quick question about recoveries

[bigcat73]

I looked around and couldn't find a specific answer to this... I have been interested in rooting just for removing bloatware and being able to move anything to the SD card, not installing custom ROMs. If I just wanted to do this, would I really need a custom recovery? Couldn't I just back up my apps and anything else worth saving on my pc and then if I needed to unroot for whatever reason, just do a factory wipe and reinstall everything?

 

[mmarz]

I looked around and couldn't find a specific answer to this... I have been interested in rooting just for removing bloatware and being able to move anything to the SD card, not installing custom ROMs. If I just wanted to do this, would I really need a custom recovery? Couldn't I just back up my apps and anything else worth saving on my pc and then if I needed to unroot for whatever reason, just do a factory wipe and reinstall everything?

Factory wipe won't reinstall system apps that you removed. You need to use a tool like Titanium Backup to restore system apps. You don't need a custom recovery unless you are loading a custom rom, you want to partition your sdcard, or you want to backup your entire phone.

It's easy to reverse if you ever do flash a custom recovery, but it is not necessary. You can move programs to the SD card (fat partition) even without root. Android does it for you automatically if you install a program and you don't have enough room for it. Moving some programs to the Fat partition can cause them to break.

 

[bigcat73]

I know that apps can already be moved to the SD and that some things can't be moved there and widgets won't work from SD, but I remember reading that there are some that originally can't be moved there that still work fine. I just figured it would be a nice luxury to have, but now it seems kind of unimportant. Using a custom recovery to make an entire backup now just sounds like it would save a lot of trouble. Also, if I ever change my mind and want to load a custom rom then I can. Thanks a lot for the help!

 

[bigcat73]

One more thing if you don't mind... You have to root first to install a custom recovery right? Then, if I flash back to a backup, wouldn't it still be rooted? Could I find a stock rom online that doesn't have root access then?

 

[mmarz]

One more thing if you don't mind... You have to root first to install a custom recovery right? Then, if I flash back to a backup, wouldn't it still be rooted? Could I find a stock rom online that doesn't have root access then?

There is a thread somewhere on here that describes how to go back to the stock rom and unrooted. They have an image you flash like a custom rom and then the stock system is back. Then you restore your stock recovery, and then finally unroot.

If you were to restore a stock image that wasn't rooted, you would be unable to flash back to your stock recovery. And yes, if you backup your phone when it is rooted, then it will still be that way when you restore it.

 

[bigcat73]

Alright awesome. Thanks again, I really appreciate the help