Thinking of rooting my D-X, semi-new Droid user

[gordol]

I got my Droid X a few months ago when the in-store VZW tech realized that my Crapberry was about to be warranty-replaced for the fifth or sixth time in 14 months and each one was worse than the prior. I'm much happier now.

Now I'm at the point where I would like to root the thing. I'm not really interested in doing anything extreme to it, my goal is merely to prevent the stuff I consider bloat from loading. I don't use Skype, not interested in Football, Madden or otherwise, Google Maps Nav works and is free so there's no need for VZW Nav, etc. These can be outright removed so far as I'm concerned.

Other items I'd like to simply stop loading automatically but keep for when I want to run them, like Firefox, Maps, Music, others.

The first I'm reasonably sure can be done once the device is rooted, but I don't know about the second. But my primary concern contemplating this is: Disaster recovery.

How likely is it that the thing will break while rooting? If it does, am I SOL or can it be restored by the user? And once rooted, what's the process to un-root it if needed in order to update something required by the carrier?

 

[jdbower]

Rooting is relatively easy, but technically does void your warranty since you can now run SetCPU to overclock your CPU into oblivion. However, you may want to consider your actual goal:

App space abounds on the X, there's no reason to delete anything.

Deleting certain apps will prevent you from getting OTA updates, meaning you'll need to restore them once Gingerbread is released. And then again with the next update. And then again...

You can freeze apps using something like Titanium Backup, this will prevent them from loading automatically but the ones you've listed don't load anyway so there's not much point.

Most apps don't load automatically, so Firefox will be dormant until the first time you use it.

In short, rooting is fairly safe but everything has risk. I don't think rooting will get you what you want, or at least what you want won't have a meaningful impact on your phone. However, if you search the market for rooted apps you may find something that tickles your fancy. Personally I like using RealHDMI to display Pandora on my TV. I control it using Droid VNC Server from my PC across the room. The former has rooted features but it's not a hard requirement, the latter requires root. I also use Orbot should I need to connect to unprotected WiFi networks and I'm sure I've got a few other rooted apps I don't remember.

 

[cb05stang]

Coming from an Tour,S2,and Torch, I get what you're saying there although I never had any problems with mine except the tiny screen and silly track ball. When I found Android I was blown away and have no reason to look back.
I rooted within a month thanks to Z4. Got rid of the garbage with Titanium. Titanium freezes, restores, and backs up all user & system apps as well as data.
Nothing ever automatically loaded up without my desire to do so. So I'm not sure what you're talking about there.Everything just sits there until you prompt it to come up. Unless you've got settings set to run at a certain time. If you got apps you want to keep but not take up any resources, use Titanium Backup and freeze them. But you'll have to unfreeze to use or do system updates from Verizon.
RSD Lite is the answer to getting back to stock. Read up on it.
I've run several Roms over the past seven months without a hitch. Except for last week when I tried to update to GB on Liberty. I didn't pay attention to the steps and bricked my DX. But pulled it out with RSD. YAY !!!!
So, in answer to breaking, yes it is possible, if you don't follow directions. But it is possible to get back what you've lost with RSD LIte and Z4 has the ability to unroot if need be. Keep in mind though, I bricked because of a ROM install not just from being ROOTED. Just being rooted won't break/brick your phone. Good luck and read the forums. There are many knowledgeable people on this site as well as others to help you

 

[WAldenIV]

At this point in time, you should at least wait until after the Gingerbread update before rooting. Then reassess before moving forward.

 

[gordol]

Rooting is relatively easy, but technically does void your warranty since you can now run SetCPU to overclock your CPU into oblivion. However, you may want to consider your actual goal:

App space abounds on the X, there's no reason to delete anything.

It's not the ROM or storage space that concerns me, it's the memory usage causing more CPU use that in turn draws down the battery faster that concerns me.

Deleting certain apps will prevent you from getting OTA updates, meaning you'll need to restore them once Gingerbread is released. And then again with the next update. And then again...

Noted, and expected as indicated when I asked about un-rooting for updates.

You can freeze apps using something like Titanium Backup, this will prevent them from loading automatically but the ones you've listed don't load anyway so there's not much point.

If that will prevent apps from loading, that may be all I really need. Oh, it too needs root...

Most apps don't load automatically, so Firefox will be dormant until the first time you use it.

Except that according to ATK, among other apps that I have manually started I currently have the apps Amazon Appstore, Firefox, Skype, Maps, pWall, Alarm & Timer, My Verizon Mobile, Music and Files all running, and I have not started them since the last time I killed the tasks via ATK, some of them I have not used since I last rebooted the device, and some I have never, ever used.

 

[gordol]

At this point in time, you should at least wait until after the Gingerbread update before rooting. Then reassess before moving forward.

I just read on Droid Life that Gingerbread is due for the D-X "by the end of the second quarter" with the D2 and Pro by the end of the third (Motorola Employee Confirms Gingerbread Update Headed to DROIDX, DROID Pro, DROID2 and Global, – Finally Fixes ActiveSync Issues - Droid Life: A Droid Community Blog

 

[gordol]

Coming from an Tour,S2,and Torch, I get what you're saying there although I never had any problems with mine except the tiny screen and silly track ball.

It was the Storm2. It went from bad to worse, and the last "fix" suggested by RIM went from worse to disaster. The only reason I got the Storm then was because I was an AT&T Refugee, and VZW didn't yet have the Palm Pre, I can't stand WinMob and I did not yet trust Android. On AT&T I most recently had an iPhone 3G, before that I had PalmOS Treos.

When I found Android I was blown away and have no reason to look back.

A large part of my trepidation on this isn't the warranty factor, it's that my cellphone is my ONLY phone. If it bricks, I'm SOL because I doubt I can afford to pay full retail for a new one.

I rooted within a month thanks to Z4. Got rid of the garbage with Titanium. Titanium freezes, restores, and backs up all user & system apps as well as data.

That sounds like a good compromise for my situation then: Root it and use Titanium (or similar) to simply prevent what I'm calling "bloat" from loading. Question: Does "freezing" mean the app won't auto-load, or won't load at all? Some of the apps I would merely want to stop from autoloading but would still like to manually call them.

Nothing ever automatically loaded up without my desire to do so. So I'm not sure what you're talking about there.Everything just sits there until you prompt it to come up. Unless you've got settings set to run at a certain time.

Firefox shows up in ATK all the time even though I rarely actually use it, and I kill it via ATK when it shows. Likewise other apps both in ROM and use-installed that are NOT set to run or check anything automatically.

RSD Lite is the answer to getting back to stock. Read up on it.

Thanks, I'll look into it.

 

[chevota84]

Ive never had any luck with rsd so Ive been using the linux method to sbf. I've bricked this one 4 or 5 times screwing around and have never had a problem getting it back. I use titanium to freeze apps I don't use like blockbuster and the games just because it bugs me to see them on the screen (ocd I think). When you freeze them they don't appear on the screen at all , if you want them back just unfreeze. Use z4 to root, its probably the simplest and easiest way and I've never had a failure or brick from the actual rooting. Good luck and have fun using your device to its FULL potential.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[jdbower]

It's not the ROM or storage space that concerns me, it's the memory usage causing more CPU use that in turn draws down the battery faster that concerns me.
...
Except that according to ATK...

Easiest solution for that, uninstall ATK

A lot of former BB users (I've owned quite a few myself) are very concerned about memory, but the Android memory architecture is VERY different than the funky BB architecture and free memory isn't nearly as important. I run Linux on my desktop, I'm surprised if I have free memory unless I've just rebooted. Linux keeps memory around until something else needs it, that's just how it works. Unless you've persistently got 0 memory left, ATK will probably be killing stuff and they'll respawn eating all of your battery life and CPU cycles or making it take MUCH longer to load for no good reason. Normally, there's no reason to unload a program from memory (which takes no time at all and can be done at the moment it's needed) unless another program needs it (which takes time to load from storage).

Still, from your comment about Titanium Backup you appear to just want to root and mess around. There's nothing wrong with that so if it's what you want go for it. Don't trust any dates you see for Gingerbread, there is no official date. I believe it will be soon, we've had leaks for quite some time now, but we're always on the cusp of a new release. When Gingerbread is released there will be bugs and people will wonder if there will be a point release from that. A month later and there will be a new point release from Google that we're "sure to get." The next month and it'll be a quarter since the last release and we'll obviously get something soon... Unfreezing apps is easy, if you go the ROM route they'll be based on the stock image a few weeks after release. And you can always SBF to stock if you need to (find an SBF image now if you can).

I agree with the comment above about RSDLite, and one of the best things you can do before you get into this culture is to learn how to reliably SBF your device. I'd download a copy of Ubuntu and run it at least in a Virtual Machine to play around in (or dual boot, or even just boot it from the CD/Flash Drive). VirtualBox is the hypervisor I use, I'd be happy to help if you run into issues with it.

 

[gordol]

Still, from your comment about Titanium Backup you appear to just want to root and mess around. There's nothing wrong with that so if it's what you want go for it.

Not "mess around" so much as "optimize by dealing with the bloat crap Verizon foists on it".

Don't trust any dates you see for Gingerbread, there is no official date.

Oh, I'm aware of that. I may be new to Android, but I've been around the OS Upgrade Date merry-go-round a few times with both handhelds and desktops. And I'm also fully aware of what happens when a new version is pushed to meet a date rather than a quality standard.

Unfreezing apps is easy, if you go the ROM route they'll be based on the stock image a few weeks after release. And you can always SBF to stock if you need to (find an SBF image now if you can).

SBF?

I agree with the comment above about RSDLite, and one of the best things you can do before you get into this culture is to learn how to reliably SBF your device. I'd download a copy of Ubuntu and run it at least in a Virtual Machine to play around in (or dual boot, or even just boot it from the CD/Flash Drive). VirtualBox is the hypervisor I use, I'd be happy to help if you run into issues with it.

Well, it's apparent that I need to find a primer or guide of some kind that covers recoveries as well as a straight how-to-root set of instructions.

 

[Ricky Babalu]

Here are 3 good items to peruse at your leisure:

http://forum.androidcentral.com/motorola-x-rooting-roms-hacks/83583-updated-sbf-instructions-gb.html

The one below will help you understand how Android works.

Android Developers Blog: Multitasking the Android Way

http://forum.androidcentral.com/motorola-x-rooting-roms-hacks/52508-droidx-guide-rooting-backing-up-installing-custom-roms.html

***Forgot to add this:

 

[mhans311]

First of all, get rid of ATK. The Droid X does not need it and it only causes more problems than it fixes. Just because an app shows up as "running" even when you haven't opened it (such as skype, music, etc.) it doesn't mean it is using any CPU. They are just sitting there dormant.

Oh and now it looks like there is an official date for the update to GB. Keep that in mind as well. If you are rooted, you will need to unroot if you want to update.

 

[gordol]

First of all, get rid of ATK. The Droid X does not need it and it only causes more problems than it fixes. Just because an app shows up as "running" even when you haven't opened it (such as skype, music, etc.) it doesn't mean it is using any CPU. They are just sitting there dormant.

Based on other similar comments about ATK, I've already removed it. I'm not sure if I'm seeing any difference or not yet.

Oh and now it looks like there is an official date for the update to GB. Keep that in mind as well. If you are rooted, you will need to unroot if you want to update.

Yeah, I've seen that. According to what I saw, VZW is going to start pushing it out Friday. So I'm going to wait for that and see what other changes are in store.