iPhone Questions re: resetting, jailbreaking, restoring

(Lots and lots of questions)

Hey, guys (and gals). I'm very new to this, and I swear I've done nothing but search for the answers for days, but can't seem to find exactly what I need. I'm looking to jailbreak an iphone 4 running 5.1.1. Currently, it has about 500 pictures and 200 songs. Only about 7 installed apps. Most of what I've read tells me to make a complete iTunes backup of my phone first. That's fine, and I can completely handle that part.

Anyway, some things I've read tell me to go to Settings -> General -> Reset -> Reset all Settings before attempting the jailbreak. Other things have told me to Erase All Content and Settings. With the amount of media I have (as stated above), do you think this is necessary if attempting an Absinthe jailbreak?

My next question...after I make the iTunes backup and perform the jailbreak (whether I reset settings or not), if I want/need to perform a restore from that backup, most of what I've read says that doing so will ALSO update the ios and there's basically no way around that. But...wouldn't doing so ruin the jailbreak? Or is there another way to "restore" things without updating my ios?

Basically, I guess what I truly need is a thorough, step-by-step process, being completely (obviously and devastatingly) new to this. If there's some other program out there (not absinthe) that doesn't require a backup and restore and will preserve the 5.1.1, I guess I'd like to know that, as well.

Or if I'm missing something extremely simple, that would be good, as well.

Thank you all SO MUCH for any help/guidance/patience you can send my way.

Thank you so much for your reply. Just a couple more things, because (as is probably apparent) I've never done anything like this before.

I often sync my phone with iTunes, which is pretty much does automatically everytime I plug it in to the Mac. Is performing a full back-up different? I know that I'll want to make sure to back up/transfer my purchased apps, but I read somewhere that I may need to do something special with the camera roll. Is this the case? If so...how do I ensure that's done correctly?

Next...by "Erase all Settings," do I do this by going to Settings-> General-> Reset -> Reset all Settings? Or do I choose "Erase All Content and Settings?" And do I do this on my actual phone, or am I supposed to do it through iTunes somehow? And just to double-check, resetting the settings won't do anything to the firmware, right? I'll still have 5.1.1 installed?

I've read many things about people who've had their jailbreaks go "wrong" and were informed that because they'd erased their settings, they have no choice but to be stuck on ios 6. Maybe those people are being misleading (unintentionally or not); I don't know.

And finally (please bear with me, here), after I make the back-up, should I close iTunes before downloading and running Absinthe? And to restore the back-up, should I do anything like unplug my phone, start iTunes, then re-plug it in or anything? Or can I just leave it connected the whole time?

I know that's probably an incredibly dumb question, but I figure that forewarned is forearmed and I'd rather do it right the first time.

Okay, last question (I hope).

Let's say something goes wrong with the jailbreak and I get stuck. I can restore from the backup without any issues, right?

And then...let's say I DO the jailbreak and it works, but I end up not liking it. Long shot, I know, but...with 5.1.1 no longer being supported/signed/whatever-the-terminology-is, will I still be able to remove the jailbreak without upgrading to 6.x?

Thank you again. This is probably pretty much going to be a recap of another great tutorial already out there, but for n00bs like me, that might be a good thing. On an iPhone 4 currently running 5.1.1, these will be my steps:

1) Perform a complete iTunes backup under "Devices" and by clicking the "Back Up" option, making sure to include all apps. No need to do anything different or crazy with the photos/camera roll.

2) Disconnect from/close iTunes

3) Erase All Content and Settings in the phone itself. This should only take a few minutes on a IP4.

4) Download and extract Absinthe 2.0.4

5) Run the absinthe.exe file and reconnect the phone via USB when prompted

6) Click "jailbreak" button

7) When jailbreak is done, press Cydia icon to load it, which will prepare the file system

8) Reconnect to iTunes, right click on my device, and choose "restore from backup"

9) Remove my phone and play around with Cydia, enjoying my new jailbreak

Do I have it? And I ready to go????

Crap; I just realized I have one more question.

Let's say that further down the road, I decide I don't need my jailbreak and want to go ahead and updated to ios 6.x (or whatever happens to out by that time). Am I able to update the standard way (through Settings) or do I have to do some uber-technical things in order to update.

Like I said, that would be knowing I'd lose my jailbreak. I'm just curious if the update would go normally or if my phone would break.