Soft reset a Motorola Droid or Motorola Milestone is actually rebooting or restarting the mobile smartphone device so that it starts again after cleaning the memory state with no data lost. Hard reset or Factory Data Reset meanwhile is restoring the mobile device to original factory default settings, removing and deleting everything that was imported, added or installed on the device.

Guide to soft reset Motorola Droid and Motorola Milestone

Soft reset or restarting is useful when the phone is not responding to screen touch or tap and key press, or to recover from crash. If the Motorola smartphone is responding, there is no need to use the soft reset trick. Just press and hold the Power button, and a Power Off and Shutdown option will be available.

Method 1: Remove the back cover of the device, and then remove the battery. Re-insert the battery and then power on the phone.

Method 2: Slide open the QWERTY keyboard, and press and hold the Left Shift + Right Alt+ Delete keys to restart Motorola Milestone or Motorola Droid.

Guide to factory reset or hard reset Motorola Droid and Motorola Milestone

WARNING: Hard reset will erase everything on the phone. Data on MicroSD card is not affected though.

Method 1: When touch screen is responding

  1. Press on Menu button, then go to Settings.
  2. Tap and navigate to Privacy -> Factory data reset.
  3. Touch on the Reset phone button.
  4. Tap the Erase Everything.

Method 2: When the smartphone is not responding to input or has crashed

  1. Turn off phone by pressing and holding the Power button until the “Photo options” menu shows up. Tap on Power off and touch OK to shutdown the phone.

    Tip: If the phone is not responding, remove the back cover and battery, and then re-insert the battery.

  2. For Motorola Milestone, press and hold Power key + Camera key simultaneously to power on the phone and bring up the recovery screen with image showing phone beside a yellow exclamation point in a white triangle.

    Motorola Droid and Milestone Recovery Mode

    For Motorola Droid, slide open the keyboard, and then press and hold the X key + Power key simultaneously to power on the phone and bring up the recovery screen with image showing phone beside a yellow exclamation point in a white triangle.

  3. Press both Volume Up + Camera keys to show the Android system recovery menu.
  4. Use the D-pad (or Volume Down key) to select Wipe data/factory reset, and then press center button on D-pad (or Power key) to enter.
  5. Select the Yes — delete all user data and enter again.
  6. When done, select Reboot Phone .