Repairing, backing-up and wiping Android phones

I dunno about win10 but on Linux I just plug in the USB and the whole phone appears as mounted drive I just find the DCIM directory and copy or move its contents onto my PC

Most of the high street repair places have all the kit - the actual camera replacement is not as hard as getting the phone apart in the first place...

Reset to defaults is possible, but exactly what data is the cause of concern?

And do you need to actually allow [software] access to the phone to replace a camera?

Talk to a local high street camera repair bod

It's just a folder of photos. You could plug into a PC, but I've also just plugged in a USB stick, gone into the Files app and then copied all the internal storage to the USB. Photos are in a folder called something like 'Camera/DCIM' or similar.

If the phone takes a microSD card that's another place you can copy things.

If you're logged into Google then that should back up some apps and settings, but not all of them. There are ways using 'adb' and other tools to get deeper backups, although the best backups are taken when the phone is rooted (something you can't do without wiping it first).

No, but one thought if you have a 3D printer is to use the heated bed as a temperature controlled hotplate to melt the front glue. You can heat-soak better than the typical hairdryer or heated pillow methods.

Reset to factory settings: on stock Android it's Settings -> System -> Reset options -> Erase all data (factory reset)

It will throw away the encryption keys so the data is unreadable. Overwriting umpteen times only made sense with 1980s tech.

Not really. Depends what's local to you.

Theo

Sorry TYPO Grrr! I meant, what's the best way to back-up the phone to a Win10 PC? The aim being to return it to exactly how it is now when it comes back from repair.

That's an interesting idea. I'll investigate the temperature needed to open the phone.

can't be read?

Sorry a typo. What you describe is the same with Windows. What I meant was What's the best way to back-up the phone to a Win10 PC (so everything can be reinstated)?

That's a good point. I suppose I'm a bit paranoid about financial, or other, data being accessed ... or something unpleasant appearing somewhere in the phone during the repair.

Samsung used to do a download that would do that but I haven't bothered with it for a long time so I don't know if they still do it.

OK, my other comments still apply. First go through your apps and get those which will export their settings to a file or the cloud to do so. Then take a copy of the internal storage to USB/SD/PC. Finally sync as much as you can with the cloud.

It won't be perfect but it'll be the best you can do without being rooted. There are some 'backup' apps which may be able to do a bit more, I haven't tried any non-root ones lately.

It's a balance between well heating the glue and cooking the battery - worth investigating what people recommend.

Many of these people are replacing the battery so it doesn't matter if it's cooked - perhaps it's worth doing that too if you are already in there? The phone is 5 years old and decent quality replacement batteries are only a tenner:

Yes. Without the encryption key the data stored just becomes white noise.

Theo

Sorry, misread that it was an S20 Ultra instead of a Note 20 Ultra. The Note parts are here:

If you are not backing it up already, you really should. USB is fine, but many folks use onedrive, dropbox or google. I like these as the photos get backed up a I take them.

Ask for references on a local facebook group...

Dave

I simply gave my phone to the repair guy and said 'fix it'. No data on it anyway

Just two email passwords

If it's an android phone, isn't the whole thing being backed up to your Google drive? Or, have you disabled that?

So, if you're not backing it up to Google, what would you do if you dropped the phone into somewhere irretrievable? And, if you are backing it up to google, why are you concerned?

I don't know whether everything (i.e. sufficient to restore the phone to its current state) is backed-up ... I assumed that it was just data. I've now discovered "maintenance mode" and SmartSwitch, which I think will give me the assurance I want.

Hmm, Quantum computing might make that not so in the future ...

Thanks for the info (and corrected parts list). I've now discovered "maintenance mode" and SmartSwitch, which I think will give me the assurance I want if I wuss-out and decide to get someone else to do it.

Samsung has an inbuilt "back up to Samsung Cloud or USB" feature... I think it's under "reset" in settings.

Never restored from this. I did a backup/restore a few years ago on a Sony, using their tool, on the same phone, and later found the restore to be incomplete to the point of uselessness.

I also use "My Phone Explorer", which syncs photos, contacts, and apps to a PC. It's not a complete backup, as far as I know, but I find it very convenient.

Thomas Prufer

Rememvber: "The cloud" is just *someone else's computer*...

.. yes, so when your breaks, or your house burns down, or your phone is stolen, they still have a copy of your data, and most often they will give it back to you.

.. of course you should have a proper backup as well, but for the 99% of the population that don't and have no idea how to go about creating one its a great solution.

Dave

1. If your house burns down 20 year old emails are the least of your problems
2. If you keep yiur life on a phone, you deserve everything you get

Just don't expect it to be secure

What data do people keep on a mobile that needs backing up (excluding pictures/videos which I don't use my mobile for)?

I hate to agree with you, but as someone whose house did burn down, I can confirm that you're right.

Well my 20 year old e-mails are still in my outlook.com mailbox, in the cloud, so its not a problem. I notice one of them has vmware workstation licence attached. I wonder if I can still get the software to go with it.

.. but actually, lots of documents live on my cloud storage, and if my house burnt down it would be useful to have them. Perhaps its time to scan a few more....

That is why I back my phone up! Its just a handheld computer. Recently replaced it, just about everything works fine. Just one app didn't restore, a Spanish bus tracker...

Just remember being denied access to something you should have access too is also a security failure. Security is about assessing the risks and impacts. You obviously attach a greater importance to risk and impact of someone seeing your cloud based data than I do.

For me the risk of data loss through destruction of my backups, which are local to my house is greater.

Dave