creating a custom flash recovery

[nexusNovice]

About a month ago I rooted my Nexus 7 using the WUG Nexus Root Toolkit v1.6.3. After some initial difficulty I was successful and got it rooted and all is well and has been well since then.

Recently a friend told me I should be sure to flash a custom recovery. I can now see that the WUG Nexus Root Toolkit does have an option to flash a custom recovery but it seems not to be a separate item but is available as part of the rooting process. My problem is that, because I do not know my way around android, I do not remember if I selected the option to "flash a custom recovery" when I rooted the nexus. Is there a way to find out?

In any case, I would like to flash an updated custom recovery. How do I do that? I would rather not go through the rooting process all over because it was quite traumatic the first time. Can I use the toolkit to just flash a custom recovery by itself?

Is flashing a custom recovery the same thing as doing a nandroid backup?

Hope this makes sense. Image is what I get when I g into what I think is recovery mode

[birdastrompgman]

If you're seeing the dead Android, you still have stock recovery.

You can flash a custom recovery from Wugfresh's Toolkit without rerooting, IIRC.  Just follow the steps and choose whether you want TWRP or CWM.  Or you can use fastboot or adb commands, or flash a zip file.

Flashing custom recovery is not the same as doing a Nandroid backup.  You do the latter using the custom recovery you've installed.

[bjs229]

We discussed this a while back. Loocid gave us a lesson on using fastboot commands to add custom recovery. I use rom toolbox. You can flash TWRP or CWR with it with one click. It is in the rom management section of the app.

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[nexusNovice]

Thanks bjs229 and birdastrompgman for replying.

I installed rom toolbox, went to the management section, and found flash recovery. Hurray! It gives me a selection of TWRP and CWR versions to choose from. Since I rooted using WUG's root toolkit that used TWRP, I selected the latest version of TWRP? Does it matter?

I then went to Management/Backups and found the same backup I had seen there before flashing the recovery. It is listed as
2013-02-27--08-12-07
teamwin backup      Feb 27, 2013 08:17:46
which must be something that I did when I rooted the nexus, maybe the unrooted stock rom.

Thank you guys. Sorry for being stupid at this but this is all new territory to me. I read "Nexus 7 for dummies" but it does not get into this stuff.

Is there anything else I need to do? Do I now create a new nandroid backup using the WUG root toolkit?

Thanks again.

[bjs229]

Nice job.

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[bjs229]

That dated file is a Nandroid backup. You must have made one with TWRP IN FEB.

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[birdastrompgman]

Cool. Yes, you should make a new backup of your N7 using TWRP. That Nandroid will be your easiest way to get your N7 back if your system crashes. As you guessed and Barry said, your February backup must have been made when you rooted. You don't want to lose your last month's work, so do it now.

Did you flash a custom ROM? I'm trying to figure out how you lost your custom recovery.

I'm not the lowest of the low, but I am the slowest of the slow (49.5 mpg over 42k miles in  Scion xB)

[nexusNovice]

I couldn't have done it without you guys. Thank you.

I'm quite expert in Windows and support many of my friends with their computer problems ; now I will be more patient when people like my wife need step by step instructions because they don't know basic things  <g>

I'm trying to learn more about Android but with no books to read it is difficult.

When I initially rooted, I didn't flash a custom rom. Too scared to do that yet. (will one day). I just used the wug root toolkit to root the nexus. I believe that before rooting I did a nandroid backup with the same toolkit, not sure if it was necessary, but just in case. I apparently didn't select to make a flash recovery at that time. Have it now.

I assume I can now do a new nandroid backup either using the custom recovery or the wug root toolkit. Any advantage either way? (that is one way to learn.......)

I also suppose I should back up everything from the nexus to the PC. Right?

How often should I
A) new custom recovery
B) nandroid backups

I have TitaniumBackup set to do automatic backups.

Anything else?

Thank you guys again!

[bjs229]

I keep one Nandroid on my device in case I need to restore from recovery. I also keep one on my Google drive and PC for emergency. Titanium is for backing up and restoring your apps. You might want to have the pro version so you can restore apps in batches as opposed to one by one with the free version. I believe when you create a backup with WUGS it goes into a folder on your pc. I compress my Nandroids that i put on my device to save space. It takes a little longer but worth it for me.

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[JayJ]

If you've permanently flashed a custom recovery you only need reflash it if there's an update...

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