[Discuss] Android backups

[tmetro+blu at gmail.com (Tom Metro)]

MBR wrote:
> I've been backing my info up and storing it outside of the phone without
> going through any server at all.  There are a variety of applications
> that will back up various types of info to the phone's filesystem.  I
> found one in Google's Play Store called "Super Backup"...

I use "App Backup & Restore"[1], which does a partial job of backing up
the apps themselves to the sdcard, and then I have a few apps that have
a built-in capability to backup their data to the sdcard, or an option
to maintain their data on the sdcard.

Then I use "rsync backup for Android"[2], triggered by a rule in
Llama[3] (a contextually aware task launcher), to backup the sdcard's
contents to a server on my LAN periodontally when I am connected to my
LAN's wireless.

1. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.infolife.appbackup
2. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.kowalczuk.rsync4android
3. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kebab.Llama


> ...plug the phone in to your computer with a USB cable...

Using the network is nicer, as you can automate it.


> ...that will back up any or all of: Apps, SMS, Contacts, Call Logs,
> Calendars, Bookmarks.

Sort of...

Richard Pieri wrote:
> It also likely won't restore everything properly to anything but an
> identical device running the same or newer version of Android. This is
> based on my own experience with Titanium Backup and three different
> Android devices running different versions of Cyanogen Mod.

While I'm sure there are ways to get around the limitations of
commercial backup tools with proprietary formats, my understanding is
that you simply can't do a comprehensive backup of Android without a
rooted device.

Google could have created a "backup" permission and granted the
necessary rights to backup applications, but it likely would have
created complications in the security model used by locked ROMs.

To make a full backup of an Android device you need to replace the
recovery tool on the device (the tool that lets you restore the factory
ROM) with something like ClockworkMod Recovery[4]. This is akin to
booting your Linux desktop from a live CD and then using backup tools on
the live CD to copy the unmounted main drive.

Or use Android's "USB debugging" feature with some desktop tools[5] to
do a similar "outside the running OS" backup. This requires Android 4.0
or newer, but doesn't require root.

4. http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/ClockworkMod_Recovery
5. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=36499906

Neither if these solutions lend themselves to automation, but I guess
this parallels what you often face with desktop backups, where the types
of backups that permit "bare metal recovery" similarly require shutting
down the OS.

 -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/