[9.8.1] To latest rom?

[Pheggas]

Hello. I bought Xiaomi Mi 9T back in 2019 and flashed there Xiaomi.eu 9.8.1 rom (Miui 10.5). There were some bugs but nothing major.

Now, after 2 years, i would like to update my rom to latest version with lowest possible risk of hard bricking my device.
To make everyone sure here what exactly have my daily driver, here it is:

State: Unlocked
Android version: 9 (Pie; API 28)
Rom: Xiaomi.eu 9.8.1 [Miui 10.5]
Recovery: TWRP 3.3.1-2-davinci (encrypted so i need to enter password every time i boot into recovery)
Root status: Rooted, Magisk 22.0 (Ramdisk: No; A/B: No; SAR: Yes); App: 22.0 (Package: com.topjohnwu.magisk)
Exposed status: Installed (EdXposed v93.0); App: v4.6.2
Exposed description: SELinux status: Permissive; Verified boot is deactivated

With all this information, i would like to ask you if someone would help me with upgrading to latest rom for Xiaomi Mi 9T. As i said, i'm a bit scared of hard bricked devices, especially in Xiaomi world because of complicated unbricking process. Is there someone experienced (more than me lol) who know what firmware, rom, recovery and basically everything i need to do to flash it successfully without bricking?

PS: Back in 2019 i was a bit experienced because of previous devices (previously, i had OnePlus 3T), so there i was trying random roms, zips etc. But over the years, stopped watching this world sadly.

 

[JiaiJ]

I am unable to answer your request at the level of details and certainty you are asking (I don't even own a Mi 9T) but here is what I would do:

- Backup my data
- Update to the latest TWRP
- Install the latest stable
- Format data

In theory, it should work without format data, but you are using a very old build that may have a hard time updating, and you want a relatively safe strategy.

 

[Pheggas]

I am unable to answer your request at the level of details and certainty you are asking (I don't even own a Mi 9T) but here is what I would do:

- Backup my data
- Update to the latest TWRP
- Install the latest stable
- Format data

In theory, it should work without format data, but you are using a very old build that may have a hard time updating, and you want a relatively safe strategy.

Thank you very much for reply. Of course, i don't need dirty flash. Mainly because of it's risk of bricking device, especially on old rom like this.

The catch is that I don't know if I even can flash latest stable. It may require newer firmware (or it doesn't?) so i would brick it. If I really don't need anything special there shouldn't be bootloop or anything like it.

So i think I should backup data, then update TWRP to latest version, then format data (so there isn't any OS) and flash FULL latest stable rom.

If anyone could check my possible steps and approve/disapprove it, i would appreciate it.

 

[Poney70]

You can flash latest Stable or Weekly ROM, if you "FORMAT DATA" in TWRP after the installation of the new ROM then there will be no issue...

 

[Pheggas]

You can flash latest Stable or Weekly ROM, if you "FORMAT DATA" in TWRP after the installation of the new ROM then there will be no issue...

Thanx! So:
- Backup
- Update TWRP to latest version
- Flash latest ROM
- Format Data
- Reflash latest ROM

Is that right?

 

[Poney70]

Yes, but no need to reflash latest ROM at the end because "Format Data" doesn't wipe the OS (= System/Vendor/etc. partitions).

Reboot after "Format Data" and wait ~5 to 10 minutes for the first boot.

 

[Pheggas]

Yes, but no need to reflash latest ROM at the end because "Format Data" doesn't wipe the OS (= System/Vendor/etc. partitions).

Reboot after "Format Data" and wait ~5 to 10 minutes for the first boot.

I understand. But in this case, I'm dirty flashing old MIUI with the new MIUI, right? Because format data doesn't wipe system partition.

And from my experiences, when I dirty flashing something, i need to be sure I have same firmware on the old ROM as the new ROM

 

[Poney70]

I understand. But in this case, I'm dirty flashing old MIUI with the new MIUI, right? Because format data doesn't wipe system partition.

And from my experiences, when I dirty flashing something, i need to be sure I have same firmware on the old ROM as the new ROM

No... Dirty flashing = Install ROM without "Format Data".

 

[Pheggas]

No... Dirty flashing = Install ROM without "Format Data".

Thanx. And sorry for unnecessary questions and fact checking but I found on XDA forum, how to perform a clean flash (which is my goal in this topic). In this link , you can see the guy there is recommending to wipe nearly everything with the system and data partition as well. I don't care about internal storage as I will do complete backup of whole device.

After all, I think I should take this path rather. What do you think about it?

 

[LOLO9393]

Your link gives obsolete instruction most of them are useless and dangerous as minimum said.

 

[Pheggas]

Your link gives obsolete instruction most of them are useless and dangerous as minimum said.

I did some quick research and on this link, there are recommended somewhat same steps as from @Poney70 . But I don't understand the small difference in steps. @Poney70 recommends to format data after flashing new ROM image. In @YeepYeep's comment, there's recommended to format data and after then flash new ROM which sounds more meaningfully to me.

 

[JiaiJ]

I did some quick research and on this link, there are recommended somewhat same steps as from @Poney70 . But I don't understand the small difference in steps. @Poney70 recommends to format data after flashing new ROM image. In @YeepYeep's comment, there's recommended to format data and after then flash new ROM which sounds more meaningfully to me.

It is a lot easier to copy the new ROM when the phone is still fully usable. I see no reason to format the phone before installing the ROM. Flashing the system partition with the zip content will not be different if the data partition is empty or not

 

[Pheggas]

It is a lot easier to copy the new ROM when the phone is still fully usable. I see no reason to format the phone before installing the ROM. Flashing the system partition with the zip content will not be different if the data partition is empty or not

I think I got your point with copying rom. But I think I need to refresh some knowledge. From my experience, if you flash zip on top of other contents of system partition, it will mishmash whole partition and probably soft brick device. Or, if you flash only update of ROM, it will simply do its job and update system successfully.

Now, i pretty much forgot how exactly will twrp behave in this case. It may wipe and then flash the zip automatically, i don't know. Also, format data should wipe - format every partition including system partition.

I tried to find what will flashing of zip on populated system partition cause but without luck unfortunately.

Can you let me know how will twrp behave in case of flashing zip on top of populated system partition and also, in case of format data?

 

[JiaiJ]

I think I got your point with copying rom. But I think I need to refresh some knowledge. From my experience, if you flash zip on top of other contents of system partition, it will mishmash whole partition and probably soft brick device. Or, if you flash only update of ROM, it will simply do its job and update system successfully.

Now, i pretty much forgot how exactly will twrp behave in this case. It may wipe and then flash the zip automatically, i don't know. Also, format data should wipe - format every partition including system partition.

I tried to find what will flashing of zip on populated system partition cause but without luck unfortunately.

Can you let me know how will twrp behave in case of flashing zip on top of populated system partition and also, in case of format data?

As far as I know, it is the exact opposite, if you try to wipe system manually, you are at risk at soft bricking your device.

The ROMs threads never suggest to modify system, we always flash the zip on top of a populated partition. Format data will have no impact on system either

 

[LOLO9393]

I think I got your point with copying rom. But I think I need to refresh some knowledge. From my experience, if you flash zip on top of other contents of system partition, it will mishmash whole partition and probably soft brick device. Or, if you flash only update of ROM, it will simply do its job and update system successfully.

Now, i pretty much forgot how exactly will twrp behave in this case. It may wipe and then flash the zip automatically, i don't know. Also, format data should wipe - format every partition including system partition.

I tried to find what will flashing of zip on populated system partition cause but without luck unfortunately.

Can you let me know how will twrp behave in case of flashing zip on top of populated system partition and also, in case of format data?

You think you need to refresh some knowledge.
Right! and come back after you are done.

 

[Pheggas]

So, after some time spent with double, triple checking everything, i'm in the middle of TWRP backup process (32 GB backup lol) and after it's done, i'm going to update TWRP to twrp-3.5.2_9-0-davinci-TeamWin.img which is the latest non modded twrp from team win. After then i will flash the latest rom, format data and reboot to system.

 

[Pheggas]

Update: I got it working! Everything flashed successfully without any issue! Thank you all - @JiaiJ , @Poney70 and @LOLO9393 for giving me advices, correcting me and mainly, for building simple steps to make Clean Flash! I really appreciate it guys!

 

[Poney70]

I switched to the latest Stable version (12.5.1.0) from the latest Weekly version (21.8.25) with a dirty flash (wiped Dalvik & Cache only), result:

- No issue at all (for now...)
- System seems a little bit smoother (a little bit faster to open Settings by example)
- More free RAM (~ 4 GB of free RAM instead of ~2.5 GB in Weekly version)
- Android security patch date = July 2021 (2021-07-01) instead of May 2021 (2021-05-01) in Weekly version

 

[LOLO9393]

I switched to the latest Stable version (12.5.1.0) from the latest Weekly version (21.8.25) with a dirty flash (wiped Dalvik & Cache only), result:

- No issue at all (for now...)
- System seems a little bit smoother (a little bit faster to open Settings by example)
- More free RAM (~ 4 GB of free RAM instead of ~2.5 GB in Weekly version)
- Android security patch date = July 2021 (2021-07-01) instead of May 2021 (2021-05-01) in Weekly version

Thanks.
this is good to promote to MI9T weekly users, those endlessly claiming for security patch date..
Not sure they read your post here...
Have a nice Sunday.

 

[Tsim Pouki]

You can flash latest Stable or Weekly ROM, if you "FORMAT DATA" in TWRP after the installation of the new ROM then there will be no issue...

Can i somehow fix this without formatting again? Clearing dalvik and cache didnt do anything