Galaxy S4 Android Phone: Important data lost despite backups??

[Android Central Question]

My Samsung Galaxy S4 running Android 4.4.2 had some issues (Camera failed, Loud echo during calls) so I felt compelled to do a Factory Reset on the phone.

.... But first I backed up everything I could (Contacts, Messages, Calendar, etc.) to my
Google account.

The 'Extensive Notes Lite' allowed backup and restore to SD card so I did a Back up and then a Restore and it indicated that it worked fine.

..... so I thought it would be safe to do the Factory Reset and proceeded to do so.

After the Factory Reset I had to go through the setup process as if the phone was new from the factory. I added my Google and Samsung accounts without problems and noted that most of my apps were automatically installed (or restored?).

..... But then I noted that most of my contacts were missing, all my calendar appointments were gone, all my messages were gone !!

I had read somewhere that when the Google account was setup all my backed up data should have come back into my phone. But that did not happen!!

After much hunting through various screens I managed to bring back my contacts (through an option in my Google account) but my messages and calendar data seem to be lost forever??

I am wondering if the automatic syncing (following the factory reset) has overwritten the Google backups?
Can anyone shed some light on how the syncing works? What measures are there to prevent backup data being wiped through the syncing process?

In regards to the Extensive Notes Lite, when I attempt to'Import data via the SD card', it comes back with "Import Failed". Why so I ask.

Overall I am very disappointed with the backup/syncing/restoration of application data on the Android platform. I am computer and mobile phone literate and it should not be so difficult to backup and restore data reliably.

The term 'Sync' should be clarified to clearly state whether it is syncing data from the phone to the back up media or from the backup media back to the phone.
It should provide alerts before it overwrites back up data.
I did not do anything inappropriate, yet my messages, calendar data, Extensive notes data appear to be lost.

Can anyone offer any suggestions on what I can do to recover these?

 

[Rukbat]

..... But then I noted that most of my contacts were missing

Only Google contacts get backed up. If you entered a contact as Phone, Device or SIM, it doesn't get backed up.

, all my calendar appointments were gone, all my messages were gone !!

Calendar backup only works if you're using the Google Calendar. If you're using a different calendar app (the default app syncs to that calendar), the calendar isn't backed up.

but my messages and calendar data seem to be lost forever??

Messages don't get backed up. You have to use something like SMS Backup & Restore to back them up.

I am wondering if the automatic syncing (following the factory reset) has overwritten the Google backups?

The automatic syncing is the Google backup.

Can anyone shed some light on how the syncing works? What measures are there to prevent backup data being wiped through the syncing process?

Data isn't wiped out by syncing, you wiped it out by doing the factory restore - and not everything gets backed up.

In regards to the Extensive Notes Lite, when I attempt to'Import data via the SD card', it comes back with "Import Failed". Why so I ask.

Probably because the notes are encrypted, and the encryption changes when you do a factory reset (just an educated guess).

The term 'Sync' should be clarified to clearly state whether it is syncing data from the phone to the back up media or from the backup media back to the phone.

It goes both ways - what's missing from the phone gets filled in (in the phone) from the backup. What's missing from the backup gets filled in (in the backup) from the phone. Backups don't delete anything.

It should provide alerts before it overwrites back up data.

It did. Since it doesn't 'overwrite' data (it may overwrite some - say you added a phone number to a contact - it overwrites that contact), the number of alerts you got was zero.

I did not do anything inappropriate, yet my messages, calendar data, Extensive notes data appear to be lost.

What you did that was 'inappropriate', if you want to use that word, was 1 - you acted before asking and 2 - you didn't understand what gets backed up and what doesn't.

Can anyone offer any suggestions on what I can do to recover these?

The purpose of a factory reset is to eliminate the possibility of anyone getting your data - so no. For the future ... yes. Read Backing up an Android Device.

 

[Mike Dalakis]

SOLUTION TO MY PROBLEMS:
Have managed to recover most things as follows:
- Google had synced/backed up most of my contacts and I was able to restore them.
- Samung had synced/backed up my messages (SMS) and I was able to restore them (via Settings/Accounts/Samsung Account/Restore).
- Extensive Notes Lite had indeed backed up the data onto the SD card (Under /Notes/Exported_DB directory) but for some reason could not read it. I noted that there was a /Notes directory in 'Device Storage' with nothing in it, so I copied the /Exported_DB directory from the SD card, into the 'Device Storage' /Notes directory. I then attempted to 'Restore Database via SD card' and it came back with 'Import Successful'. My notes had indeed been recovered !!!.
.... But it dies point to a bug in the Extensive Notes Lite recovery process. It looks for the back up in device storage rather than the SD card so the backup has to be manually copied to the right directory.

Hope this may be of benefit to someone else who falls in the same trap.