Completely unnecessary to do this before any new ROM.. Every ROM will have instructions before you install it as to what you should wipe.. restoring factory images beforehand is absolutely just wasting time, trust me. Plus you'll be wiping your sd card when you do that, which normally you won't be on ROM installs since wiping from within CWR leaves your sd card intact.
EDIT: Just think of it, if there was ANYTHING to gain from doing it that way, devs would recommend it.. you will not find a single developer who would tell you to do that
I got the Nexus because I I wanted a completely open phone and I knew it was never offered on Big Red, and I never thought it would be. But, my lack of understanding may be coming through because all of my prior experience is with the Droid X.
I already unlocked and rooted the phone from Day 1. It?s just that it is still hard to believe that I have already been running AOSP stock Android from Day 1. It wasn?t like owning the DX when I had to root just to get rid of blur, bloat, and get the phone to work better.
I?ve already noticed that Birdman, Fabulous, Kejar, JRummy, have already begun custom ROMS on the Nexus, and I?ll check them out, but every ROM I ever flashed on the DX always recommended wiping the cache and flashing back to pure stock to avoid bugs. Kejar and JRummy even put it in their instructions, so I always flashed completely back to stock using RSD Lite before installing a new Rom. There were those that would flash GummyJar over Apex over Rubix etc without ever going back to stock, but they would complain about bugs later.
I guess it made me think of flashing Roms like painting/staining furniture. It?s always better to strip the old layer/coat before applying a new one.
If flashing back to stock before flashing a new Rom is unnecessary with the Nexus, thanks for letting me know. It just seemed instinctive, based on my prior experience with the DX to assume that flashing back to stock to avoid future bugs/force closes was a necessity.
Do you think the ROMS for the DX had to be designed and installed differently because of the locked bootloader and the DX bootstrapper? Are most ROMS for the Nexus always designed to be installed over the top of something else without causing glitches?
Is there ever a true case case where someone would specifically need to flash back to stock? Obviously, it sounds like it would have to be in a situation where the phone got majorly screwed up!!!
Thanks for your help. Saving time is always nice.
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