Dirty flashing v/s clean flashing | What's the difference



Almost every android geek has heard about "flashing" a custom ROM on their device. And digging a bit deeper reveals that flashing also has two types. "clean" flashing and "dirty flashing" But what's the difference and which one should you choose? To find out, read ahead.

The difference

A clean flash is what you do when, you install a ROM after wiping all your device partitions (System, data, ART/Davlik, and cache)

A dirty flash is done when you flash a ROM over an existing one, without erasing the system partition. (at times, only the ART partition is erased)

What should you choose?

It isn't quite difficult to choose. It depends on the similarity between the ROM you have and the ROM you want to install. If you're installing a completely different one than the one you have (like Touchwiz to Cyanogenmod or Lineage to AOSP) you better go for a clean flash.
If you're updating your ROM (from the source provided by the developer of the original ROM), a dirty flash would work, although you should check what the dev. says about changing and updating.

Risks

Although flashing comes with it's own risks, going dirty is a lot more unsafe than doing a clean flash. A clean flash removes everything giving the ROM enough room to be installed, minimizing chances of bricking. Whereas, a dirty flash is a lot more likely to brick your device, and if it gets hard bricked.. you don't have any option other than going to the nearest authorized service center and getting your phone fixed.

Basically, if you do a clean flash where you can go dirty, nothing will go wrong. But if you go dirty where you're supposed to do a clean flash, you'll end up with a non functional device.




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