Upgrading to 4.2.1 from "spiritjb'ed" 3.2

[Belmondoo]

Hello everybody,

I want to upgrade my jailbroken (using spiritjb) 3.2 iPad (64g wifi) to 4.2.1.
I know that this topic is quite redundant, but I found some contradictions in what I read and I want to be 100% sure I won't mess my iPad and put myself in a position where I wont be able to jb afterwise.

So, here are the details of my current state:
- in Cydia, I can see on the top that I've my 3.2, 3.2.1, 3.2.2, 4.2b3 blobs are backuped (they appear in green)
- I used tinyumbrella to backup them too, and got the same versions backuped as in Cydia.
- I have installed a fresh iTunes 10.1 in a Windows XP VM i'm running in virtualbox 3.2 (ubuntu). Also, I never connected my iPad to it.
- My iPad is running springboard and circuitous (maybe irrelevant?)
- My iPad disk is almost full, so I would like to remove 20Gig of photos before starting the upgrade. I don't want to do it manually, photo by photo on the iPad, and I have them somewhere else.

I'm considering using the latest version of redsn0w, the tethered one. I'm aware that the untethered version is currently being tested on Mac, but I have the feeling that it's not really a problem: if I manage to get 4.2.1 tethered jb, I'll be able to switch to untethered at some point (either with a cydia package as comex suggested, either with a full re-install). I would anyway appreciate if someone could confirm (and even detail!) this point.

Here are the big steps I think I should do, please correct me if necessary:
- Disable automatic synchronization in itunes
- Connect my ipad to itunes
- Do my photo clean up in itunes
- Do a backup using itunes backup
--> In case of a massive crash, is the produced backup will restore my iPad in a jailbroken state, including all my apps (legit and cydia) ?

- Upgrade to 4.2.1 using itunes "upgrade" option
--> At this point my iPad will reboot in 4.2.1, all my apps will still be here, but I'll only be able to use the legit ones. Is it correct ?

- Run redsn0w 0.9.6.xxx ; the following steps are pretty well described, so I don't think that I need any detail on this part.
--> After this, my iPad is running 4.2.1 : WIN.

If you feel some annoying n00bness in my post, please be kind! I'm pretty sure that a lot of people are in my case and that those "bootstrapping" steps are never described along with the JB process, which is kind of scarry.

Thanks in advance!

 

[8767092]

Hold off for right now until redsn0w is out of beta. The 4.2b3 untether does work, but it is very buggy. If you can stand to wait, it is highly recommended. In this case beta means very buggy beta.

 

[Dr McKay]

Ive seen some of the bugs from the beta, you do not want to try it. It can disable Bluetooth completely, and can re-spring your device whenever you try to play a song or video, that includes Youtube videos.

 

[Night Spring]

--> In case of a massive crash, is the produced backup will restore my iPad in a jailbroken state, including all my apps (legit and cydia)

No it won't. In case something goes wrong, you will have to restore. This will put you back to an unjailbroken state, and you will have to rejailbreak and reinstall all your cydia apps. The "legit" apps and their data will automatically be put back on through iTunes when you restore from your backup. Some of the settings from your cydia apps may come back when you reinstall those apps, but it's hard to predict which ones will and which ones won't. Basically, you need to be prepared to redo all your jailbreak mods all over again.

 

[Belmondoo]

Just to be sure!

Are you guys refering to 0.9.7 versions or also 0.9.6 ?

I meant that I want to use 0.9.6b4 not 0.9.7b3 .
Even if it's beta, it's out for more than a month, so I thought that it was "stabilized".

 

[Belmondoo]

Answers to myself, for those interested

As I was quite frustrated by the answers I received (which apparently referred to 0.97x redsnow), I decided to give it a shot anyway (once again, with 0.96, the tethered one).

Here is my report:

- First, I made sure I got shsh blobs saved in cydia and tiny umbrella
- Then I backuped my apps using itunes
- Then, I upgraded to 4.2 ; I googled to find (and found) a way to prevent iTunes to backup my system before upgrading, as I had the feeling I would have to reinstall everything in case of failure
- Then I ran redsnow using the available guides
- WIN: All my apps (even those I got with installous) where still here and working
- All I got to do then was to re-install my cydia packages, which was not much of a big deal.

So far, I'm not so thrilled by differences between 3.2 and 4.2.1. Folders are really great (especially with folderEnhancer), multitasking induces memory problems (I basically kill everything before launching a new app, if I want to be safe), and I have the feeling that the system is a bit slower, and a bit more power consumer.
Midi through USB (camera kit) is almost a fraud. Maybe it's due to the apps I tested, but so far, most of them are not responsive enough to handle several keystrokes per second, or even chords.

Well, a lot of pain and questioning for not such a huge gain.

 

[TheGenerous]

Belmondoo, so you used tethered-redsnow right,

when you upgraded to 4.2.1, you did it form the itunes download or did you googled some other ipsw?

thx

 

[vant]

I had the opposite experience.

I went from 3.2 -> 4.2.(1) and it was great. Currently JB'd using 0.9.7b4 (untethered).

Love multitasking (yay pandora while doing other crap!).

Love folders (had wayyy too many pages before).

Love 4.0 apps (dungeon defenders anyone?).

Love silence switch.

Don't care for gamecenter.

Feels just as fast, if not faster.

edit-OMG. Safari no longer has to reload tabs! 4.2 is totally worth it.

 

[Belmondoo]

Belmondoo, so you used tethered-redsnow right,

when you upgraded to 4.2.1, you did it form the itunes download or did you googled some other ipsw?

thx

I upgraded from itunes and grabbed the following ipsw for redns0w:
iPad1,1_4.2.1_8C148_Restore.ipsw
md5sum : 9402d5f05348fd68c87f885ff4cb4717

 

[Belmondoo]

I had the opposite experience.

I went from 3.2 -> 4.2.(1) and it was great. Currently JB'd using 0.9.7b4 (untethered).

Love multitasking (yay pandora while doing other crap!).

Love folders (had wayyy too many pages before).

Love 4.0 apps (dungeon defenders anyone?).

Love silence switch.

Don't care for gamecenter.

Feels just as fast, if not faster.

edit-OMG. Safari no longer has to reload tabs! 4.2 is totally worth it.

I have to admit that my long and stressful hesitations probably tainted my judgment! I got a new release of one my music apps, and it works WAY better with my midi keyboard!

Also I have to mention that iBooks was "a bit" broken after the upgrade: books which were already here worked, but I bought a book and wasn't able to open it (error message: "A configuration problem occured ... please restore"). After googling, I synced my books in itunes, deleted iBooks and reinstalled it, and it worked.

EDIT: iBooks crapped again, even if I didn't buy anything in the meantime