How to Backup on Android - The Happy Android

Today our smartphone is practically more important than our desktop PC. That is why it is essential that in the event of a possible breakdown or theft we have a backup of photos, files, contacts and even messages that we store on our Android phone.

In all the methods that we are going to break down below, we are going to show how to backup Android without being root, that is, without the need to have administrator permissions on the mobile device or tablet.

Before starting, if we have lost our multimedia files and what we need is to recover those files but we do not have any backup, please take a look at the post «How to recover photos and videos on Android«.

How to make a backup on Android using our Google Gmail account

One of the advantages of Android being owned by Google is the ability to do tricks like this. From the Android settings we can configure the device to synchronize our contacts, stored WiFi passwords and the data and settings of some apps (mainly those of Google, such as Chrome, mail, Google+ etc.).

To synchronize between our phone and our Google account, just go to "Settings → Accounts”And select our main Gmail account.

Then click on «Synchronization«. Here we will see a list of all the applications and data that we can safeguard: contacts, calendar, Chrome, Gmail, Google Drive etc.

Finally, to make sure that all this data and apps is backed up, we will go to «Settings -> System -> Backup«. From here we will make sure that the «Backup to Google Drive" it's activated.

If it is the first time that we activate this tab, we may also want to take the opportunity to make our first backup. To do this, we click on «Create a backup now«.

In this same window we will see other data of interest, such as the active backups of our call history, application data, device settings, SMS messages and others.

In this way, when we have a new terminal or factory restored, When we configure our Google account for the first time, automatically all the data that we have synchronized will appear again on the phone.

How to make a backup of all our photos

All this is fine, but by default this type of backup does not include multimedia files, videos or photos. To solve this problem we have 2 options:

• Save a backup on our PC.
• Store a copy in the cloud through an application.

Save a backup copy on your PC or Mac

To save a backup on the computer, we just have to connect our Android device to our PC using a USB cable. Once our team has detected the device, we will only have to look for the folders «Downloads«, “DCIM"Or"Camera”.

When we have them located we copy these folders and save a copy on our PC. If we are Mac users we will need to install the application Android File Transfer to be able to do the backup.

Save a backup to the cloud

Another quite comfortable way to keep a backup of our photos is to use an app that is responsible for uploading them to the cloud. For this you can use many apps that perform this function, such as Google Photos, Dropbox, Flickr, Photobucket or Box.

Google Photos

It is personally my favorite, both for its ease of use and its functionalities. Google Photos comes pre-installed as standard in many terminals, and it is really convenient to store photos and images so that they are not lost if we erase the device or it is damaged.

• We install Google Photos (if we don't already have it).
• We open the lateral drop-down and click on «Settings -> Backup and sync«.
• We activate the tab «Create backup and sync«.
• Finally, we click on «Device folder backup»And select the folders that we want to safeguard.

Dropbox

Another fairly simple solution is to use Dropbox: we can download it from HERE, and once installed enable the backup of photos as follows:

• When opening Dropbox for the first time we select "Enable camera uploads”.
• If we already have Dropbox installed we will “Setting"And select"Enable camera uploads”.

We can also enable the app to save a backup of our videos.

How to make an Android backup of my files (PDF, DOC etc.)

In the case of files, as with photos, we can save a copy on our PC or upload it to the cloud. If we do the copy by hand we only have to connect the mobile device to the PC or Mac and copy the files that we want to save. They are usually in the folder "downloads"Or"Downloads”If it is a file that we have downloaded from the internet or from our mail (if it will not be in the location where we have decided to save the document when we create or download it).

If we want to save the files in the cloud we can use other apps for cloud storage such as Dropbox or Google Drive. Google Drive usually comes standard on Android, and whenever we want to upload a file we will only have to open the Google Drive app and select "+" and then "Upload”To choose and upload all the files that we want to save in the cloud.

We can also upload any document to Google Drive by opening it and hitting the share button.

How to backup SMS messages on Android

The latest versions of Android provide for the backup of SMS messages. However, it is something that does not happen with older versions of Android. For these cases we will have to install a third-party application that is responsible for making this type of backups.

One of the most popular solutions isSMS Backup & Restore, a free app with more than 10 million downloads on Google Play, and that allows us to make a backup copy of our SMS and upload them to the cloud to Gmail or Dropbox. It allows to configure automatic and manual backups etc. Very useful.

How to make a TOTAL Android backup

If you prefer to stop fussing, you can also use an app that performs all these actions without having to first copy the photos, then the contacts, apps, SMS, etc. For these cases we can use apps like MyBackup or MyBackup Pro, which are responsible for making a backup copy of practically all the content of our Android device.

If we are going to use this app, I would recommend the Pro version in any case, which even being paid offers greater reliability (or we can do some preliminary test with the free version and see if it suits our needs).

How to Backup SD Card on Android

Finally, in case we want to do a backup of the SD card bareback, that is, of all the SD, it is best to connect it to a PC through an SD slot and make the copy by hand. It is the fastest and easiest.

We can use apps like MyBackup to make the copy, but SD cards usually have a fairly large storage space, and if we want to copy everything without distinction, we are going to spend a lot of space and a lot of data during the process. If the copy we want to make, on the other hand, is selective, we can use any of the above-mentioned methods for its copying and restoration.

Lastly, we can't overlook either Titanium Backup, probably the most complete application of all when it comes to making backups on Android. It is an excellent tool, but yes, only within the reach of users with rooted terminal.

Related: The 30 Best Root Apps for Android