

3. NVflash Stock ROM - Stock LG ROM that can be used with NVflash, mainly in the event of a bricked phone.

4. MCR EXT4 ROM - Custom ROM with various improvements over stock ROM. But still contains the LG stuffs (home screen, launcher, FSecure, etc) that has to be frozen with Titanium Backup.

Is my understanding correct?

Thanks!!

Regards,

n00bsh1t

[Guest kresten]

4 : you can use the online kitchen to avoid LG stuff :D

[Guest]

Oh, BTW, say after i have converted to EXT4 filesystem (using the MCR), can i still use the NVflash stock ROM to rollback / recover a bricked phone? Will it convert the filesystem back to EXT3?

Cheers!

n00bsh1t

[Guest Paul]

Yes it will...

P

[Guest raf2k]

Thanks a lot for all answers. Its all I needed to begin my adventure with custom ROMs for Android. :)

[Guest whitemusketeer]

I have a question about restoring the original ROM on my device (should I ever need to):

So far I managed to root my 2X with SuperOneClick and flash 3.0.1.4 r1 ClockworkMod Recovery.

I even manage to get into recovery mode without factory-resetting my phone (again)... :)

There I made a nandroid backup to SD card.

Now the good part:

I bought the phone with a contract from Hutchison 3G Austria.

SIM-locked and "3"-logo bootlogo and some pre-installed carrier-apps.

Is the backup I made in recovery enough to restore all that carrier specific bootlogo and apps?

I really do plan to use custom roms, but if ,for some reason, I need to make use of warranty, I think I might have a problem, if there is only the "stock rom" without alle that carrier-stuff (which is available on android market anyway...).

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks.