Android device backup method

[Howell]

Now that my S4 has completely crashed for the first time and the only recovery method left was wipe and recover, I'm left searching for a way to make adequate backups.

Luckily most of my data was synced to the cloud and the only thing I seem to have lost was my S Memos, and background and lock screen pictures.

So what I'm really fighting with not losing again are all the little settings and switches that make the environment yours like the alarm times and settings, and the order of buttons on the notification screen.

I'm imagining that the only way to get these is with a full system backup. Am I wrong? What is the best way to get one? Is Kies supposed to do this?

 

[Striker]

Your best bet for a complete backup is a nandroid backup.
http://www.androidrootz.com/2013/05/how-to-do-nandroid-backup-on-galaxy-s4.html
You're going to need to have some kind of recovery on your phone as it states in that article but that's not usually difficult to get on.

 

[Howell]

I'm not up for alternative firmware just yet. No alternatives?

 

[Striker]

It's not really loading an alternative Firmware. It's like adding a config file to the boot process. The OS is the same, it's just opening up some options before you boot into Android.

I'm not aware of any alternatives to get a full backup, but I could certainly be wrong.

 

[Will Rickards]

There is Helium which doesn't require root.
But I don't think it backs up what you want backed up. It just backs up applications and their data.

 

[CityK]

I do not know if this will be helpful to you given I'm not clear as to how functionable your device currently is, but you can use adb (Android Debug Bridge) to do a full backup and restore (it does not require rooting or 3rd party ROMs).

To be able to use adb you must enable usb debugging on your Android phone/tablet ... to enable usb debugging, you have to have Developer Options enabled ... to enable Developer Options on recent Android releases, you have to either rub your stomach counter clockwise with your right hand while jumping up and down on your left leg while simultaneously patting yourself on the head with your left hand .. or (if you're the type that prefers a less conventional route), just go to Settings > About phone and tap "Build number" seven times .... once enabled, return to the previous Settings screen and you'll now find Developer options (its listed down near the bottom under the "System" category under Kit Kat), and from within Developer options you will find the toggle for activating usb debbuging

I leave it up to you as to how to get adb and any necessary drivers on your computer. In terms of the degree of difficulty in regards to those tasks, as they say, YMMV, and is likely dependent upon the system's OS environment (I'll just say that I had to do absolutely zero with openSUSE 13.1, as everything (sdk, drivers, ...) was already installed OOTB). Once you are set up software wise, and connected to your device via usb, its just a case of a single command line argument (see last link below) and agreeing to the onscreen prompts and then let the operation complete on its own, and you will be done. Here are some references:

• http://developer.android.com/tools/device.html
• http://developer.android.com/tools/help/adb.html
• http://www.howtogeek.com/125375/how...kup-without-rooting-or-unlocking-your-device/

 

[Striker]

That is a nice way to backup your apps and sdcard to your computer but I don't believe that backups any of the settings which is what I thought Howell was after.

 

[Mercutio]

Backup on Android is weird. You can do it using Dev tools or you can run a real backup app on a rooted device (e.g. Titanium Backup), but some apps put their data in userland storage and some put data in protected storage. There's also a lot of "It OUGHT to work this way" where things DON'T work that way, such as carrier or device-provided overlays that disrupt the functionality for things like Contacts and Calendar syncing. Unfortunately, a lot of the intended tools rely on a Google account or an account from the manufacturer and every one I've tried has some pretty serious holes.

(One of my personal favorites is Verizon's Android Calendar app, which overlays the handset Calendar app, which overlays Google's calendar app. As far as I can tell, there's absolutely no way to extra data from that app for use in another program; it's just a black hole from which no data can return and restoring to a non-Verizon device means trashing X weeks or months of years of calendar info... but that's just one particularly shitty app).

It's a pretty big weakness and it's something that really needs to be addressed in a much more consistent fashion. I also understand that Google is kind-of trying to unify access to services under Google+, where at present data is stored on Youtube, Picasa, Drive, Calendar, Play, Music and Gmail, but I don't understand why it can't just key off the registered Play Store account. Regardless, there is room for improvement and it needs to start with an agreeable single sign-on and common UI for storing user data.

So anyway, having managed a couple dozen "personality transfers" from one tablet or phone to another, most of the apps I use (Swype, Firefox et al) have their own login-based settings storage and for the most part the only thing I miss when adding a new toy to the collection is saved games or high score lists on whatever stupid game happens to be occupying my attention.

I don't really do SMS, but I do also recommend redirecting texts to either Google Hangouts or setting up some kind of SMTP-based redirection. Depending on how you're doing that you may or may not lose access to MMS messages, but frankly fixing the device-dependent nature of SMSes is worth missing out on the occasional naked SO selfie.