Automated backups are the best way to keep your data safe. Simon Chester explains how to set them up.
Backing up is that task that every geek knows they should do, but like shaving their neck, don’t do as often as they should. With so many precious things now stored on your handset (I’m talking game progress as well as photos here), it’s more than just a dollar cost when you leave your phone in the back of a taxi.
Thankfully, you can take at least some of the sting out of this loss if you follow a few simple steps to make sure your backups are always current and stored somewhere safe — i.e. the cloud. There are two types of data you’ll want to back up: your user data (mainly photos) and your app data. The user data is easiest, so I’ll start with that.
You’ll need this:
- Dropsync Pro. $4.99 from the Google Play store.
- Titanium Backup Pro. $6.49 from Google Play store.
Back up photos & files
Photos are probably the most important data on your phone (they are, after all, irreplaceable), but there can also be other things that will be a pain to replace, such as ebooks, custom ringtones and icons, and so on. The native Dropbox app supports the auto upload of photos, but for this other data, it won’t really help.
As such, I use Dropsync Pro, which is an unofficial Dropbox client that provides functionality more like the desktop Dropbox client — that is, full two-way instant sync of files between selected folders on your handset and Dropbox (I should note that you don’t have to do two-way, if you don’t want to).
Dropsync Pro allows you to sync multiple folders to your Dropbox account.
Once installed (I recommend the Pro over the free, as it supports multiple folders), you need to log into your Dropbox account and select which folders you want to sync. So let’s take a visit to the ‘Settings’ menu.
The first item in the list is where you choose which folders to sync. You first select a folder on your handset (for photos, it’s usually DCIM/Camera/) and then choose or create a corresponding folder in Dropbox (Android Backups/DCIM/Camera for instance). You can then select whether you want the sync to be two-way, upload only, upload and then delete, upload mirror, download only, download and then delete, or download mirror. I do full two-way, so that I can edit images on my PC, and have them appear on my handset, but YMMV.
Select a folder on your handset and then choose or create a corresponding folder in Dropbox. The sync is two-way here.
You may also want to add your Instagram folder or other photo editing app folders, as well as any other precious data.
The ‘Exclude Name Patterns’ menu is a handy menu, as it enables you to choose specific file types that won’t be uploaded, using wildcards. I recommend excluding any thumbnails by adding:
**/DCIM/**/cache**/.thumbnails**/Thumbs.db
This simple code will exclude pointless thumbnails from the backup.
The rest of the options are fairly self-explanatory. I have ‘Autosync’ turned off, but since Dropsync includes a Locale/Tasker plug-in, I’ve set up Locale to turn on ‘Autosync’ while my phone is charging at night. This way I don’t eat up my data quota (I’m usually connected to Wi-Fi) and I get a chance to delete any less-than-stellar photos before they’re uploaded.
Now, if you have an Android tablet too, you can set your tablet to sync with your Camera folder, so that you’ll have all your photos available on both devices. This way, you can use the larger screen of your tablet for photo editing and uploading.
There are six different backup methods to choose from.
Back up your apps & settings
So, having taken care of your user data, it’s time to back up your system data. This includes your apps, app data (such as settings or game progress), as well as your system data (phone settings and data like SMS and call logs).
The best way to do this is using Titanium Backup, which unfortunately for some, requires a rooted device. If you don’t know what this means or don’t know how to enable it on your device, you can find all the information you need at forum.xda-developers.com. If your device is rooted, you should purchase the $6.49 PRO version of Titanium Backup (the zero-click restore alone is worth the cost of entry) from Google Play.
Before diving into your first backup, it’s a good idea to have a look in the ‘Preferences’ menu. You may want to move the backup directory to your SD card, for instance, or increase the backup history to greater than one (I have two).
The best way to begin the backups is to click on the rectangle with the tick over it up the top-right corner of the screen (batch mode) and select ‘Backup all user apps + system data’. You can then deselect any apps that you don’t want to back up, although user apps are generally the ones you want backed up. Hit the green arrow to begin and kick back for a little while, as this will take a few minutes.
For simplicity, choose a batch backup option and then deselect any items you don’t want to back up.
Next up, we’ll choose some system data to back up. So, back in batch mode, select ‘Backup all system data’ and then ‘Deselect all’, as you’ll probably only want to back up less than 10 things in the list (you can see in the screenshot those I recommend). The XML backup feature (those with Titanium Backup logos next to them) is preferred for those backups that support it, as it allows the migration of things like call logs and text messages between incompatible ROMs.
Here you’ll see the system data I recommend you include in your backup.
The whole point of this article was automation, so now that you’ve shown Titanium Backup what system apps you’re interested in, let’s set schedules to redo all of your backups and back up any new apps you’ve installed.
Set your backup schedule here. There are some suggestions already included with the app.
To do this, touch the ‘Schedules’ tab. You’ll see some already set up. I choose to do things differently however, with all my new and updated apps being updated three times a week (‘Backup new user apps & newer versions’) and a full backup of all previously backed up goodies once a week (‘Forced redo of your backups’). I also have it set to upload these backups to Box when completed. Alternatively, you could have them upload to Dropbox or Google Drive — just log in to these services via the ‘Preferences’ menu.
The main screen shows your backup settings at a glance, including where your backups are sent.
To restore apps in the case of a lost device, simply download them from the cloud and copy the files to your device. Install Titanium Backup and go to the ‘Restore’ section of the batch menu. This way, you’ll never have the misfortune of losing your games data. If you’re moving to a different version of Android, not every app will be able to have its data migrated, although most will.
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