I think I asked before but never got a solid answer. I have a s23, I disable all google and Samsung services I can etc, but I am still stuck with stock android. I plan to move to a better phone in the next year.
However I need a solution for a full phone backup. Not even a sync right now, just plug in and backup all my apps notes and photos (photos are backed up already but I don’t care about doubling up for now.
The reason being I dont want to lose or have my phone stolen and have no backup. I do have FMD installed but still.
This is one big downside of not being fully self hosted yet but refusing to use google products… No instant sync to a new phone if mine is lost.
I believe you can use the command-line tool “adb” for this. It’s been a while since I’ve done it since I use syncthing now, but here’s a quick intro:
- on phone, enable developer options
- on computer, install android tools, which should come with adb (Do not install full android developer toolkit, it’s huge. You only need adb)
- on computer run ‘adb devices’, which should currently print that no devices were found
- plug phone into computer, and accept authorization prompt on phone
- on computer run ‘adb devices’ again and it should list your phone with the status “authorized”
Now you should be able to use
adb pull -p -a <folder name>to back up folders to your computer, for exampleadb pull -p -a /sdcard/DCIM.Note that you will have trouble backing up the /sdcard/Android folder, which contains a lot of app data. Unfortunately I think you need root to back up that folder. Alternatively you can back up individual apps using
adb backup ....Personally I think in the long term, automatic backups like syncthing is better. Manual backups are a hassle and because of that, you won’t do them as often.
A lot of programs have an export button for settings a such. Useful for your launcher and whatever else has a lot of settings.
I don’t like doing a full restore, new phones are a good time to clear old system files and crap.
For syncing stuff, I don’t use most of the default phone folders for docs, music, etc. I make my own for everything, so if some update or app decides to do some shenanigans to those folder none of that is backed up. Only folders I don’t make are downloads and photos, and dcim, which I still backed up.
If you don’t want to deal with a syncthing or something automatic, you could try “Back In Time” on Linux.
Use syncthing and just sync all your important folders!
On F-Droid app store use Syncthing-forked
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.github.catfriend1.syncthingfork/
There are probably other more wholistic and specific ways to do this with apps specifically designed for it, but Syncthing you can use for pretty much anything and any other internet connected device you have you can use Syncthing to share/backup files too.
You don’t even need internet to use Syncthing, it will work entirely over your local network if both devices are on the same network.
Can i just point that at my parent folder and have it grab everything ?? I tried before and it was confusing to me
Yeah but you can also set it to copy your DCIM photos folder or whatever (if you want to backup files, make it a one way folder sync in the folder options in Syncthing), if Syncthing is limited it is because of Android’s filesystem limitations not Syncthing.
Also consider an option that uses termux if Syncthing doesn’t work such as this one that uses rsync and termux.
https://howtos.davidsebek.com/android-rsync-termux.html
^the above tutorial may look intimidating at first, but each step is explained very clearly
You can also use termux to install Syncthing and then take advantage of termux’s ability to work around Android file system limitations.
The only way to do a truly full backup of apps and their data is to have root access. Unfortunately, many phones these days have “security” features that void the warranty and/or break apps like banking, Google Wallet tap-to-pay, etc. Or even some apps like games that rely on that for anticheat will break. And some security features make that last even if you relock the phone. So be careful to read what your phone has and what you’ll be permanently giving up.
I have a Pixel 10 and installed GrapheneOS which has some backup capabilities built in, but I can’t use Google Pay, some banking features, a bunch of games, the official UPS app, etc. But if I gave in and went back to Google Android it would all work. Samsung and other manufacturers are often not as generous.
Well I guess apps I dont really care. I can reinstall. Just all the data. Could i literally just copy all my folders onto my desktop? I did use appliast backup to get a list of my apps backed up and I threw my contacts backup on my nas
You don’t need a full backup of your phone, you need a backup of all the relevant data! What do you need to backup other than contacts and media in your home folder? (documents, downloads, music, podcast, DCIM etc…)
If there is relevant data “locked up” in your apps can you export it in some form to somewhere like your downloads folder and sync that folder?
yeah you’re probably right. really I just need the data and I used Appslistbackup for a list of apps so i could reinstall them if needed. I think Syncthing-fork is gonna be my goto!
one question though, lets say my phone did get lost and I got a new one. Would I just put syncthing on the new phone to send it all back?
one question though, lets say my phone did get lost and I got a new one. Would I just put syncthing on the new phone to send it all back?
you will need to import those exported backups to your newly installed apps. You can’t sync android’s protected directories.
It helps to take a step back and think about Syncthing as a file sharing utility in general.
Syncthing allows you to share any number of folders with any number of other devices with any type of sharing structure you want (2 way file sync = filesharing, 1 way file sync = backing up). You can also set up file versioning on files within a Syncthing folder’s settings.
Note: Syncthing is not intended to be a true file backup utility, and some people will get quite upset if you portray it that way, which I get, but also it just works… and you just need to be reasonable about how you do things, just remember it is a general filesharing tool that you are USING to backup files.
You are the cloud with Syncthing, but unlike something like Nextcloud there is no special central file server nonsense, there are just Syncthing devices sharing folders to other Syncthing devices so you can do it however you want. You do need two devices of course, your phone you want to backup and the device you are backing up onto (which could be a computer with usb drive attached), but from there you can add new devices and share the same folder/folders to them and leapfrog important files without needing to sit there and think out some complicated system or architecture ahead of time.
Syncthing is very “organic” because it is so simple, but it is also very powerful, I have relied on it for years in a variety of contexts and have never really been let down.
One tip, if you want your own personal cloud, a raspberry pi type device, or an old phone plugged into the wall can serve as your server that is always listening for file edits/updates from devices in a folder share. Otherwise you have to make sure Syncthing devices are on the internet at the same time to sync files, though there is actually a quite nice GUI interface for resolving file conflicts if they do happen (I have used it quite a few times and resolved issues).
If your files are smallish, just setting the “file versioning” setting under a Syncthing folder’s settings to a number like 5-10 versions can provide even more confidence you won’t lose something but I digress…
I love Syncthing!
edit you can also do weird little hacks if you need to by doing things like setting up a Syncthing folder share on a Dropbox folder to sync files in ways you wouldn’t otherwise be able to do, it isn’t a recommended practice but shrugs I have also done this many times too and haven’t had any serious issues.
I use DataBackup (app on fdroid) for that. It does need root tho. But it makes it so incredibly frictionless to switch phones.
can’t wait till i do have a rooted device! I’ll save this for when i do,
I’m in a similar situation. I did inidvidual backups for each app that offers such a feature and copied them into a hard drive with all the photos and other files that I need. It’s arduous the first time but it becomes easier the next time you do a full backup. I have an organized folder which contains subfolders for each app and for photos, downloads, etc. All backup files are exported into their respective folder. It takes me all in all up to 15 minutes.
