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Best Android Backup Method?

ReanimationN

ReanimationN

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 7, 2011
724
0
Australia
As the title says- what do you find is the best method to backup Android devices?

I'm using a Nexus 7 and I have to say this is the one area of Android I don't like. I rooted and unlocked my Nexus 7 in order to use Titanium Backup, however the 1-click root program I used to root my Nexus (and install Clockworkmod and BusyBox) seems to have slowed it down compared to how it was completely stock. Not by much, but enough for it to be perceptible and annoying to me. Also, Titanium Backup backs up to the device itself, which might be ok if you had a 64GB SD card to backup to, but when all you have is 16GB of flash storage, that gets annoying fast. You can sync backups to dropbox, but I can't find a way to only backup to dropbox.

I wish there was a way to backup my Nexus to my Mac (in either Windows or OS X). I also wish there was a decent way to backup a stock Nexus- I'm not all that interested in rooting my device, I just want to use it stock and be able to backup my game saves in case something goes wrong.
 
W

Wrathwitch

macrumors 65816
Dec 4, 2009
1,303
55
ReanimationN said:
As the title says- what do you find is the best method to backup Android devices?

I'm using a Nexus 7 and I have to say this is the one area of Android I don't like. I rooted and unlocked my Nexus 7 in order to use Titanium Backup, however the 1-click root program I used to root my Nexus (and install Clockworkmod and BusyBox) seems to have slowed it down compared to how it was completely stock. Not by much, but enough for it to be perceptible and annoying to me. Also, Titanium Backup backs up to the device itself, which might be ok if you had a 64GB SD card to backup to, but when all you have is 16GB of flash storage, that gets annoying fast. You can sync backups to dropbox, but I can't find a way to only backup to dropbox.

I wish there was a way to backup my Nexus to my Mac (in either Windows or OS X). I also wish there was a decent way to backup a stock Nexus- I'm not all that interested in rooting my device, I just want to use it stock and be able to backup my game saves in case something goes wrong.
Click to expand...

I think the best place to get an answer to this is Xda Forums. I am using an App to back up my phone called My Backup Pro. It allows you to back up to the cloud (takes longer) or your device SD card. Not sure if it works or not as I haven't had to restore yet but you can check it out at the Google Playstore.
 
Dontazemebro

Dontazemebro

macrumors 68020
Jul 23, 2010
2,173
0
I dunno, somewhere in West Texas
ReanimationN said:
As the title says- what do you find is the best method to backup Android devices?

I'm using a Nexus 7 and I have to say this is the one area of Android I don't like. I rooted and unlocked my Nexus 7 in order to use Titanium Backup, however the 1-click root program I used to root my Nexus (and install Clockworkmod and BusyBox) seems to have slowed it down compared to how it was completely stock. Not by much, but enough for it to be perceptible and annoying to me. Also, Titanium Backup backs up to the device itself, which might be ok if you had a 64GB SD card to backup to, but when all you have is 16GB of flash storage, that gets annoying fast. You can sync backups to dropbox, but I can't find a way to only backup to dropbox.

I wish there was a way to backup my Nexus to my Mac (in either Windows or OS X). I also wish there was a decent way to backup a stock Nexus- I'm not all that interested in rooting my device, I just want to use it stock and be able to backup my game saves in case something goes wrong.
Click to expand...

Well if you're already rooted the best backup combination is to back up just your apps & data with TiB (Titanium Backup) and then make a nandroid of your system data. It's much lighter and more efficient and also doesn't use as much space.

If need be you can even restore individual system files from your nandroid via TiB.
 
ReanimationN

ReanimationN

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 7, 2011
724
0
Australia
Wrathwitch said:
I think the best place to get an answer to this is Xda Forums. I am using an App to back up my phone called My Backup Pro. It allows you to back up to the cloud (takes longer) or your device SD card. Not sure if it works or not as I haven't had to restore yet but you can check it out at the Google Playstore.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I had a look at XDA, that's what got me onto the Nexus toolkit program I used to root my device. Pretty much every solution they give requires root. I gave My Backup Pro a shot as they specifically advertise it as working on non-rooted devices. I reset my tablet back to the factory stock image , then tried to restore from it and found it did nothing. It may be an issue with Jelly Bean, but watch out if your phone isn't rooted- that app may not work.
Dontazemebro said:
Well if you're already rooted the best backup combination is to back up just your apps & data with TiB (Titanium Backup) and then make a nandroid of your system data. It's much lighter and more efficient and also doesn't use as much space.

If need be you can even restore individual system files from your nandroid via TiB.
Click to expand...

I flashed back to stock. Something was... off about my Nexus while it was rooted. Maybe it was the toolkit I used, but everything had an ever-so-slight increase in lag. Apparently rooting shouldn't have that effect, as all it is doing is changing file permissions, maybe it was the changes to recovery or the installation of the additional components that did it.

A nandroid backup is a complete image of what's on the device's NAND, right? How does that make the backup lighter- is keeping the backup on the Nexus' internal storage not necessary if you make one?
 
LSUtigers03

LSUtigers03

macrumors 68020
Apr 9, 2008
2,089
41
Unless you're rooted my backup pro won't restore your app data. I think the best option is to root and use titanium backup. It'll restore all apps and data and it'll give you a bunch more options like freezing or deleting bloatware.
 
W

Wrathwitch

macrumors 65816
Dec 4, 2009
1,303
55
ReanimationN said:
Yeah, I had a look at XDA, that's what got me onto the Nexus toolkit program I used to root my device. Pretty much every solution they give requires root. I gave My Backup Pro a shot as they specifically advertise it as working on non-rooted devices. I reset my tablet back to the factory stock image , then tried to restore from it and found it did nothing. It may be an issue with Jelly Bean, but watch out if your phone isn't rooted- that app may not work.


I flashed back to stock. Something was... off about my Nexus while it was rooted. Maybe it was the toolkit I used, but everything had an ever-so-slight increase in lag. Apparently rooting shouldn't have that effect, as all it is doing is changing file permissions, maybe it was the changes to recovery or the installation of the additional components that did it.

A nandroid backup is a complete image of what's on the device's NAND, right? How does that make the backup lighter- is keeping the backup on the Nexus' internal storage not necessary if you make one?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up.
 
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