CM7 for the TC970 - We Now Have Built-in ClockworkMod (Flashed to Device)

[yann2]

* Executive Summary :

CyanogenMod 7 for the TC970 tablets now includes a Flashable version of the ClockWorkMod recovery tool. This is being written (flashed) to the tablet's NAND by default (you have it if you installed Beta 6.1).

The flashed version is v.5.0.2.8, a different revision number (.8) than our regular CWM version.

This built-in Recovery can be loaded 3 ways :

• via Volume Up and Power button combo.
• via ADB, adb reboot recovery.
• via Reboot --> Recovery option in the Power button menu from isndie CM7 itself.

It's a nice and convenient feature; you are free to swap SD cards out, without the worry of keeping CWM in the in-use card, etc.

* And the Full Story :

It all started to dawn when JerryStake posted a short note on the XDA Developers thread - here's a copy of my reply :

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Jerrystake, thanks for your post above - I had to read it a few times, seems you know something I did not :

Just a word of warning.... If you have the original griffin.ifw on your sdcard from when you rooted and installed recovery but are using the lastest beta6.1 cm7 with the newer recovery installed do not use the vol- + power button to boot into recovery as the older recovery will boot off sdcard. There is differences in backup and mounts.. okay

...so - you mean that CM7 Beta 6.1 is now using a new Recovery method, a Clockworkmod flashed to the tablet itself?

I never knew that..[snip]...Can't wait to go home after work and test this out. Thank you.

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And later that day :

Thanks, Jerry, just came home and went straight to the tablet. And CWM is indeed flashed to NAND, pulled the SD card out, and selected Power, Reboot, Recovery, and CWM 5.0.2.8 came up. Wow!

Live and learn, that is new.

Thanks for the tips on possibly wiping it out via CWM advanced restore options. I have been tinkering a lot lately, and used that to restore just the /system directory, to undo some of the test work I did. Good to know we could remove this flashed-in CWM if desired.

It's convenient to have it in, but if the partitioning on the internal NAND is changing (from Beta 6 and earlier, to 6.1), then we got to be careful with backup and restores. Need some more reading and thinking on that miyelf to figure out the implications, as I like Beta 6.0, and have a good backup of a tweaked 6.0 install.

Important point you raised on a post above :

Important for all those looking to restore from beta 6.1 back to beta 6.0 - be sure to use the same recovery the back up was done with.

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* So, what does it mean to us, users of CM7 Betas?

• a built in ClockWorkMod, always there, any time.
• Even if you swapped out your regular SD card for another one, Recovery can be reached via Volume-Up and Power button combination.
• It can also be reached via ADB, adb reboot recovery will take you there in a rush.
• And finally, from inside a running CM7 session, select Reboot, Recovery from the Power Button menu.

Beware of JerrySkate's note regarding Version Changes - this new, flashed in CWM is version 5.0.2.8, that final digit is different from the CWM we normally use from the SD cards.

Would be best to create and restore a backup of a Beta 6.1 tablet from inside this new, flashed in CWM - reason being, there's apparently some change in the NAND partitioning, cas_xp added a datadata partition to Beta 6.1.

An older CWM might not know that partition, the Mount points are hard coded into CWM at compile time. (Not user selectable, as you could make a mess if you made a mistake)

 

[yann2]

A copy of a reply I made to this same thread in Another Forum :

I must spend way to much time messing with my tablet or just screwing around in general b/c i realized that awhile back, I didn't think anything of it. LOL o well.

Cas_xp never mentioned it, and I always kept my SD card with CWM loaded, so I wouldn't notice it easily at least.

One clue would be the final CWM revision number, but I did not pay attention to that, you assume it's your old friend from the SD card, no?

Now, looking back at my collection of files for the CM7 project, I see Beta 2 has a Recovery.img file on it, which is the CWM image file I believe :

Beta 4 also had this same file, note the file size and CRC match :

Alas, Beta 6.1 introduced a NEW version of the Recovery - note the file size, date and CRC have changed here :

I would suggest we should use this newer version exclusively, to avoid errors in Backup Restoring. Cas_xp did mention something about that in his Beta 6.1 Change log notice :

This version change is big and it is not compatible with the previous Nandroid backup.
1) ODEXed. To save some space and performance improved.
2) Enable NAND userdata partition to save 220MB from MMC( data partition)