Full Backup of android phone without recovery on an unrooted phone

• Tweet

• Tweet

We have seen a plethora of tutorial on creating backups of complete phone along with settings and data with the help of ClockWorkMod or any other recovery on a rooted device but there’s something new to learn today which even the advanced users are unaware of.

Creating full backup of your unrooted phone can be useful when you haven’t yet achieved root or don’t want to root your device or unlock the bootloader or you don’t have a custom recovery installed.

Note: This backup method skips SMS backup. Please make a backup of the below items to be on a safer side.

Before you start make sure you backup your data manually with the checklist below:

• Texts/SMS(to internal SD memory) via messages apps or 3^rd party app(find one on Play Store).
• Contacts(to internal SD memory) via contacts app (press menu>backup>choose your contacts)
• Data stored in default Tasks app. (if not in sync with an online service like Google)
• Your Calendar (if not in sync with an online service like Google calendar or use sync utility from manufacturer)
• Backup data of other apps from their own interface(provided they have an option to backup)
• Any data stored on phone memory of device (which will undergo a full wipe)
• Your internal/SD card memory(ie. Internal SD which will not be touched but is an optional backup)

 

Before starting, you will also need all drivers including adb and fastboot installed on your computer, if not already installed, head over to the android adb and fastboot driver installation for PC, Mac and linux guide. Make a note of desktop backup password if any under “developer options” in settings or set a password you can remember and turn on USB debugging (do a little bit of digging on older devices or use universal search to find the options in settings).

If you want to create a full system backup, including app (apks), their respective data, as well as the internal storage on your un-rooted android phone follow the below guide.

Steps to make a full backup of unrooted android phone(ADB method):

1. Connect your phone to computer via USB in Charge only mode.
2. Check USB (adb mode) connectivity by typing “adb devices”. If you don’t achieve success, make sure that you are in the android SDK folder or try disabling HTC Sync which might be interfering in the background.
3. After a successful adb connection is established, type:adb backup –allTyping this command backs up all apps and device data in the android sdk directory where you are running the commands.If you want to backup to be stored in a specific directory(say C:\) or you get errors with above command type: adb backup -all -f C:\backup.abYou can change the output backup file path according to your requirements.
4. Once you proceed to execute the command, you will see a screen as shown below. Here you need to enter the encryption password to protect your backup file from fraudulent access. Please use a password that can be memorized or save it safely somewhere. This password is required is restore the backup, losing the password will leave you helpless when you want to restore the backup.
5. Wait for a few minutes until the backup completes and your phone displays the home screen. Do not interrupt the backup process once started.
6. If you want to unlock the bootloader now, follow the steps to unlock bootloader (HTC phones via HTCdev).

Restoring the backup made with adb :

1. Connect your phone to computer via USB in Charge only mode.
2. Check USB (adb mode) connectivity by typing “adb devices”. If you don’t achieve success, make sure that you are in the android SDK folder or try disabling HTC Sync which might be interfering in the background.
3. Please note down the name and path of backup file (eg. C:\Folder\Backup12062012.ab) and replace it with your path in the command shown in next step.
4. Type the following command:
   adb restore C:\backup20111230.ab
5. Enter the same encryption password you entered during the backup process when a screen(shown below) is shown on your device.
6. The backup will possibly take more time than backup, about 5 minutes. Do not interrupt the restore once started.
7. On completion you will have your phone in the same state as it was before the backup(including system widgets, wallpaper and folder). For anything else use your amazing fingers.

See the full guide on Rooting HTC One X .

---