My Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 shut down on its own. What do you suggest I do about this happening?

[AC Question]

My Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 just turned itself off, and then I noticed it was very warm near the power/volume buttons on the side/back when I tried to turn it back on. It only managed to turn back on after a few minutes and slowly cooled off to the normal temperature/feel that it usually is at. It is the first time, but I do not want to lose important items that I have stored in it. Please help.

 

[Zachary Tittle]

This was me...before registering on the site. Please help me before it may be too late.

My Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 just turned itself off, and then I noticed it was very warm near the power/volume buttons on the side/back when I tried to turn it back on. It only managed to turn back on after a few minutes and slowly cooled off to the normal temperature/feel that it usually is at. It is the first time, but I do not want to lose important items that I have stored in it. Please help.

 

[belodion]

Welcome as a new member.

It may be that the battery is bad, or simply that you were using it for something that caused the processor to overheat. What were you doing before it switched off?
Also, have you backed up your personal data?

 

[Rukbat]

See Backing up an Android Device. You should always have at least one local backup (computer or laptop) and at least one cloud backup (I use both Google Drive and mega.nz - if both hemispheres have a problem, my data will be the least of my problems as I try to learn how to breathe vacuum).

Second ... if it happens again, go to Settings/General/Battery. Screenshot that page. Tap the graph and screenshot that page. Post them both to this thread (see How To Post Screenshots on Android Central). That may tell us why it's doing it.

Side note: My wife's phone did that in December 2013. She's still using the same battery. It happened once, and never again. Why? I didn't look - she was in the hospital and the important thing was getting her phone working again. But the battery is 27 months old and still working.