Newbie Alert

[ShanMcG]

So I'm hoping to root my Nook Color tomorrow but there are a few things I am unsure of that I was hoping you experts could clarify for me. Patience my friends, I am new to this rooting business.

-I'd like to boot from my SD card because it seems a little less 'permanent' and easier to fix if something goes wrong. Is this thinking correct? What method would you recommend?

-I bought a 16gb microSD card thinking 'bigger is better' but I am wondering that if once the booting software if on there, if I'll even be able to save and access my own media files on it. Does the SD card become 'dedicated?'

Thanks all.

[Noob Saibot]

It all depends on how far you want to go down the rabbit hole. XDA has all the files and you can make your own image if clever enough (I'm not that clever anymore). You can also just download an image file already made, but these might not come in the card size you have (I think most are 2 or 8 Gb). Think partitions. You can partition a 1Tb hard drive to be 200Gb and waste the rest. That's what happens with these images. So if there's only an 8Gb image, the rest of your card is ignored.
HOWEVER to finally answer your question; whatever is not used in the image by OS is yours to use as you wish (just not maybe all of your card). Good luck!

[goldberry]

Originally Posted by ShanMcG

So I'm hoping to root my Nook Color tomorrow but there are a few things I am unsure of that I was hoping you experts could clarify for me. Patience my friends, I am new to this rooting business.

-I'd like to boot from my SD card because it seems a little less 'permanent' and easier to fix if something goes wrong. Is this thinking correct? What method would you recommend?

-I bought a 16gb microSD card thinking 'bigger is better' but I am wondering that if once the booting software if on there, if I'll even be able to save and access my own media files on it. Does the SD card become 'dedicated?'

Thanks all.

Go to and read these threads, don't have to read all of the first one below but if you follow the instructions in first post you will be fine. The second link is concerning SD cards. Some work much better than others. If you can get a Sandisk class 4 you will have no problems. IMO 8gb is plenty. You can also use your Nooks memory for things if needed.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1000957


http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1005633

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by ShanMcG

So I'm hoping to root my Nook Color tomorrow but there are a few things I am unsure of that I was hoping you experts could clarify for me. Patience my friends, I am new to this rooting business.

-I'd like to boot from my SD card because it seems a little less 'permanent' and easier to fix if something goes wrong. Is this thinking correct? What method would you recommend?

http://quinxy.com/2011/04/01/complet...he-nook-color/

Originally Posted by ShanMcG

-I bought a 16gb microSD card thinking 'bigger is better' but I am wondering that if once the booting software if on there, if I'll even be able to save and access my own media files on it. Does the SD card become 'dedicated?'
Thanks all.

When you finish the installation to the SD card the card will have 4 partitions on it. There will be a FAT32 boot partition, 2 Linux partitions, and finally a FAT32 SD partition. The final FAT32 SD partition is yours to do with as you please. You will have to expand that final FAT32 partition to include your entire SD card, but that is quick and painless to do if you have and know how to use the right disk utility software. The final 'gotcha' is that the FAT32 SD partition will not be visible to Windows( if that is what you use?) because Windows will only see the first active partition which is the boot partition in this case. However, Android will export that partition as a USB drive when you connect your Android device to Windows via USB and activate USB storage when it becomes available in the status bar. You can also use a program like MyPhoneExplorer to access your FAT32 SD partiton via WiFi, Bluetooth, or USB.

[ShanMcG]

Thanks everyone!! All went well.

[toronado]

I have a stupid question. After writing the generic-sdcard.img to the micro SD card using WinImage, and downloading the nightly build CM7 (cm_encore_full-xxx.zip) file, are you supposed to unzip the nightly build CM7 file first, or just copy the zip file as-is (still zipped) onto the SD card?

Stupid question #2: Will doing the above enable bluetooth? or would I need to use this one instead: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=989637

?

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by toronado

I have a stupid question. After writing the generic-sdcard.img to the micro SD card using WinImage, and downloading the nightly build CM7 (cm_encore_full-xxx.zip) file, are you supposed to unzip the nightly build CM7 file first, or just copy the zip file as-is (still zipped) onto the SD card?

Leave it zipped.

Originally Posted by toronado

Stupid question #2: Will doing the above enable bluetooth? or would I need to use this one instead: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=989637
?

All the current versions of CM7 have working Bluetooth. Sort of.

[neilmarr]

Good to have your company, Shan. Happy e-reading and best wishes. Neil