Replacing SDcard - What needs to be moved to actual device?

[AspenQn]

Not a newbie to Android but want to make sure I do this right...so PLEASE no snarly remarks like I got from Tech Support @ My BackUp Pro (Rerware) after their app didn't properly complete a backup...

I have decided to replace my existing 16GB Samsung SDcard that came out of my S3. It had backups of data from MyBackUp Pro and TruBackUp which I used to some degree to get my S4 up and running. I have done a backup of my external SDcard to my laptop, and plan on replacing it with a larger 32GB Samsung card.

Apps were reinstalled from Google Play Store so that they were fresh, and my photos and videos were in dropbox, so I can restore from my laptop, as well as my music. I'm just not sure where and how my contacts were restored and want to make sure I don't wipe anything else off that I would need until I can do a restore from the laptop to the phone and new sd card.

Toward that end, when I am doing a restore, what should I save to the phone and what should be restored to the new sdcard?

One other question - I did lose all my bookmarks in the move but have printouts of what I lost so they can be restored. Before I do that, however, should I switch my default browser to Chrome so that everything moves across my laptop/tablet/phone? I've always just used the stock browser that came with my Galaxy phones and am not using a launcher.

Thanks in advance for your support - this forum is an awesome place to learn things!

 

[VDub2174]

As far as contacts go, I save mine to my Gmail account. All you have to do is sync it up and when you sign in to your account on the S4, all contacts should be there.

 

[AspenQn]

So what I think you are saying it that it should be ok to just pop out the sdcard, insert the new one, format it, and then restore what I want to the new card?

 

[VDub2174]

Yup.

It sounds like you have everything backed up already. As for bookmarks, do what you said and sync with Chrome. That's what I do and everything restores once I sync my accounts. I've switched phones enough to know that the contacts will save to a synced gmail account.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

So what I think you are saying it that it should be ok to just pop out the sdcard, insert the new one, format it, and then restore what I want to the new card?

The short answer to that question is "yes". That method has always worked for me.

Honestly, you should be able to just copy the entire contents of your current card onto the new card and be good to go.

Any of the stuff you already restored is now residing in the phone's internal storage where it needs to be. Any significant data that's on the old SD card will be recognized on the new card as long as you keep the same folder structure (in other words, just copy and paste the entire contents from one card to the other). Once a restore has been done, it's no longer dependent on any data on the SD card (it doesn't need to go back and access the backup file anymore).

Regarding bookmarks, that is correct...as long as you have sync turned on, all bookmarks in Chrome should sync between all of your devices.

 

[AspenQn]

It looks as if everything has worked - the last of the old sdcard contents are syncing, so that went well.

One last question - my contacts were there alright - some of them as many as 6-7 times! I need to do a clean up on the contacts, but what is the best way to do that? I could just "join" them, but that's not really fixing the problem. and I really would like things to be clean on this new phone.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

It looks as if everything has worked - the last of the old sdcard contents are syncing, so that went well.

One last question - my contacts were there alright - some of them as many as 6-7 times! I need to do a clean up on the contacts, but what is the best way to do that? I could just "join" them, but that's not really fixing the problem. and I really would like things to be clean on this new phone.

Are your contacts all synced to Google? If so, here's what I would do (if you do it right, it should be a 1-time process).

1. Disable contact sync on the phone
2. Go into Gmail from a web browser and go into your contacts
3. From there, clean up any duplicates, merge as needed, etc. I know this is tedious, but once you get it right it should stay that way
4. Once contacts in Google are good to go, to back to your phone and clear all data from the contacts app. (you may want to make a backup first, but if all your contacts are in Google you should be fine).
5. Turn contact sync back on

6. Only use Google for contact backup and restore from this point forward. Often what creates duplicates is because your contacts are syncing with Google *and* you're restoring the same contacts from a backup, which is redundant.

 

[AspenQn]

Truthfully I'm not sure if all my contacts are synced to Google, but I will go in and check.

Your instructions are pretty straight forward so will give it a go and let you know of any problems. Can #2 be done from my computer rather than the phone? Would be so much easier to navigate and type on computer....


Thanks again for your help today...it has been a tedious project to clean up but I know in the long run it will be well worth the time spent doing it!!!

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

Truthfully I'm not sure if all my contacts are synced to Google, but I will go in and check.

Your instructions are pretty straight forward so will give it a go and let you know of any problems. Can #2 be done from my computer rather than the phone? Would be so much easier to navigate and type on computer....


Thanks again for your help today...it has been a tedious project to clean up but I know in the long run it will be well worth the time spent doing it!!!

Yes, you need to do step 2 from your computer!