Android : Using Recovery Mode
Recovery Mode in Android is a collection of tools which will help you to carry out some advanced tasks on your phone. Recovery Mode software is located on a separate partition. While there is standard way to enter the Recovery Mode as designed by Google, there can be a few variations depending on phone models and manufacturers. Recovery Mode provided by Android and Google is called Stock Recovery. While Stock Recovery has basic features and tools, a custom recovery is much advanced having a range of options and the ability to flash a custom ROM.
What is Recovery Mode
A Recovery Mode has been provided by Android to perform basic tasks like
- Wipe cache partition to remove traces of data saved by app
- Wipe all data
- Factory Reset to bring the phone back to original unboxed condition
- Apply updates to OS, mostly official updates only
Cache partition is a place earmarked by Android for storing bits and pieces of information. Wiping cache partition will not make available additional space for you, because the size of the partition cannot change and none of it is available to the user. If an app is not behaving well after an update, there is a possibility that the leftover data from the previous version of the app is causing problems. Clearing the cache will help the app to perform well.
What is a custom recovery
The stock Android Recovery has basic tools. This can be replaced by a custom recovery designed by Developers as a hobby. While the custom recovery may have lots of features over the stock recovery, the main aim of installing a custom recovery is the enable the ability to install custom ROMs. A custom recovery also enables the feature of backing up the current ROM. Two of the most popular custom recovery are ClockWorkMod Recovery and TeamWin Recovery Project Recovery.
How to install a custom recovery
Installing custom recovery though a general procedure can sometimes be handset specific or more often manufacturer specific. Do a Google search for your specific model so that you won’t end up bricking up the phone.
There are the basic steps in general which are needed to install a custom recovery.
- Root the android phone
- Install the latest drivers on the PC
- Download the latest custom recovery file
- Download the manufacturer specific software for PC