Android Recovery Tools - Which One Should You Use?

For those of you that don't know, a recovery tool is a dos/unix looking tool that you can boot into, from which you can wipe cache, wipe the whole phone, format the SD card, and install ROMs and other custom zip files.

There are two recovery tools that I know of out there that you can use after you root your EVO:

1. ClockworkMod

2. Amon's Recovery

If you use the UNREVOKED method of rooting your EVO, it will load your EVO with the ClockworkMod Recovery tool.

While it's a great tool, I found it rather confusing. There are way too many settings. It looks like the following [image from www.jaxov.com]:

When I had my Hero, I always used the Amon Recovery and found it reliable. I've read around the XDA forums that there is a problem with the ClockworkMod not wiping properly at times.

If you want to flash the Amon Recovery instead of the ClockworkMod one, just download it from the XDA post here, and follow the instructions.

I used the Bootloader method, and it was easy as pie.

The one advantage that the ClockworkMod does have over the Amon one is that it works with the ROM Manager app that you can download from the Market. You can actually then download ROMs straight on to your phone instead of on to your PC then to your phone.

There is more info on that here on www.geekforme.com, owned by user flipzmode, the creator of the Fresh ROM.

If you're looking for a ROM with minimal changes, but better performance than the stock HTC Sense ROM, then the Fresh ROM is a good choice, based on my experience with his ROM for the Hero.