Our mobile phones hold key and personal data. Due to their very nature, mobile devices are prone to loss, theft and destruction. With that comes the risk of losing all that data if it is not backed up. Fortunately, backing up an Android phone is easy and can be done for free. Below are various methods to backup you phone.
There are many backup methods. These were selected because they are free and easy.
Note: If you have difficulty setting up any of these options on your device, you can “Google” lots of help on the Web. CPCS IT cannot provide direct support in getting you setup with these tools.
Backup your entire phone
USB backup
1. Connect the phone to the PC via a USB cable. The PC will open your phone like it is a USB drive.
- For Macs, you need to first download and install a tool called Android File Transfer at https://www.android.com/filetransfer/
2. Drag and drop files/folders to your local PC (depending on the amount of data this can take a while).
- Drag no more than 10 directories at once
Pro: Backs up programs, files, settings, data, photos, videos, etc. Basically, the whole device.
Con: Manual process and can be slow.
Backup contacts and calendar and settings
(almost instant backup of any changes)
Sync and backup to your Gmail account
1. Create a Gmail account (if you don’t have one)
2. On your phone go to Settings,*Personal, Backup and reset, select both Backup my data and Automatic restore
3. Go to Settings,*Personal, Accounts & Sync, select your Google account.
4. Select all of the option boxes listed, to ensure that all available data is synced
*”Personal” is only an option in some version of the OS. If you don’t see it, skip to the next item in the series
Pro: Automatic backup whenever a change is made. Nearly instant backup over cellular or Wi-Fi. You can access your contacts and calendar from any web browser through Gmail.
Con: Only backs up calendar and contacts, not the rest of your device.
Backup photographs and videos
Google Photos app
You can backup your photos and videos automatically whenever you are connected to WiFi. With the Google Photos app, your photos will automatically backup to your Google Drive account for free.
Note: You can read up on this app and how it works at http://www.google.com/photos. This app does much more than simply backup your photos. It has a lot of cool features.
1. Create a Gmail account (if you don’t have one)
2. Download from the Google Play Store the “Google Photos” app
3. In the “Google Photos” app go to Settings,Back up & Sync,Back up photos,pick “Over WiFi Only”. If you set it to backup over cellular, unless you have unlimited cellular data plan, you will probably go over your data cap.
In the future, whenever you take a photo, your phone will upload the photo to Google Drive when you are on WiFi.
Pro: Automatic backup of new photos over WiFi. Free. Can synchronize photos between multiple devices (if you wish). May view photos through any web browser.
Con: Only backs up photos and videos.
Amazon Prime Photos app
If you have Amazon Prime, you can backup your photos to Amazon for free similar to Google Photos. You may find instructions at www.amazon.com/clouddrive/primephotos.
You can download the app from the Google Play store.
Pro: Automatic backup of new photos over WiFi. Free. Can synchronize photos between multiple devices (if you wish). May view photos through any web browser.
Con: Requires an Amazon Prime account for backup. Only backs up photos and videos.