[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] Skunk Ape1:
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There are several ways to flash your android device. You can use Odin, ADB / fast boot and custom recovery to flash different types of files to your android.

Odin - Odin is used for flashing .tar or img files on the Samsung devices. tar and img files are usually complete roms, kernels or recovery's. Odin is installed on a desktop or laptop computer and flashes the tars from the computer to the device through the usb cable.

ADB / Fastboot - Fastbooot is what you will use to flash .img files. They are normally complete rom images, recovery's and kernels but there are a lot of other things that are flashed with fastboot. Fastboot is installed on a desktop or laptop computer and flashes the .img files from the computer to the device through the usb cable.

Custom Recovery's - Custom recovery's are used to flash zip files on your device. zip files can be used to flash full roms, kernels, recovery's just like the tar and image files but can additionally flash mods, fixes, custom tweaks and themes. The advantages are that everything is done from the device and not from a separate computer.

But this is a guide on how to flash in a custom recovery. More specifically, Clock Work Mod Recovery version 6.0.1.4. Each recovery has are slightly different but the basic things are pretty much the same. Navigation also varies between different versions. You have the touch screen and the non touch screen versions. Touchscreen is pretty self explanatory. The the non touch versions are are navigated by using the volume up and down and power to activate your selection.

On the US Versions of the Galaxy S3, recovery mode is achieved by pressing and holding volume UP, power button and the (physical) home button simultaneously while your phone is off. Watching the screen closely, release all 3 buttons as soon as you see the word Samsung. If timed correctly it will boot into recovery in about 10-20 seconds (after releasing). If you are too early or late the phone will boot normally and skip recovery.

NOTE - If you have a rom with an expanded shutdown menu, you can go directly into recovery by choosing it from the restart menu.

Caution - You should always make a Nandroid Backup of your configuration prior to flashing an unknown mod, kernel or rom.

NOTE - The first screen you see when starting cwm I will call the home menu and is the starting point for everything in this guide.

How to perform an Nandriod Backup or Restore

Backups and restores are done in the same way.

1. Select "backup and restore" from the home menu.

2. Select "backup to external (or internal) sdcard".

3. Wait for the backup to complete and then use you phones back button or the "go back" onscreen button to return to the home menu.

Note - Backups in CWM are incorrectly dated. You can change their names to something easier to identify by using a file explorer and renaming them. The name you choose must not contain any spaces. (Example: 11Dec2012_Stock). CWM saves your backups to internal or external sd depending on where you saved it to) clockworkmod/backups

How to flash mods, fixes, recovery's, themes and kernels in CWM recovery.

1. From the home menu, select "wipe cache partition" and confirm by selecting yes.

2. Select advanced menu.

3. Select wipe dalvik cache and then confirm by selecting yes.

4. Return to the home menu

5. Select "install zip from sdcard"

6. Select "choose zip from sd card" or "choose zip from external sdcard".

7. Select the file you want to flash and select yes to confirm. (if you don't see it, swipe the screen to scroll up and down)

8. After it completes, go back to the home menu and select "reboot system now".

How to flash ROMs in CWM recovery

NOTE - If you are going from a rom to the same rom that has been updated you often don't need to wipe data / factory reset and can skip that step. Additionally you can go even further by formatting system, data, and cache from the mounts and storage menu.

1. From the home menu, select "wipe cache partition" and confirm by selecting yes.

2. Select advanced menu.

3. Select "wipe dalvik cache" and then confirm by selecting yes.

4. Return to the home menu

5. Select wipe data / factory reset and select yes to confirm (This will delete all of your apps, passwords, settings and accounts.

6. Select "install zip from sdcard"

7. Select "choose zip from sd card" or "choose zip from external sdcard".

8. Select the file you want to flash and select yes to confirm. (if you don't see it, swipe the screen or use your volume up and down to scroll up and down

9. After it completes, go back to the home menu and select reboot system now.