Transferring data between phones without using phone itself

[Gary Atkinson1]

Hello. I recently bought a new phone, and so I want to transfer the data from my old phone to my current one. The problem is that since the touchscreen on my old phone stopped working, I can't use any apps to auto-package data and apps. Is there a way to transfer the data with this problem?

 

[SpookDroid]

It depends on the phone, although most of them would let you connect them to the computer and be able to see (and transfer) data using an USB cable. Also, if your brand supports it, a backup is possible using the manufacturer's software (like Samsung's Kies or Apple's iTunes). However, if you don't have touchscreen capabilities anymore, it may be difficult to do anything if there's a prompt to allow the connection or something.

But the first thing I'd try is to connect the phone to a PC using an USB cable.

 

[Gary Atkinson1]

I understand that it is possible to transfer data with a USB cable, but I'm not entirely sure how. In one of my previous upgrades, I tried following a guide to do this, but on the new phone the appdata didn't show up, and was lost, which I would prefer to avoid.

 

[Rukbat]

Connect the phone to the computer. The phone should appear as a hard drive. Look in it for the files you want (pictures will be in the DCIM folder, in the various sub-folders under it).

Or, if you remember where an app stored its data (which folder, by name), you could use adb to look for it. cd to that folder, then ls (list) the files. If you find what you want, pull them. (pull <the name of the file on the phone> <the name of the file you want to save it as on the computer>)

Or - you could establish a good relationship with a local cellphone repair shop that services that make cellphone, and see if they'll pop a temporary screen onto your phone, so you can get the data off.

 

[Gary Atkinson1]

Unfortunately the repairmen weren't quite so willing to replace the screen temporarily, and I honestly couldn't care less about the photos because I already backed them up to google drive recently. Is there any way to move app data and possibly even apps without using the debug bridge? From light googling it doesn't seem like I can do either easily because I don't remember most of the file locations.

 

[SpookDroid]

Unless you're rooted, I don't think you can. If you're rooted, all files should appear on the File Explorer when you connect your phone to the PC (from what I understand, not really sure as I'm not rooted myself). All you could backup is your files (pictures, music, documents...). Or if you have a PC suit from the phone's manufacturer, you could connect that to the PC and do a backup of the phone in that software (sort of like iTunes), but even then, I don't think it backs up app data.

In any case, when you switch phones, the moment you activate your Google account in the new unit, it will ask you if you want it to automatically download all your apps. You do lose app data like game saves and such (but really, in this day and age, if a dev doesn't implement Cloud Save support in their games, it's just lazy on their part and therefore I just don't spend my money on their games).

 

[Gary Atkinson1]

Regarding cloud saves, I agree, but unfortunately I don't bother unless I have a lot of free time, so none of my games are backed up.

 

[Rukbat]

There's an old saying in the computer business - any file you don't have backed up to at least 2 different places is a file you don't really need. You're one of the few people who (now) really understand why.

 

[Gary Atkinson1]

I actually learned that last year when I lost a semester's worth of homework because I broke my laptop. It was bad.

That aside, is it possible to root a phone without actually using it? Using a pc to copy the files directly seems to be the best choice, and it usually works, but I've never rooted a phone without using the phone itself, so I have to ask if it is even possible.