Questions about backing up a jailbroken iPhone 4, and possibly upgrading it

[Xtremeryo]

Okay, I have read some of the tutorials and guides, and I may still be misunderstanding things quite a bit. From my situation, I currently have no money if anything happens to my iPhone 4, nor do I have the resource to go get a phone around the area I am in because I am currently away from home attending university. This is why I need clarification and some more detailed answers to be absolutely sure.

Before getting started on my questions, my iPhone 4 is on
firmware: 4.1
baseband: 02.10.04
locked: to AT&T
I am currently using a Gevey Sim Pro to unlock this phone as I am in Canada using Rogers.

Regarding backing up,
1) If I would like to backup my firmware and baseband in order to ensure that if anything happens in the future that I am able to return my phone to a jailbreakable and unlockable state, what exactly should I be doing?

2) If I would like to backup EVERYTHING, including my current tweaks, installations, contacts, apps, etc. is it possible and how would I go about doing this?

Regarding upgrading to iOS5,
1) If I would like to upgrade to iOS5 and preserve the ability to unlock my iPhone using the Gevey Sim, all I need to do is preserve the baseband using redsnow, right? And then upgrade to iOS5?

2) If something were to go wrong during my upgrade to iOS5, or I just happen to dislike iOS5, is it possible to revert back to my iOS 4.1?

Thank you for reading my post, and I really need clear-cut answers for these questions because I need to be absolutely positive about what I am doing to my phone and take the necessary precautions before doing so.

 

[Jmills87]

You can only revert back to iOS 4.1 if you have the SHSH saved for that firmware. No reason not to update to 5.0.1 though, just make sure you update with a custom firmware made with sn0wbreeze or redsn0w in order to preserve your baseband.

There's no way to restore Cydia packages from 4.1 to 5.0.1 because the filesystem is a lot different, you will have to reinstall all your tweaks/themes/apps manually.

iTunes will back up all your contacts, settings, photos/videos, application data, etc.

 

[Xtremeryo]

Thanks for the reply, was starting to get worried that no one had a solution for me.

So let me get this straight,

1) say something goes wrong, and my phone "bricks" right now, in order to restore my phone using iTunes to the current unlockable AND jailbreakable state is to have the SHSH blobs saved via TinyUmbrella. This will preserve BOTH my firmware and my baseband?

2) And in order to preserve my baseband so I can still use my gevey sim, I use either sn0wbreeze or redsn0w to create a custom iOS5 firmware file and then update,

3) And if I don't like iOS5, I revert back to iOS4 via iTunes redirecting to the SHSH blobs of iOS4 that i had? Is the actually reverting through iTunes or external software?

 

[Jmills87]

Thanks for the reply, was starting to get worried that no one had a solution for me.

So let me get this straight,

1) say something goes wrong, and my phone "bricks" right now, in order to restore my phone using iTunes to the current unlockable AND jailbreakable state is to have the SHSH blobs saved via TinyUmbrella. This will preserve BOTH my firmware and my baseband?

2) And in order to preserve my baseband so I can still use my gevey sim, I use either sn0wbreeze or redsn0w to create a custom iOS5 firmware file and then update,

3) And if I don't like iOS5, I revert back to iOS4 via iTunes redirecting to the SHSH blobs of iOS4 that i had? Is the actually reverting through iTunes or external software?

1. There's no way to brick an iPhone. And no, you do not need SHSH blobs to restore to the most current firmware, that's only if you want to downgrade. Restoring a custom firmware will ALWAYS preserve your baseband.

2. Yes

3. In order to restore an older firmware, you must use SHSH blobs through TinyUmbrella in order to bypass Apple's verification servers. It's the same thing as restoring the most current firmware, but when iTunes goes to verify that the firmware you are trying to restore is still being signed, TinyUmbrella makes it think that it is using your SHSH blobs, even if it's not.

 

[Xtremeryo]

So SHSH blobs pertain to specific firmwares. As long as I have the SHSH blob that corresponds with the firmware I wish to downgrade to, I may do so.

To keep my unlockable baseband at all times, I must always make my own firmwares through redsn0w.

Basically all I needed to know, if these are correct, then I'll be on my way to try out iOS5 soon. Thank you for verification!

Oh and about backing up contacts etc, I can use iTunes backup function no problem? Because I thought I couldn't use it due to my jailbroken phone.

 

[Jmills87]

Correct, each SHSH is unique to each individual device and each individual firmware. You must save the SHSH for the firmware while Apple is still signing it and then you can use it to downgrade to that specific firmware at any point in the future after Apple has stopped signing it. As long as you always restore a custom firmware created with Redsn0w or Sn0wbreeze, your baseband will never be updated. The only way to update your baseband is to restore a stock firmware through iTunes.

iTunes backup will backup your contacts, a jailbroken phone works just the same as a factory phone in iTunes.

 

[Xtremeryo]

Is still signing it...?
Does that mean the SHSH blobs to 4.1 is unobtainable now since they stopped signing it and they are signing iOS5?

Also, I noticed there is CDMA and GSM iOS5 firmwares.
as well as version 5.0.1 and 5.0.

In my case, I would need CDMA and either 5.0.1 or 5.0 will work fine for me?

 

[Jmills87]

Correct, if you haven't already saved it, it is too late. The only SHSH you can save right now is for 5.0.1(which I would suggest doing since the jailbreak has been patched in the upcoming 5.1 release).

Also, you need GSM not CDMA, and you have to use 5.0.1, there's no way to restore 5.0 anymore.

 

[Xtremeryo]

I read somewhere that Cydia automatically saves SHSH blobs for you, if you boot up cydia and the coressponding list of firmwares at the top include the one you want.

How would I go about maintaining those? In my Cydia it says SHSH: iOS 4.3.3, 4.3.5, 5.0.1.

Although you have already specified to use GSM and CDMA, could you also tell me the reason? Thanks for answering my plethora of questions, I just wish to understand my phone a bit more.

 

[Jmills87]

It only started automatically saving around 4.3, in 4.1 you had to click a button that said "Make my life easier." If those are the SHSH Cydia lists for your phone, those are the only SHSH you have.

Your phone is GSM if you use a SIM card, CDMA networks do not use SIM cards.

 

[Hungryghost]

However, seeing as you are currently on 4.1, you can use a piece of free software called iFaith to get the SHSH blobs for your current firmware. iFaith will also create a custom signed 4.1 firmware using these blobs. It is an extremely useful tool, and the only way to get earlier blobs once apple has stopped signing them.

 

[reahn5678]

However, seeing as you are currently on 4.1, you can use a piece of free software called iFaith to get the SHSH blobs for your current firmware. iFaith will also create a custom signed 4.1 firmware using these blobs. It is an extremely useful tool, and the only way to get earlier blobs once apple has stopped signing them.

+1USE IFAITH!!! To dump ur shsh blobs

 

[Xtremeryo]

Okay someone please help im freaking out right now.

I followed all the instructions but now my phone cant be activated, i've tried redsnow jailbreak, snowbreeze hacktivate, nothing is working

Problem solved, solution unknown i was freaking out too much.
Forgive me for my idiocy, I was extremely anxious, now that as long as my phone is in a working state, I'm going to ask more questions before I eff something up again.

I backed up my stuff using iTunes,

it is PERFECTLY safe to use iTunes "restore form backup" function right?

ALSO, I am using gevey sim, and theres only one bar of signal, but it is working perfectly fine. Should i be worried?