You can choose between the CWM recovery and TWRP recovery for the Samsung Galaxy Tab Plus. Both custom recoveries should do what you need them to do, which is upload your ROM zip files and take a NANDroid backup. Any custom ROM that requires a unique custom recovery will say so from its official home over at XDA developers. For the most part, that should never be an issue, and both recoveries will work for you.
ClockworkMod recovery for the Galaxy Tab Plus means you use the Volume keys to scroll through the menu and make your selections. TWRP recovery for the Tab Plus means you get the physical buttons built into the software.
The Android stock recovery environment made by Google is a limited Android recovery system. You can do just enough to recovery your device and get out of there. A custom recovery on the Samsung Galaxy Tab is very different. The custom versions lets you install zip files from the SD card. It’s those zip files where you load your custom ROMs. Since you must wipe the data between flashing new custom ROMs, it only makes sense for the same third-party developer to include a better feature for backing up the device. All of the backing up solutions from the Google Play Store or on your device by default are not very efficient at doing their jobs. If you were to have to use them between flashing custom ROMs, you would go crazy. The new backup button found in all version of a custom recovery lets you backup every main partition on the device in a single click. We call this a NANDroid backup.
Files You Need
- Download the TWRP recovery for the Tab Plus from this page.
- Download the CWM recovery for the Tab Plus from this page.
- Read more information about your recoveries from this XDA Developers thread in the original post.
- Download the Odin flash tool you need to flash the custom recovery on your Samsung Galaxy Tab Plus.
- You must have a Windows PC to follow this guide. It does not work with a Max or Linux computer.
- Understand that you only want to install one of the custom recoveries on your device. Make your pick between the touch recovery (TWRP) and the normal recovery. When you install a custom recovery, you wipe the stock recovery and void the warranty. You can flash the stock recovery back on the device at any time and that warranty will start working again. Likewise, you will remove the custom recovery and start booting the Tab Plus with the stock recovery.
Installing a custom recovery on the Samsung Galaxy Tab Plus
- Make sure you have downloaded the tar file format version of your custom recovery image.
- Download your recovery and Odin flash tool and put them on the desktop of the computer.
- Right-click over the Odin and recovery files and choose the option that says “extract here” from the menu.
- Turn off the Samsung Galaxy Tab Plus and reboot it up in download mode by pressing the Volume Down + Home + Power buttons.
- Press the Volume Up button when it says to do that on the display.
- Connect the Tab Plus to the computer using the USB cable.
- Wait for the ID: COM port to light up and the word “added!” to appear.
- Now click the AP or the PDA button and browse the desktop for your tar file of the custom recovery you extracted at the beginning of the guide.
- Click the Start button from the Odin user-interface without adjusting any of the default settings.
- Wait until you get the pass message and your Tab Plus reboots before you unplug it from the computer.
Now you have installed the custom recovery on the Samsung Galaxy tab Plus, you can boot it up anytime and start using its features like taking the complete backups with the NANDroid feature.