[HTC Aria General] Anthony1s:
I saw your post in the android forums also and will try to help you out. I can't help you much with your questions about just rooting it, as I switched to a CM6 ROM right after I rooted mine. I am also new the the Aria/hacking world and have only had my Aria for 4-5 days. With that said, I'll help with what I can. If anyone sees my n00b mistakes, please correct me.

1. For an Aria a class 4 MicroSD will be plenty. From what I've read, the classes only relate to write speed and not read speed. Class 4 writes at 4MB/s Class 6 at 6MB/s. I believe this means you would just have to wait a little longer for the files to write to the card. Also, read speed is always faster than write speed. I've also read that the speed rating is not universal. Some companies list their Class rating as their read speed instead of write speed. I've read that Kingston is one of the ones that actually list it as write speed. With this knowledge, I decided to buy a 8gb class 4 MicroSD from Kingston.

2. Before you root, I would format the new MicroSD card and move everything from the old one onto the new one.

I'm getting tired... it's nearly 2am and I can't answer your last questions without researching into all of it. I'll quickly type up what I can answer though.

3. When I rooted my phone, I was walked through using the Ubuntu LiveCD in the IRC. I think I made a backup using Clockwork Recovery, but I'm not totally sure if this program comes on the phone or if I put it there. I've read about unrooting some phone, but know little about it. I do suggest using the Ubuntu LiveCD method for rooting though. It definitely was simple. I also suggest going into the IRC if you are unsure of anything in the rooting process. They are really helpful there even though they don't have to be. Here's a link to the Ubuntu LiveCD root method. http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=741824

4. Like I said, I switched to the CM6 ROM right after rooting so I am not familiar with a stock Aria that's just been rooted. I am pretty sure that it doesn't install any apps and just gives you superuser access to modify the programming.

5. Don't uninstall anything that you aren't sure of unless you make a nandroid backup in Clockwork first. I don't believe it's that simple to just go in there and delete important files anyway. I know that on CM6 I had to access the adb to delete some things. I won't get further into that.

6. A ROM is sorta an emulator. Think how people play Nintendo games on their computers. The ROM emulates a Nintendo system on your computer, so a ROM for your phone emulates another operating system on your phone. (in this case Android 2.2 would being emulated on your phone) You don't have to install a new ROM after you root your phone. You can if you want, but you don't have to. As far as what version to install... I do not know the exact differences in each ROM. I am running CM6 Liberty A012 and don't have problems with it. The different builds of CM6 just fix bugs, I believe. I don't think they are 'theme specific', for lack of a better term, meaning that one isn't better than the other for gps use or whatever. Finally, as long as you have an HTC Aria, your device will work for any mod listed in this Aria forum.

Hopefully I didn't confuse you more and hopefully I didn't give the vets of this forum more work to fix my mistakes. I also hope that what I wrote is at least a little better than letting it go unanswered, as I assume you are as impatient for information as I am.