Rooting my desire - some questions.

[bringtherain]

It is getting very annoying to have apps that are preinstalled take up space that I could be using for usefull ones so I am going to try to root my phone now. However, I am still very hesitant to do so since my phone is my main means of communication and if I mess it up I'm SOL.

I was planning on using the UnrEVOked method from here: http://teamuscellular.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=52.

First, I have a Windows 7 64bit system and have read that there are some issues with using it and since I had issues updating to froyo I'm a but concerned if that means I'll have problems rooting.

Second, I read that I can keep the stock ROM and that it should work like it is unrooted except I can do the rooted stuff(like remove bloatware)

FInally, can I backup my phone before I start the rooting process so that if I do mess it up it is likely that I can restore it.

[Akilldema]

I rooted mine on 64 bit windows, using Unrevoked. How could you do root privilege tasks without root? You cannot backup prior to root. Deleting bloatware from the phone after rooting WILL NOT clear up space.

[ii Candor ii]

You can backup some of the content before rooting, but you can't backup the entire stock ROM before rooting.

I rooted mine from an Ubuntu 10.10 32-bit box because I couldn't get UnRevoked to work on XP 32-bit or 7 64-bit. Ubuntu doesn't require any extra drivers like Windows does.

I think you might be confused about what UnRevoked does. Basically it uses a security exploit to gain root privileges, and then
replaces stock recovery with ClockworkMod Recovery. ClockworkMod is what allows you to do full ROM backups, among other things like flashing new ROMs, clearing caches, etc.

You asked about using the stock ROM after rooting. Yes you can do that; you are not required to flash a different ROM.

Also Akilldema is right about the apps. Uninstalling shipped apps does not free up any space for other apps because they don't share the same partition. Don't root it thinking you're going to free up a bunch of space by uninstalling shipped apps. There are other methods of saving space though. Read up about cMTD and Apps2SD. There are several methods of rearranging things to allow for more app storage.

[Ennon]

If I may, I suggest that you use the rooting guide from here that will also give you S-OFF: http://www.supermod.net/guides/

It will also guide you through updating to the latest recovery, how to use recovery, backing up your phone, and if you wish, how to install a different ROM.

[mkrapfl]

My question is for Ennon. Do you know if I could use the S-OFF from supermod on a froyo update from USCC. My phone is currently set S-ON in stock froyo. I am trying to downgrade to 2.1 so I can root.