General Few questions regarding Jailbreaking.

[su-do]

I recently received my first iphone on christmas as a gift, I have been an android user for as long as I can remember. I'm really liking the phone so far, and can't wait to delve in the world of the jailbreak goodness as soon as a new jailbreak is released for my current iOS. However I have a few questions regarding the essential knowledge the user should have before going through everything.

* While you go from an official firmware to perform a jailbreak is it always necessary to be on a fresh firmware restored from itunes (not updated with apples OTA updates).

* When you perform a backup of your phone (via iTunes), are you just backing up the data, apps, and all the other data you select in itunes or the data + the current firmware.
So when we are on a newer official firmware and perform a restore from a previous backup, will we be restoring the data we selected to backup in iTunes previously only or will it downgrade back the current firmware to the version the previous backup was on.

* What is the best tool to save all the cydia tweaks and sources that get installed while on a jailbreak, and the best method to back JB stuff, or is it always a better idea to start fresh and reinstall everything from the beginning when we apply a newer jailbreak on the device.

 

[eyoungren]

* While you go from an official firmware to perform a jailbreak is it always necessary to be on a fresh firmware restored from itunes (not updated with apples OTA updates).

For modern jailbreaks (jailbreaks for iOS 6 and up) yes. Otherwise the jailbreak tends to fail or worse, if it succeeds causes problems later on.

* When you perform a backup of your phone (via iTunes), are you just backing up the data, apps, and all the other data you select in itunes or the data + the current firmware.
So when we are on a newer official firmware and perform a restore from a previous backup, will we be restoring the data we selected to backup in iTunes previously only or will it downgrade back the current firmware to the version the previous backup was on.

Just the data. The firmware is never backed up. A restore is always necessary if the system becomes corrupt. If you are restoring from a backup you are simply restoring data. The system is left untouched. If you need to restore as new because the system is corrupt iTunes will download an IPSW and restore from that. The problem here comes in when Apple is no longer signing older versions. If an older version is not signed you cannot restore to it. Which means you may lose your jailbreak if the newer version is not jailbreakable.

* What is the best tool to save all the cydia tweaks and sources that get installed while on a jailbreak, and the best method to back JB stuff, or is it always a better idea to start fresh and reinstall everything from the beginning when we apply a newer jailbreak on the device.

iTunes backups store Cydia sources now. That's a recent thing. And iTunes backup also stores your tweak data (such as preferences).

But as far as the actual tweaks there are a few ways. You can get a list and reinstall by hand, download a tweak that will save a list and then go and redownload automatically for you, or invest in a full backup app such as PKGBackup that will backup all your tweaks, apps, and data.

It is always advised to restore as new, jailbreak and then redownload all your apps from the app store and your tweaks from Cydia.

In practice though that's a habit very few people follow. I generally backup, restore as new, jailbreak, set up Cydia and then restore from my backup to get all my data back. So far I've been lucky that nothing has messed up but there is always the possibility.