OT : backing up a phone (Android)

No real advice, but just be very very careful you have everything.

I made the mistake of using Google to backup my phone. Went to the backups section, created a fresh one. Checked it was there. Did it again (because I have experience) and there were 2 created that day.

Wiped the phone, logged into my Google account .... no backups shown.

And that, as they say, was that. Cue nearly a week of reinstalling and (more ball achingly) reactivating all the various apps.

A copy is not a backup. Files are open and being written. Some files are only accessible to the OS.

Dave

Is this why File Explorer won't let me copy some the content of the phone? I was using the term 'backup' loosely. I thought if I could save photos and other data I would be able to retrieve them later if required. At least I have found the photos but I would be happier to have an independent [of Google] copy of the address book as well.

If they are already backed up to you google account, if you go to:-

Click on the middle one and you can download them....

.. if they are only on your phone then go into the "contacts" app, the three dots, settings, export contacts which gives you a file you can save on your PC via your USB connection...

Dave

As I said, I tried this, and the backup didn't show when I logged back into it using exactly the same phone that had been factory reset. Despite it showing in my Google account on my PC.

Unless your phone is rooted, you don't have access to much of apps private data for security reasons (if you could access it, malware could too). It's down to each app allowing exporting the data somewhere (files or cloud) which you have to do by hand. Google cloud syncs some data (contacts, calendar, ...) but not all.

'adb backup' is a way to do a partial backup of a phone over USB, but it only half works and less so on more recent versions:

It appears you can do an explicit Google (cloud) backup, which may get more than a normal sync:

Thanks. This makes sense now that I think about it. I think the combination of my Google account and the data in my iPad Mini should probably cover my requirements. My brother observes that what I am doing is nothing more than what hundreds of thousands of others have already done.

Sorry, I meant "synced" to your google account, rather than backed up.

If you don't want to sync them to google, you can go into the contacts app on the phone and export as above. This gets the contacts into a VCF file on your phone which you can copy via USB and re-import to new phone....

Dave Dave

On my Samsung I cannot see the optional sd card when ftp to the phone

use mtp instead.

I use "My Phone Explorer" to manage contacts, files, photos, text messages and the/a calendar.

It's not a backup tool, as in "restore a phone to synced state". It has a small app on the phone, and a PC desktop program, and allows copying, syncing etc. of many (but not all) files and program settings.

It's free.

Thomas Prufer

I've tried that and never suceeded. It always says that there's no 'phone connected. Might be due to using W7.

I use the WiFi connection. USB cable, bluetooth, or fixed IP also work...

It needs a small app on the phone, and enabling some debugging mode.

Thomas Prufer

... which amusingly I think is called a debugger.

It's USB debugging. I had that on but it didn't seem to do anything.

It gives that specific PC considerable control over your phone.

... which a program to read and write files on your phone reasonably needs. Some system files/directories are still not accessible (as is probably wise).

It (MPE, My Phone Explorer) does an excellent job of copying things like photos, calendar files, and in my case, databases for a geocaching app from the PC to the phone, with options like sync directories, PC->phone, phone->PC. Some of them can trash your data, as in overwrite your calendar on the PC with an empty calendar form the phone -- but only if you ask it to.

There is an English forum that the developer of the software maintains on his site...

Thomas Prufer