How to unlock/root and keep your stuff on the HTC EVO 4G LTE
One of the problems with using the HTCDev method of unlocking your HTC EVO 4G LTE’s bootloader is that it will erase your stuff. You’ll end up with an unlocked, stock phone, very close to the way you purchased it. And while HTC probably did this to protect consumers who lost their phones from having their info stolen by nefarious-types, for the person just wanting to free their phone, this means that everything they’ve done up to this point is going to be chucked out the window.
Unfortunately, Titanium Backup does not work on unrooted phones, and many methods of backing up simply fail or are useless if you want to keep your game/application data. I’m assuming many a person has stood at the HTCDev unlocker precipice and contemplated how far they had gotten on Angry Birds and decided to not venture forth.
Well, good news. You can unlock your phone and keep all your data, apps, etc. (I’d still advise you to clear any Google Wallet settings you have if you don’t want to brick the Google Wallet secure element permanently. It takes just a couple of seconds to do, and it could make your phone significantly more valuable for trade or sale later on).
Your first step is going to be a non-destructive local root. You can read how to do this here. This will install SuperSU and Busybox on your system and allow you to run local root apps.
Next, install Titanium Backup (or similar) and back up all your apps and data. For extra security, go ahead and copy the contents of the TitaniumBackup folder off of your EVO and place it on your computer somewhere. That way, if something goes wrong and a destructive reset is required, you don’t want to risk losing your data. You may want to back up your pictures too, but I’ve never seen a reset, root, or unlock destroy pictures.
Then, unlock the bootloader using either HTCDev, or RegawMOD. If you use the former, re-run the first step afterward to re-obtain root rights if they’re not already there.
Finally, install Titanium Backup again, and restore your data and apps.
If your root method did not install a copy of Team Win’s Recovery Project for the HTC EVO 4G LTE, go ahead and get that and install afterward, or keep a download of it around in case CWM fails. (Once again, ClockworkMod is reported to have serious issues for some people. Your experience with CWM may vary.)
