Backup! Backup! Backup! NOW!

[ironass]

Although we all crave system updates, there is always a small risk of failure. If, for example we see circa 60 million phones updated, and if just 1 in a hundred fail, then you have 600,000 phones that will require a Factory Data Reset.

Also, we are seeing people being locked out of their phones as they do not remember their alternative passwords and need to do a Factory Data Reset to access their phone.

If you are, unfortunately, one of those unlucky ones and you have not taken the simple, sensible, precaution of backing up your phone... tough!

If your phone had been lost, stolen or damaged, you would have lost that data anyway and if you have not backed it up, then it probably wasn't important enough to you in the first place.
You only have yourself to blame... deal with it!



There are numerous methods of backing up your phone and external SD card. Here are just some of them...

Ensure that you have Backup and Restore enabled in Settings on your phone.
(Use this in conjunction with one or more of the methods below as the backup is limited to apps, Contacts, Calendar, etc: )

For Samsung phones, sync your phone with the Samsung Kies PC Suit or Samsung Smart Switch

Ensure that photos you take are always saved direct to external SD card.

Use Helium or Helium Pro backup from the Play Store

Use My Backup or My Backup Pro from the Play Store

Use MobiKin Assistant for Android (Windows Version) US$39.95

Use MobiKin Assistant for Android (Mac Version) US$49.95

Sync important files and photo, automatically, to DropBox or Google Drive

Connect your phone to a PC and copy your important files across

3 Ways to Backup and Restore Android Phone Effortlessly

SMS Backup and Restore, free from the Play Store

How to Backup Android in 5 Easy Steps

How to back up Android for free: Back up your phone or tablet - back up photos, video, app data, contacts and more

... and the list goes on. Other users will have their favourite backup and restore methods.

(Personally, I believe in the belt and braces approach and use at least 2 or more backup methods)

When to backup your phone?... Now!
It's too late if you forget your PIN or your phone will not boot and needs to be reset or is lost, damaged or stolen.


If you have lost data on your phone you, "may", be able to retrieve it using one of the methods in post #2.

 

[ironass]

For all those of you who have failed to take the very simple and sensible precaution of backing up your important files, as detailed in post #1, there are some steps that you can take that, "may", retrieve some of your data, photos, etc:

STOP using your phone now as you will be overwriting the data files you wish to retrieve!

I cannot vouch for any of the methods shown in the following links as I have always backed up files on both my phone and PC. However, if you are desperate enough, try these...

Recuva

Dumpster Image & Video Restore

Undelete android photos video data from android phone and tablet device without root

How to Restore Deleted Files from Unrooted Android?

How to recover lost data on Android (rooted or not)

Recover Data from Android Phone Internal Memory

How to Recover Deleted Data from Android Internal Memory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3MQoBVijuU

Who knows... you may be able to retrieve that crucial data or those all important photographs of your 98 year old granny, bungee jumping off of the Eiffel Tower or your child's first words which happened to be a rendition of the Declaration of Independence or the all important video of the birth of your septuplets and not to mention, that cute little dog on a skateboard... all of which are irreplaceable but obviously were not worth you backing up in the first place!


From post #1...

"When to backup your phone?... Now!
It's too late if you forget your PIN or your phone will not boot and needs to be reset or is lost, damaged or stolen."

 

[PsychDoc]

Forgot the medication this morning? My god dude, calm down.

 

[ironass]

Forgot the medication this morning? My god dude, calm down.

Sorry to see that you take that view.

Sure its a tough thread... it's meant to be. If it saves just one poster from losing their precious data/photos, then it will have done its job. All too often on these and other forums, we see posts from users that do not bother backup their phones, either because they have not thought to or do not know how to... hopefully this will help remind them or guide them.

 

[Mike-Mike]

Forgot the medication this morning? My god dude, calm down.

that made me literally laugh out loud at my desk

 

[munnarg]

Wow... smh

 

[anon(1733)]

Sweet baby Jesus.

 

[MetalKore]

Sorry to see that you take that view.

Sure its a tough thread... it's meant to be. If it saves just one poster from losing their precious data/photos, then it will have done its job. All too often on these and other forums, we see posts from users that do not bother backup their phones, either because they have not thought to or do not know how to... hopefully this will help remind them or guide them.

This ^^
ironass Thank you for taking the time putting these posts together. This is why I originally came to this site & and joined the forums - Straightforward and helpful advice, information and news. I appreciate the members like ironass and many others, as well as all of the moderators. Thanks!

 

[Almeuit]

Forgot the medication this morning? My god dude, calm down.

I see nothing wrong with a guide to help people protect their data.

For years I have seen "I only had photos of my son being born on my phone but the phone is broken now how do I save them?" -- Happens a LOT and it is scary since a good amount of people may not think about backing things up until something like that happens.

 

[anon(8734726)]

I appreciate this reminder as well. One question I do have is I notice a lot of apps that will automatically backup your apps. Why is that necessary? Doesn't your Google account back all that up? And it backs up your contacts and your photos too. The only thing I do is I have a couple of apps with data I wouldn't want to lose. I use the apps auto backup function to back it up to the SD card and then I have an auto sync of that folder with Google Drive. Am I missing something?

 

[Steemlives]

.... what's there to actually backup anyway? Like 99% of all your info is already backed up into the cloud.

 

[ironass]

.... what's there to actually backup anyway? Like 99% of all your info is already backed up into the cloud.

Not if you have not enabled those cloud backups... it's not!

 

[jianrong]

How to enable cloud backup?

 

[jneusch]

Having used the backup feature of iPhone and iTunes, which method or app can restore my entire phone, including apps, folders, widgets to the location and screen setup I had at time of backup? That's one thing that iTunes does very well. You can restore with literally no pain. If there is an app that backs up and restores to that level please share it. Thanks.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[B. Diddy]

.... what's there to actually backup anyway? Like 99% of all your info is already backed up into the cloud.

This is unfortunately not always true, especially if the user chooses (either consciously or unwittingly) to enter all of their contacts or calendar events into the local Phone account instead of their Google account. Or if they took tons of important and irreplaceable notes using the stock note-taking app that doesn't sync anywhere. I know this from answering many many many many many many many many many many many posts on this forum about these exact situations.

This is a wealth of information that ironass is providing, and I think he should be commended!

 

[ironass]

How to enable cloud backup?

As mentioned in post #1, you should ensure that Backup and Restore are selected on your phone. Also you can install, say, QuickPic Gallery, free from the Play Store, which can automatically be set to backup all your photos to the cloud when you are on Wi-Fi and charging. Also, as mentioned, there is DropBox and Google Drive cloud storage.

 

[Trees]

Having used the backup feature of iPhone and iTunes, which method or app can restore my entire phone, including apps, folders, widgets to the location and screen setup I had at time of backup? That's one thing that iTunes does very well. You can restore with literally no pain. If there is an app that backs up and restores to that level please share it. Thanks.

Posted via the Android Central App

Agree iTunes does this well. I think the Samsung equivalent is Smart Switch (Kies for older Galaxy phones), but not clear if Smart Switch also backs up all app data. I use a combination of Google backup, Smart Switch, cloud.

 

[Trees]

This is unfortunately not always true, especially if the user chooses (either consciously or unwittingly) to enter all of their contacts or calendar events into the local Phone account instead of their Google account. Or if they took tons of important and irreplaceable notes using the stock note-taking app that doesn't sync anywhere. I know this from answering many many many many many many many many many many many posts on this forum about these exact situations.

This is a wealth of information that ironass is providing, and I think he should be commended!

Yes! May I suggest making ironass post a Sticky that lives in each Samsung phone forum from here forward?

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

I don't back up my data as often as I should....


Perhaps I should change that. My photos and videos are backed up to Google Photos along with some of my app data. Perhaps now's a good time to do a backup of my soon-to-be-sold LG G4 via Samsung Smart Switch as I'll need to move that data to my shiny new Galaxy Note 6 when it comes out.

Anyhow, this should be a sticky thread not just in the Galaxy S7/S7 edge subthread but the entire forums as a whole if it's possible. This is critical information and also one that is of utmost importance.

 

[B. Diddy]

We'll look into making this a sticky. It'd probably be best to make it more generic (i.e., remove the specific references to the S7), and then move it to the General Help forum.