Backup! Backup! Backup! NOW!

[ironass]

Samsung and carriers are issuing updates to the S5.

Over the course of these updates we will see circa 60 million phones updated. It only needs for, say, just 1 in a hundred to fail and 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: )

Sync your phone with 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.


(The above is an extract from, S5 Update Problems - Dummies Guide)

If you have lost data on your phone you, "may", be able to retrieve it using one of the methods in post #13.

 

[BR34KF4ST]

Re: Backup! Backup! Backup!

which are the first few countries to recieve it?

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[ironass]

Re: Backup! Backup! Backup!

which are the first few countries to recieve it?

Posted via the Android Central App

I never said, "first few countries"!

T-Mobile (USA) Lollipop, Android 5.1.1, update

 

[wrecklass]

Re: Backup! Backup! Backup!

Benefit of using cloud services and storage. Only temporary data is ever stored on my phone and I can perform a full reset anytime without losing anything important.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

 

[ironass]

Re: Backup! Backup! Backup!

Benefit of using cloud services and storage. Only temporary data is ever stored on my phone and I can perform a full reset anytime without losing anything important.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

Nice one wrecklass!

One less person to come on here, crying like a little girl because they've lost, so-called, "important", photos, files, data, apps and settings because they couldn't be bothered to do a proper backup.

 

[BR34KF4ST]

Re: Backup! Backup! Backup!

this might be out of question but gotta ask still:for me latest lollipop is OE1 whats the changes for this?

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[mohawk70]

Re: Backup! Backup! Backup!

I agree 100% ... ALWAYS back up your phone !

Sent from my SPH-L300 using Tapatalk

 

[Mal Lignant Tumor]

Re: Backup! Backup! Backup!

Question: Is backing up to Samsung Smart Switch (replaced Kies 3) on my laptop sufficient?

 

[ironass]

Re: Backup! Backup! Backup!

Question: Is backing up to Samsung Smart Switch (replaced Kies 3) on my laptop sufficient?

No, that's why I recommend using 2 or more methods. Kies and/or Smart Switch can be, "flakey", for some users, particularly after updates.

 

[ironass]

I am bumping this thread as a timely reminder to all of you out there that have not done a backup, to do one... NOW!

 

[ironass]

I am bumping this thread as there still seems to be a lot of people who have still not got the message about backing up their phone's, regularly, in case of loss, damage, theft, accidents and firmware failure.

How many of us have read posts that state that a Factory Data Reset will cause the poster to lose crucial data or those all important photographs of their 98 year old granny, bungee jumping off of the Eiffel Tower or their child's first words which happened to be a rendition of the Declaration of Independence or the all important video of the birth of their septuplets and not to mention, that cute little dog on a skateboard... all of which are irreplaceable.

The answer to which, is... if they were that irreplaceable... why didn't you bother to back them up!

If it were in my power, I would make this thread a sticky, to remind people of the importance of regular backups of their phones.

 

[Nowmuphy5]

Wow here thanks for the information everyone

 

[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."

 

[dgcamero]

The simplest way to backup your photos and videos is to use the Google Photos app on your phone. They give unlimited free, compressed storage for your photos (up to 16MP, resized if they're larger than 16MP) and videos (1080p, resized if they're larger). They have a pretty good compression algorithm to where most people who shoot jpegs won't know the difference. Pretty simple, open 'photos,' slide the hamburger menu to access the settings, choose your options (most will want to upload the photos only on wifi and only while charging).

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Feldon]

Samsung Kies can and does fail in spectacular ways. And because it's an all or nothing backup stored in one big undocumented binary blob, if Kies fails to restore any part of the backup, the whole thing fails and you might as well not have a backup. Seen this first hand.

Backed up a Galaxy S5 with Kies. Reset the phone (as some people advised) and let it update to Lollipop. Tried to restore the backup. Kies choked on a text message. Congratulations, you're f@cked. Never could restore anything.

 

[can3gxw]

That might be a big part of the reason why Samsung introduced "Smart Switch". It will back up all of your data "as is" - no big BLOB file. It just copies everything you choose to your hard drive. I've backed up my data using this and then gone into the folder and looked at things individually.

 

[ironass]

Security updates are currently being rolled out across the board and the release of Marshmallow is imminent.

I am bumping this thread, once again, in the hope that some will read it and backup their phones.

Others, of course, will come on the forum, beating their breasts, blaming Samsung and crying like little girls, or boys!

 

[Feldon]

That might be a big part of the reason why Samsung introduced "Smart Switch". It will back up all of your data "as is" - no big BLOB file. It just copies everything you choose to your hard drive. I've backed up my data using this and then gone into the folder and looked at things individually.

Note that Smart Switch does get a lot of things, it failed to get all my Contacts, it failed to copy the last 10 months of Text messages, and it did not restore the Home screens. Fortunately I'd exported all my Contacts to VCF and had backed up all my text messages with SMS Backup and Restore. Also, I'd taken screenshots of all my home screens.

the release of Marshmallow is imminent.

For SM-900F maybe. Still 8-10 months away on AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint, right?

 

[ironass]

Note that Smart Switch does get a lot of things, it failed to get all my Contacts, it failed to copy the last 10 months of Text messages, and it did not restore the Home screens. Fortunately I'd exported all my Contacts to VCF and had backed up all my text messages with SMS Backup and Restore. Also, I'd taken screenshots of all my home screens.

You are correct Feldon. There is no, one, master backup that covers everything, (similar to the nandroid backups that rooted users can make), and that is why I always recommend using 2 or more methods to try and cover all bases.

For SM-900F maybe. Still 8-10 months away on AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint, right?

If I were a betting man, which, judging from my performance at the recent Cheltenham Gold Cup, I am not! I would say a late Q2 or early Q3 release for the U.S. variants.

Look on the bright side, bearing in mind both AT&T's and Verizon's previous cloneware releases... the longer they leave it, the better!

Actually, be careful what you wish for... all the U.S. carrier minority models of the S7 and S7 Edge come with locked bootloaders that prevent rooting. It could spread to the S5 U.S. models!!!

 

[Feldon]

Actually, be careful what you wish for... all the U.S. carrier minority models of the S7 and S7 Edge come with locked bootloaders that prevent rooting. It could spread to the S5 U.S. models!!!

I'm already in a no-root situation on my AT&T S5. Last carrier phone I'll ever own. I keep loading up the Nexus 6P ordering page and then closing it. Wonder if we'll see another Nexus release this year with an 820 Snapdragon and an S7-class camera.