Rooted Color --> Custom ROM --> Avoid the Update

[twobits]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Thank you!

That post is fascinating - he seems to be claiming that a unrooted NC + SD card with CM7 is all you need in order to switch back and forth between the CM7/stock device? No rooting necessary?? That would be very cool indeed.

Yes, this works because the boot rom looks for files on the sdcard first. Been using this method myself to be able to play with my friends nook color without needing to make any changes that can't be undone by pulling out the uSD card.

I have tested it with four different uSD cards so far and the differences in the performance is amazing between them, with the actual card ratings having no bearing on the performance for running android off of them. I suggest everyone run the Crystal DiskMark benchmark before doing this on the uSD card you plan to use, and if you do not see decent random write performance finding another card to use.

I have mine set up to dual boot now from a menu as well. Will probably collect an image with the tweeks I am making soon so people can skip some of the steps and collecting them on their own.

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by twobits

I have tested it with four different uSD cards so far and the differences in the performance is amazing between them, with the actual card ratings having no bearing on the performance for running android off of them.

That's the impression I've been getting while reading up, which makes it rather daunting to invest in a 32GB card when there seem to be no criteria whatsoever for determining (before purchase) if it will be suitable as a boot drive for the NC :/ In fact, a lot of people seem to be saying that higher 'class' SD cards are least stable as boot drives for the NC. I definitely want max storage, but I'm not going to blow $60 a pop 'trying out' cards. Worst case scenario, I overwrite internal memory or, ideally, set up a dual boot on internal memory (I haven't read up on this option yet) and relegate the SD to storage. SD cards haven't been showing the same inconsistency as storage media on the NC, have they?

[anamardoll]

I got the CM7 installed on an SD card today and could not be happier. I'm putting together a "to do" video for anyone who - like me - thought this was intimidating without pictures.

I do have one question: when I download and install something from the market is it going on my SD card or on my nook's internal memory?

I ask because I'm thinking about resetting my rooted nook back to factory defaults now that I have CM7 all set up the way I like. But......I'd prefer not to lose everything I set up today in terms of market apps, desktop arrangement, etc.

Basically, if I got a brand new nook out of the box and slapped this CM7 into it, would it have everything I set up and customized today or just the basic rom?

[taosaur]

I'm about 86% confident that any apps or settings installed while in CM7 go to the SD card, and would load identically if you plugged them into another NC, but I haven't been through the process myself.

I'm sorely tempted to pick up a NC tomorrow--I have the cash in hand, though it would leave me strapped a bit to pay it out now, and I've confirmed that they have them in at the Staples down the street

I would probably be stuck with stock OS for a week or two until I can pick up a SD card, but I would have the NC for this weekend out of town... decisions, decisions.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

I got the CM7 installed on an SD card today and could not be happier. I'm putting together a "to do" video for anyone who - like me - thought this was intimidating without pictures.

I should do the CM7 bit. Right now, I'm using auto-nooter.

[anamardoll]

Ok, swapped out my SD card and put it in husbands nook color and everything was as it should be, so it's definitely installing on the sd card and all is well.

I'm reseting my nook to factory settings now.

Video to follow.

[anamardoll]

Video is made!

It's pretty amateur and probably total overkill for this simple process, but hopefully it will help newbies (like me) who find written instructions intimidating.

I had to split the video into 5 parts, so here's the blog post with the YouTube links (seemed better than linking to five videos in a single forum post).

http://www.anamardoll.com/2011/04/er...e-on-nook.html

[Red Alert]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Video is made!

It's pretty amateur and probably total overkill for this simple process, but hopefully it will help newbies (like me) who find written instructions intimidating.

I had to split the video into 5 parts, so here's the blog post with the YouTube links (seemed better than linking to five videos in a single forum post).

http://www.anamardoll.com/2011/04/er...e-on-nook.html

I watched the videos and they are great. Thanks, as soon as I can get the right card, I'll be doing this mod.

[anamardoll]

I'm glad someone found it helpful!

So here's a question for the smarter people:

I want to backup everything I've done on my SD card because I've loaded a lot of apps and data, etc., etc. from the Google Market. Am I right in thinking that I can put my SD card in the computer, use WinImage to "Create Virtual Hard Disk image from physical drive..." off my SD card as a complete backup?

And then if I ever lost my card and had to replace it, I could just write that backup image to a new, similarly-sized card, slap it into the Nook, and then everything would be just as it was when I performed the backup?

That sounds right, but I don't have an extra 32gb sitting around to TEST it.

EDIT: Hmm. That didn't behave the way I thought it would... after it went through the progress bar, at the end it asked me to choose one of four partitions. Do I have to do the "Create image" process once for each partition??

Does anyone know how to back these cards up entirely?

[goldberry]

Originally Posted by taosaur

I'm about 86% confident that any apps or settings installed while in CM7 go to the SD card, and would load identically if you plugged them into another NC, but I haven't been through the process myself.

I'm sorely tempted to pick up a NC tomorrow--I have the cash in hand, though it would leave me strapped a bit to pay it out now, and I've confirmed that they have them in at the Staples down the street

I would probably be stuck with stock OS for a week or two until I can pick up a SD card, but I would have the NC for this weekend out of town... decisions, decisions.

I believe if using CM7 it stores things in either place. If you go into settings and look at something about memory usage it has all the NC's memory and SD card. I noticed that the only apps that I downloaded that were shown on the SD card were Adilko and Angry Birds. I also saw something while exploring that gave you the option of where to designate stuff to be stored which as I recall were automatic, NC memory, or SD card.

Take all of the above as not gospel as I am a total rookie and just got my NV working with stock and CM7 2 days ago. I believe once I am comfortable with CM7 I will probable just root to the NC as I understand it is supposedly simple to put it back to stock

[taosaur]

Some karma coming back at anamardoll--your video was very helpful in flashing my SD card with WinImage when I couldn't get Win32diskimager to work. I may not be able to get gapps working without picking up a card reader, but I have some apps to sideload, and overall the interface is so much better. I swear CM7 is snappier from the SD card than stock 1.2 on the emmc, too.

I'm looking into some way to get gapps(market) on there with Root Explorer, and possibly set up a dual boot of PhireMod and stock 1.2 (my ultimate goal) on internal memory the same way.

[ballast]

So I muddled thru and got CM7 & Gapps running. The good news, some apps which did not run properly on my Froyo (Android 2.2) Autonooter install, now run fine under CM7. And some apps that ran fine under Froyo don't run under CM7 (which is Gingerbread - Android 2.3). I suppose that is just the apps reacting to different versions of the operating system.

And, of course, the nook book reader doesn't function. I suppose I can use a different reader to read my books. I have all my books organized using Calibre as my library management tool and I really love it.

BUT... under CM7, my CNook isn't recognized by my PC using the USB cable - and that leads to Calibre not working as well as a couple of semi-critical syncing apps (at least to me) that only function when the nook is attached to the PC with the USB cable.

Does anyone have an idea of how to get the usb thing working? The PC doesn't even see the nooks drives as attached drives.

Well, I figured it out! Actually I am having a USB device driver problem on my main computer... it isn't recognizing ANY usb storage device I plug into it. When I couldn't read a standard SD card plugged in that computer, I switched to another computer and everything works fine
(now all I have to do is find a good driver)

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by ballast

Does anyone have an idea of how to get the usb thing working? The PC doesn't even see the nooks drives as attached drives.

I got hung up on this for a minute, too. The icon that looks almost like a power button (broken circle with vertical arrow) is actually notifications. If you tap this icon while USB is plugged in, then tap the USB connection item at the top and "turn on" USB data transfer, your Nook + SD will show up in Windows. It's counter-intuitive at first, but actually makes it much easier to jump back and forth when moving files on the PC and testing them on the Nook. I've also found the connection 100% reliable so far, whereas I was lucky if Windows would recognize the NC 1/3 of the time with stock OS.