I need to send my Android phone to be repaired (an insurance job, hence not DIY) so first will need to back-up, wipe and return it to factory defaults. Unfortunately this is tricky because the USB connector is dead, our broadband is better described as "a slow wet string", and Bluetooth would be too slow. I presume I need to use a direct wifi link to the PC and Mr Google has suggested a few options but it would be useful to get recommendations from anyone here about which apps work and are trustworthy.
A fair amount of stuff can backup to the google cloud if you give it a google account - that will take care of contacts etc and SMS if you want. You can also do photos etc that way. You may find 4/5G data will be faster than your broadband if that is an option (i.e. still works etc).
To backup locally, then many of the file manager apps can write to a network share. I find Cx File Explorer quite good - it can do CIFS/SMB shares (without needing a paid for license) and also things like dropbox, OneDrive etc.
formatting link
Assuming you have wifi on your router and the phone can connect to it, and you have not tweaked the options on the router to disable the ability for wifi devices to talk to wired ones and other wifi devices, then that will be all you need.
If you want wifi data to local storage, then you have a few options. One would be to share a folder on your computer[1], and connect to that share using the file manager on the phone and copy whatever you need over.
[1] In theory easy enough - but it is easy to get confused by the file share permissions... Telling windows that it is ok for anything to have write access to the share is not enough unless the share is on a FAT disk partition (not usually the case these days). If it is on a NTFS partition, then you will also need to set NTFS permissions on the folder to allow "Everyone" write access.
Another easy one I forgot to mention is that many phones can use their USB port for talking to a range of devices - not just charging. So if you plug in a mouse, keyboard etc, it will work as expected. It should also work to access a USB thumb drive.
I just tried it on mine, and found that if I plug in a USB drive directly (using a USB A to USB C adaptor) it works directly. I found I could also plug my KVM switch into it instead. That includes a USB port with a external hub connected to it. Not only do I get full mouse and keyboard support, I can also see other peripheral devices on the USB port of the KVM switch including thumb drives etc.
A long time ago I used Titanium Backup, which can backup the entire phone, but it requires root, which you probably don't want to do, and might be difficult without USB anyway.
On your Android phone, open the Google One app . At the bottom, tap Storage. Scroll to the device backup section. If this is your first phone backup: Tap Set up data backup. ... To find your backup settings, tap Manage backup. To back up the data on your phone, turn on Device data. ... Tap Back up now.
On my phone when I do that I see a message which says: "Your device backsup automatically over Wifi after it has been idel and charging for atleast two hours."
Normally most phones do cloud backups in the background. I phones do this and I seem to recall Samsungs do, it all depends on the choices you made. After all people change their phones all the time and do not have to reinstall their stuff, though obviously you may need to verify its actually you to get the data back again. I don't know about the sd angle as I've never owned a phone with that facility. If the usb is broken how are you charging the phone at the moment?. I'd have thought that now might just be the time to get a new phone and trade in the old one. I'm assuming you are also going to erase the phone before repair? Brian
Assuming a reputable fixer, and some security on the phone, your data should be safe, after all all they are doing is putting in a new usb connector, unless of course you suspect they will be actually changing the main board. Brian
Yes. From the old phone. And my account on a desktop
As I said when the "new" phone connected and signed in, it showed nada. Despite the desktop showing it as available. The decision was then to try and research (bearing in mind this "doesn't happen"), post in vain on one of Goggles community forums (tumbleweed everytime I have tried) or bite the bullet.
Android is slowly going the way of Windows. By trying to appease a spectrum of manufacturers, Google has allowed it to sprawl at the expense of reliability and consistency. It's guaranteed that if I want to do something regarding settings, it's a lucky dip into whichever guide pops up on top of a search. My wifes Alcatel - same "version" of Android has completely different settings to my Samsung.
What I'm hoping to be able to do is a full backup (to a single backup file or folder, rather than piecemeal) in the same way as I've done with PCs, the aim being to simply reverse the process to restore the phone to its current condition once it's fixed. Despite having an Android phone for a looong time I've never bothered with backups, so this is new territory for me. "Andy Burns" has reminded me about the SD card option and that may be the simplest approach if I can find a suitable app.
Things is, if you follow good security with 2FA and random passwords, it can be a few hours to re*activate* your apps.
And when I had to reset my Samsung, Googles 2FA wasn't cloud-backed up (it is now). So loosing my Google Authenticator was a real PITA. So much so that I revised our procedures at work to have a printed QR code stashed in a safe to recover the 2FA for key accounts. I can strongly recommend it if you have any dealings with Amazon - especially Amazon US
I simply added a password to mine. When the dude replaced the battery. Anyone who keeps any important data on one needs their head examining. Too easy to steal or lose or get smashed.
I doubt that is possible - certainly if you want to keep all you apps logged in.
If you have a chance, you may wish to prepare for an afternoon of mass logging in. Otherwise you know it will be a wet Sunday when you go to open a parking app and it suddenly needs not only a password and 2FA, but your card details too.
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