Titanium Backup not necessary with Marshmallow?

[TJGEsq]

Hi all. I'm curious as to whether Google's new backup feature in Marshmallow can replace Titanium Backup (which is the primary reason that I root my device).

Will Google really backup all user data for an app? I thought I had read that Google would do it with Lollipop last year, but the backup feature has proven to be useless. I like that with Titanium Backup, I can do whatever I want with an app (e.g., mess with settings, delete it), and then go back in time to fix it with the push of a couple of buttons. Will Marshmallow do that without Titanium Backup?

I appreciate any comments.

 

[andr0idralphie]

I doubt it. I think you're confusing Titanium Backup's backup functions with Google's data sync functions. Google's idea seems to be for contacts and settings... Titanium is holistic.

 

[LeoRex]

Well... Google's new backup model will end up duplicating a lot of the functions that TB has right now... but it's not there quite yet. The reason is that app developers need to include the new data backup APIs into their code. Without those new enhancements, your phone will reload the old apps, but NOT the 'internal' app data (external app data, like those HUGE support files games download, is never backed up but TB doesn't really fuss with those by default either).

If everyone signed on with the new mechanism, then most everyone's apps would come back exactly as they left them.... There are some exceptions, of course... there is a limit to the size of the data that Google will retain. Not sure what that is... 25MB, 100MB... ???? I am not really sure if there are any apps that horde that much data internally (meaning in the /data area) rather than dumping it on the internal storage (in there with Download, DCIM, etc)

After using the two, TB is quicker to reload apps since it is loading the data from local storage.... Google's method still installs the apps across the network from Google Play, THEN reloads the cloud-stored app data. That is why, I think, you see an odd pause on some apps between one app getting installed and another getting downloaded (maybe Google will add in a notification to that effect at some point).

It works great though... It brings back everything... your apps, the configuration settings, homescreen layout... even things like your custom rules for Do Not Distub. These could be done in TB, but they involved backup up select system apps and data, which can be pretty tempermental.

Titanium Backup can still do a bunch of other useful functions, but the 'backup' part is a little less usefull.