Today our smartphone is practically more important than our desktop PC. That is why it is essential that before a possible breakdown or theft we have a backup copy of the photos, files, contacts and even messages that we store on our Android phone. We share some tips to make a backup on Android.
In all the methods that we are going to break down below, we are going to show you how to make a backup on Android without being root, that is, without having 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 that Android is owned by Google is the possibility of doing virguerías 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, simply 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 these data and apps are backed up, we will go to « Settings -> System -> Backup». From here we will make sure that the « Backup in Google Drive » tab is activated.
If this is the first time we activate this tab, we may also want to take advantage of it to make our first backup. To do this, click on ” Create a backup now “.
In this same window, we will see other interesting data, such as active backup copies of our call history, application data, device settings, SMS messages, and others.
In this way, when we have a new terminal or factory reset, when we set up our Google account for the first time, all the data we have synchronized will automatically appear on the phone again.
You may like this- How to delete your Google account
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 using some 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 device has detected the device, we will only have to look for the folders « Downloads «, ” DCIM ” or ” Camera “.
When we have located them, we copy those folders and keep a copy in our PC. If we are Mac users, we will need to install the Android File Transfer application in order to make the backup.
Save a backup in 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
Personally, it is my favorite, both for its ease of use and its functionalities. Google Photos comes pre-installed as standard in many terminals and is really convenient for storing photos and images and not to be lost if we erase the device or it breaks down.
We install Google Photos (if we do not already have it).
Open the side drop-down and click on « Settings -> Backup and synchronization «.
Activate the ” Create backup and synchronization ” tab.
Finally, we click on « Backup of device folders » and select the folders that we want to safeguard. It is one of the ways to make a backup on Android.
Dropbox
Another quite simple solution is to use Dropbox: we can download it from HERE, and once installed, enable photo backup in the following way:
When opening Dropbox for the first time we select ” Activate uploads from camera “.
If we already have Dropbox installed, go to ” Settings ” and select ” Activate uploads from camera “.
We can also enable the app to keep a backup of our videos.
How to make an Android backup of my files (PDF, DOC, etc.)
In the case of the files, as with the photos we can save a copy on our PC or upload it to the cloud. If we make the copy by hand we just have to connect the mobile device to the PC or Mac and copy the files that we want to save. Normally 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 that we have decided to save the document when we create it or download it).
If we want to save the files in the cloud we can use other apps for cloud storage like Dropbox or Google Drive. Google Drive usually comes as standard on Android, and whenever you want to upload a file you just have to open the Google Drive app and select ” + ” and then ” Upload ” to choose and upload all the files you want to save in the cloud.
We can also upload any document to Google Drive by opening it and clicking on the share button.
How to make an Android backup of SMS messages
The most recent versions of Android include the backup of SMS messages. However, it is something that does not happen with the 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. It is one of the good options to make a backup on Android.
One of the most popular solutions is SMS Backup & Restore, a free app with more than 10 million downloads on Google Play, which allows you to backup your SMS and upload them to the cloud to Gmail or Dropbox. It allows you to configure automatic and manual backups, etc. Very useful.
How to make a backup on Android TOTAL
If you prefer to leave jaleos you can also use an app that performs all these actions without having to copy the photos first, then contacts, apps, SMS, etc. For these cases, we can use apps like MyBackup or MyBackup Pro, which are responsible for making a backup of virtually 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 if it is paid, offers greater reliability (or we can do some previous test with the free version and see if it fits our needs).
How to make a backup of the SD card in Android
Finally, in the event that we want to make a backup copy of the SD card bareback, that is, the entire SD, it is best to connect it to a PC through an SD slot and make the copy by hand. It’s the fastest and easiest.
We can use apps like MyBackup to make the copy, but normally the SD cards usually have a fairly large storage space, and if we want to copy everything without distinction, we will spend a lot of space and a lot of data during the process. If the copy we want to make, instead, is selective, we can use any of the methods mentioned above for its copy and restoration.