How do I know if I have Clockwork Recovery?

[jamesino]

I flashed CleanROM 5.5.1 following the instructions on its official thread on XDA and everything is working smoothly. Just out of curiosity, do I have CW Recovery installed on my phone? I can't seem to find it under App manager or in my drawer. But if I restart and select restart into recovery, I have that simplistic looking menu where I move up and down using the volume keys. Is this CW Recovery?

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

If it looks like that, then you have ClockWorkMod Recovery installed.
You wont find it in your app drawer, it's not really an app. Think of it as it's own tiny OS that your phone can boot into to manage the device storage and boot up.

 

[jamesino]

Thanks!

Another question: many guides online instruct uses to wipe the "cache" and "Davlik" prior to flashing a new ROM. I am unsure if I did either of those things, I do not recall explictly doing them, but I did select wipe data from CWM. However, my phone with CleanROM 5.5.1 is working smoothly with no problems.

How do I know if wiping the cache or Davlik will benefit me? Will something not work if I had needed to wipe both of them? How do I do it from CWM?

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

A factory reset/wipe data from CWM will wipe cache and the dalvik-cache by default.
If everything is working, you're good to go

The reason you'll want to wipe these between flashing ROMs is they are places where data is stored to make booting the phone faster. The data that is there is built using the apps from the old ROM. Wiping it all clean and letting the new ROM rebuild it is the way to make sure there are no inconsistencies in the data.

 

[funkylogik]

I flashed a stock rom over another stock rom using odin without wiping anything jerry, should that matter?
(They were both 4.1.2 but 1st one was a carrier version)
Ta

MERRY XMAS!!!X
Unbranded international s3 with Official 4.1.2 JB. Paisley, Slotland, Western Europe :beer: