[GUIDE] Nexus 4 - Unlock & Root

[zero neck]

Finally got my mako delivered. promptly unlocked, flashed team win, and softbricked with romans 12/30 build hahahhaa.

 

[AbuYazeedUK]

a few noob questions not sure if it's in the right place but here it goes:

1. Can you delete stock ROM and just have a custom ROM?
2. If I have a back up of a stock ROM with 12gb of Apps and i got no apps on the custom ROM do i have to download them again and will the phone run out of memory because the other apps are still on the phone somewhere? (i forgot to back up my apps)
3.(I made a Nandroid back up though how can i reinstall the apps?)
4. How can i restore the phone to factory defaults (still keeping the root etc)?

 

[zero neck]

a few noob questions not sure if it's in the right place but here it goes:

1. Can you delete stock ROM and just have a custom ROM?
2. If I have a back up of a stock ROM with 12gb of Apps and i got no apps on the custom ROM do i have to download them again and will the phone run out of memory because the other apps are still on the phone somewhere? (i forgot to back up my apps)
3.(I made a Nandroid back up though how can i reinstall the apps?)
4. How can i restore the phone to factory defaults (still keeping the root etc)?

1. when you make a nandroid backup, you have essentially a compressed backup saved to your virtual sd card. this will save your system and data, but does not save your sd card contents (these are untouched when you flash a custom rom, tho, so you dont have to worry about losing them except when you unlock the bootloader).
so, when you flash a custom rom you will wipe data, format system, and wipe cache and dalvik cache. in so doing, you are erasing your stock rom, and then flashing the custom rom on a clean slate. You won't be running 2 roms, 1 in the background, or anything like that.

2. If you made a nandroid backup of your stock system, you can't restore apps from that. What you can do is flash the nandroid backup you made in recovery, then use Titanium Backup to back up your apps. That will backup your apps to the virtual sd card, or dropbox if you want, and you can restore all the apps to the custom rom that you flash. You're phone won't run out of memory.

3. Nandroid backups are safety net system/data backups - it's like a snapshot of how your phone was when you made it. Titanium backup backs up apps and settings/app data. 2Defmouse has a really good titanium guide in his signature.

4. If you want to restore to factory settings, follow 2def's guide to restore to stock - however, when you finish restoring the stock images, don't lock the bootloader. then you can flash or temporarily boot recovery and install the supersu file to have root. If you want more details just ask, one of use will certainly provide them for ya.

Hope that helps

 

[AbuYazeedUK]

1. when you make a nandroid backup, you have essentially a compressed backup saved to your virtual sd card. this will save your system and data, but does not save your sd card contents (these are untouched when you flash a custom rom, tho, so you dont have to worry about losing them except when you unlock the bootloader).
so, when you flash a custom rom you will wipe data, format system, and wipe cache and dalvik cache. in so doing, you are erasing your stock rom, and then flashing the custom rom on a clean slate. You won't be running 2 roms, 1 in the background, or anything like that.

2. If you made a nandroid backup of your stock system, you can't restore apps from that. What you can do is flash the nandroid backup you made in recovery, then use Titanium Backup to back up your apps. That will backup your apps to the virtual sd card, or dropbox if you want, and you can restore all the apps to the custom rom that you flash. You're phone won't run out of memory.

3. Nandroid backups are safety net system/data backups - it's like a snapshot of how your phone was when you made it. Titanium backup backs up apps and settings/app data. 2Defmouse has a really good titanium guide in his signature.

4. If you want to restore to factory settings, follow 2def's guide to restore to stock - however, when you finish restoring the stock images, don't lock the bootloader. then you can flash or temporarily boot recovery and install the supersu file to have root. If you want more details just ask, one of use will certainly provide them for ya.

Hope that helps

Thanks that has cleared some things up. I have another question is there anyway i can delete all my apps one time? what i really wanna do is have a ROM and then start installing my apps one at a time so when i check app storage i want it to say 12gb available memory. When i flashed my ROM i had no apps but when i went to the apps storage i only had a gig left (maybe because of my apps i had on the stock ROM?)

 

[zero neck]

Thanks that has cleared some things up. I have another question is there anyway i can delete all my apps one time? what i really wanna do is have a ROM and then start installing my apps one at a time so when i check app storage i want it to say 12gb available memory. When i flashed my ROM i had no apps but when i went to the apps storage i only had a gig left (maybe because of my apps i had on the stock ROM?)

I would think it's more likely the stuff on your sd card - like pics, songs, movies or what have you.
When you flash the rom after wiping data/system/cache/dalvik, you then flash the gapps (google apps) package so you only really have a handful of apps when you first log into the rom. However, you're google account settings may be re-installing the apps you were using on stock. That can be turned off on the computer when you log into your google account.

With titanium, you can go through all your backed up apps and restore the ones you want, one at a time. I'd have a look at what's on your SD card and see if there's some stuff taking up that space.

Also, the rom itself will take up some space once installed - but it shouldn't be that much. A gig maybe, probably less.

 

[AbuYazeedUK]

Is there anyway i can wipe the data now while on this custom ROM and start with a fresh install of apps? and what is the directory for the SD Card /Storage/Emulated/0

 

[zero neck]

Is there anyway i can wipe the data now while on this custom ROM and start with a fresh install of apps? and what is the directory for the SD Card /Storage/Emulated/0

Yeah you can boot into recovery and wipe data, clear cache, clear dalvik cache, and format system - and still in recovery, install the rom that you've got on your sd card and then install gapps. This will give you the rom on a clean slate.

Sd card should be /sdcard - if you open it up on the computer or with a file manager it should be the first folder that comes up, or at least it will be root/sdcard/

 

[AbuYazeedUK]

Yeah you can boot into recovery and wipe data, clear cache, clear dalvik cache, and format system - and still in recovery, install the rom that you've got on your sd card and then install gapps. This will give you the rom on a clean slate.

Sd card should be /sdcard - if you open it up on the computer or with a file manager it should be the first folder that comes up, or at least it will be root/sdcard/

Really appreciate the help I just done what you said wiped data/factory reset, cleared cache and dalvik and this is what it looks like clean

 

[zero neck]

Really appreciate the help I just done what you said wiped data/factory reset, cleared cache and dalvik and this is what it looks like clean

1. What's all that misc stuff?
2. How many nandroid backups have you made?

If you've made alot of backups, you can go into the file where theyre stored on the sd card and delete all of them that you don't need (you should always have 1 backup so that you have something to fall back on in case something goes wrong, some people like to keep more than one, but personally i think it's a waste of space unless there's some specific reason you want more of them).

 

[AbuYazeedUK]

1. What's all that misc stuff?
2. How many nandroid backups have you made?

If you've made alot of backups, you can go into the file where theyre stored on the sd card and delete all of them that you don't need (you should always have 1 backup so that you have something to fall back on in case something goes wrong, some people like to keep more than one, but personally i think it's a waste of space unless there's some specific reason you want more of them).

**** I had two backups **** knows why but I deleted one of them and it's gone to 5gb available, what happens if I delete all my backups?

 

[corance]

I'm a little lost here. There isn't a removable SD card so when you say you can wipe everything but you'll still have stuff on your sd card... What do you mean? Where can I save stuff so it won't be deleted when I wipe everything? I guess I'm asking where are nandroid backups and Roms saved so they aren't deleted when you do I wipe?

 

[2defmouze]

**** I had two backups **** knows why but I deleted one of them and it's gone to 5gb available, what happens if I delete all my backups?

Nothing.. you really only need one saved on there, you can always move others to your computer for safe keeping. Also browse around the sd card and just see what else is taking up space, whatever app you're using to browse files should show the size of each directory and maybe you'll get an idea of what can be removed to free up some space.

Zero thanks much for helping out, I've been a bit busy and was without forum access since my phone died last night lol

 

[2defmouze]

I'm a little lost here. There isn't a removable SD card so when you say you can wipe everything but you'll still have stuff on your sd card... What do you mean? Where can I save stuff so it won't be deleted when I wipe everything? I guess I'm asking where are nandroid backups and Roms saved so they aren't deleted when you do I wipe?

The sdcard/internal storage directory does not get wiped by a custom recovery when you select "Wipe data/factory reset" from within recovery.

 

[corance]

The sdcard/internal storage directory does not get wiped by a custom recovery when you select "Wipe data/factory reset" from within recovery.

OK so that's where backups and stuff are saved? So could you, let's say move a music folder there, do a full wipe, install rom, then move the music folder back where it came from?

 

[AbuYazeedUK]

Nothing.. you really only need one saved on there, you can always move others to your computer for safe keeping. Also browse around the sd card and just see what else is taking up space, whatever app you're using to browse files should show the size of each directory and maybe you'll get an idea of what can be removed to free up some space.

Zero thanks much for helping out, I've been a bit busy and was without forum access since my phone died last night lol

So I have one backup on my phone now, I just copy that to my laptop and then I can delete it from my phone?

 

[2defmouze]

OK so that's where backups and stuff are saved? So could you, let's say move a music folder there, do a full wipe, install rom, then move the music folder back where it came from?

That's the only place you would ever put it in the first place, lol.. doesn't really do any good in another directory.

 

[2defmouze]

So I have one backup on my phone now, I just copy that to my laptop and then I can delete it from my phone?

If you wish.. I'd recommend a less capable user keep one backup on the phone in case of emergency. As you get more confident you could keep them on your computer only.

 

[AbuYazeedUK]

If you wish.. I'd recommend a less capable user keep one backup on the phone in case of emergency. As you get more confident you could keep them on your computer only.

The only reason I want to delete it is because on the stock ROM I had a few apps so it's quite a big back up, I want to restore my phone to factory defaults make a back up (small one I'm guessing) then flash a ROM and start loading apps etc is that right thinking or am I lost lol?

 

[corance]

That's the only place you would ever put it in the first place, lol.. doesn't really do any good in another directory.

I am using es explorer and on there I didn't see SD/internal. My back up I saved with twrp is in SD/twrp. This is all new to me because my other phone had an SD card so when I did a wipe or something, none of my music or pics were deleted because they were on the card. There is no card here sorry for stupid questions.

 

[zero neck]

If you wish.. I'd recommend a less capable user keep one backup on the phone in case of emergency. As you get more confident you could keep them on your computer only.

If you plan to flash roms regularly, or on the go, you should have one. Otherwise, if something happens, you'll have to connect to the computer before you can fix it by, for isntance, restoring back to stock.

I am using es explorer and on there I didn't see SD/internal. My back up I saved with twrp is in SD/twrp. This is all new to me because my other phone had an SD card so when I did a wipe or something, none of my music or pics were deleted because they were on the card. There is no card here sorry for stupid questions.

yeah the virtual sd is just a partition on the storage that acts like an external sdcard. your music should be on the virtual sd as it is, you shouldnt need to move it around. and nothing on the sd is wiped when flashing roms/deleting data - sd is only wiped when unlocking the bootloader (or if you manually wipe the sdcard in recovery, but it will warn you if you try to do that *at least on twrp).


@ 2def - no problem meng