What's the PROPER Way to do a CLEAN Wipe and Restore On my Phone? Its SLOW!

[superboy]

I almost feel like every since I've upgraded from 2.3 Gingerbread to ICS and then now to Jelly Bean.. my phone's gotten slower and slower. And honestly I'm really not reaping any of the new "features" of ICS and JB because its gotten to the point where navigating b/w apps and loading them becomes sluggish. This is stressful and frustrating considering Google and many ppl are saying ICS and JB is SOOO MUCH FASTER and BETTER and I am really not seeing it being better at all when my phone's slow. I'm starting to believe its true what some ppl say -- smartphone's life cycle is about 2 years, and I've had this Nexus S 4g sinec May 2011.

Anyway enough of my vent, I want to do a clean wipe of my phone starting fresh, in hopes of it being running a little more smoothly since people are saying JB is AWESOME.. What's the PROPER way of doing it so I won't lose important things such as CONTACTS ? IIs there a step by step process somewhere ?
Do I really have to re-download and re-install every single app? I can move all my pics and videos, and music out to be sure I won't screw up on the factory reset.
What about text messages? Am I able to keep them? Any other thing I should be aware of or risks?
I also feel like JB is hogging up a lot of my internal storage ..considering we have 1 GB storage and the phone's not letting me install any new programs if my storage becomes under 100mb.

I'm not rooted btw.. Thanks.

 

[Cyber Warrior]

Check out the app MyBackup Pro.. It will backup apps, sms, mms, alarms, settings, bookmarks, etc.. Unfortunately it will not backup any data.. So you will lose any settings/data on apps you have installed. You need to be rooted in order to make full backups of everything on the phone.

 

[hlxanthus]

Okay, first start off by downloading an app from the play store called SMS backup and restore. Use that to backup your SMS (mms are not supported). That will save them to the sdcard. Exit back to the homescreen. Then go to settings and verify you are syncing your contacts to google (also verify that you know the gmail address and password as you will use this to restore your contacts later). Under settings>backup&reset verify that "backup my data" and "automatic restore" are enabled. Then connect your phone to the pc and backup the entire contents of your internal storage to the pc. Look thru your apps and make a note of those you for sure want back. While part of the restore process is supposed to reinstall apps I find it horribly unreliable, so don't count on this working.

Now you are as backed up as is possible. These next steps is where the magic happens. Go back into settings>storage and all the way at the bottom you will find erase USB storage. Click this (you backed up you sdcard to your pc right?). Go to settings>backup&reset and select the factory reset option. Accept any prompts. Know this will erase the phone back to factory status. When it reboots you will be back you will be prompted to sign in with your gmail address and password (little trick, just put in the name and leave off the @gmail.com part as it will add those automatically and save you a few keystrokes) enable your wifi at the first chance to make the rest go smoother.

Now connect your phone to the pc and drop ONLY the files you want (the entirety of SMS backup and restore folder, DCIM for your pictures, all media like music and movies and other files you might want etc). There will be a lot of clutter that you don't need, and anything truely important will generate on its own. Then go to the play store and install the apps you want. Make sure to install SMS backup and restore and use it to SMS.

Yes this is a bit of work, but I think you are right. Moving to a new OS needs a "flush" to perform at its best. Good luck and let us know if there is anything you don't understand or I missed

 

[mcantu]

i always do a factory reset after a major OS update and it always helps. for a day or so after a reset there will be lots of data movement as apps, etc update/sync in the background so your phone might not run smooth right away but it will after all that is done

 

[superboy]

Thanks.

OK. So Im in luck cause I forgot I had SMS Backup installed so I've just copied all of its files to a folder on the PC. After I do the wipe, do i just drop the sms files back into the folder after i reinstall it and hit the restore? I'm using Handcent so i'm assuming after the restore, it should populate in my Handscent convo threads right?

Copied all music, pics out. Check.

I haven't done the reset YET but I got a question on reinstalling apps. Is there a way to save settings of some of the apps I have? For example I use Yahoo Finance and I've had to manually input stock tickers, I'm thinking if I do the reset and reinstall, I would then have to reenter them AGAIN. I thought there maybe a file I can copy out and drop back into the folder but I don't see anything that seems useful .
Another example would be the Weather.com App, if i reinstall it, I'd have to input all my locations again?
Pandora - Im thinking cause I'm logged in it should be saved onto their servers.

What do you guys use to keep track of what you will reinstall? Write em down? lol..

Can you or someone explain how to get my contacts back after the factory reset?? Where do I go to "resync" it ? I'm more concern about my phone numbers than anything else and I've seen people scream that all their contacts' #s are gone. I do have all the boxes checked in the " Backup and Reset" settings --- Backup my Data, Backup Account (to my maint Gmail accnt), Automatic Restore ( does this option answer my question above about keeping data when reinstalling the app?, does this count for restoring my contacts also? )

Thanks for your help.

 

[Zerocool84]

Thanks.

OK. So Im in luck cause I forgot I had SMS Backup installed so I've just copied all of its files to a folder on the PC. After I do the wipe, do i just drop the sms files back into the folder after i reinstall it and hit the restore? I'm using Handcent so i'm assuming after the restore, it should populate in my Handscent convo threads right?

Copied all music, pics out. Check.

I haven't done the reset YET but I got a question on reinstalling apps. Is there a way to save settings of some of the apps I have? For example I use Yahoo Finance and I've had to manually input stock tickers, I'm thinking if I do the reset and reinstall, I would then have to reenter them AGAIN. I thought there maybe a file I can copy out and drop back into the folder but I don't see anything that seems useful .
Another example would be the Weather.com App, if i reinstall it, I'd have to input all my locations again?
Pandora - Im thinking cause I'm logged in it should be saved onto their servers.

What do you guys use to keep track of what you will reinstall? Write em down? lol..

Can you or someone explain how to get my contacts back after the factory reset?? Where do I go to "resync" it ? I'm more concern about my phone numbers than anything else and I've seen people scream that all their contacts' #s are gone. I do have all the boxes checked in the " Backup and Reset" settings --- Backup my Data, Backup Account (to my maint Gmail accnt), Automatic Restore ( does this option answer my question above about keeping data when reinstalling the app?, does this count for restoring my contacts also? )

Thanks for your help.

Since the first version of Android, it's automatically backed up contacts as long as you have automatic syncing checked under your account in the settings. It automatically restores it.

 

[hlxanthus]

Settings>accounts>google>accounts click on you gmail. Verify that contacts is synced. For good measure unclick and reclick to for it to sync again.

As for the rest I honestly am unsure. I have never restore SMS myself but I know may do. I use Google voice so have them all backed up there even across devices. Good luck.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2

 

[opteron7]

Both times that I have wiped the NS4G it deleted everything on the sd card.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2