Backup HowTo

Hello, I would like to know, will do the backup applications mentioned above work with the new HTC HD2 phone? I'm thinking about buying this, but I need to know if there is a backup option available for HTC HD2 first. Thanks.

Hi,

I’m facing a problem with my HTC hero, I tried to sign in to my google account and I get this error message

“Can't establish a reliable data connection to the server”

Market doesn’t work with me either :(

Please advise me if there is any way to resolve this problem without rest my device.. In addition, how can I backup my data (contact, calendar and sms messages) in my computer.

Your assistance is appreciated

Maryam

This is a problem I had too. Unfortunatley you will have to factory reset on the phone ( back up your data). You have to register your google account first thing out of the box. Before you go throu all this, It may be an Idea to check that you have the latest firware update as well at the same time.

If you backup to the data card you can always move or copy the zip onto your pc through the usb cable link. (if the online option remains a problem).

Hi - can you tell us where the backup file is or what it's called? I've backed up my data but don't see it on the SD card. thanks

hi,
me just bought htc hero from india and immediately flew to uk..
now the problem was that i wanted to backup all my stuff from the phone
and luckily saw this forum/website..
greately IMPRESSED with the knowledge u share..
keep it up!
THANKS A LOT..
cheers :D

Although I've not tried it yet, Sprite (spritesoftware.com/products/android/backup) provide a backup app for Android devices for $4.99. Looks like it's still developing in functionality but my experience of Sprite under Windows Mobile 6 has been great - very reliable and effective. Sprite have also provided migration tools to move between WM ROM versions.

For those moving platforms, Sprite provide a free WM6 to Android set of migration tools which allows you to move across SMSs, contacts, bookmarks etc.

Do these backup apps backup paid apps also,or will I Have to pay for them again?

Excellent article, I have a WM6.5 phone though and I recently took a backup of my contacts (more than 300+) and texts on my SD Card using PIM Backup. My question is - is it possible to somehow transfer these contacts & texts from my SD Card to HTC Hero? (I wd be getting Hero tomorrow after a loooong wait..). they would be stored in some proprietary format on SD Card I am assuming which might not be readable by an Android Phone?

Thanks Jan! I took a backup using PIM Backup and all the contacts, texts, appointments etc are stored as a .pib file (which is nothing but a .zip file only). Within which there are files in various formats, but just rename them as .csv and they can be viewed perfectly.

I had simply forgotten about the importing contacts in Gmail trick, shall try it out and sych with my HTC Hero!

Thanks once again.

PS : Is it possible to get an auto alert on my email id when you post a new comment here?

Saurabh/ Jan

Could you please elaborate on how you achieved these results?

I re-named the .pib file to .zip, then successfully unzipped it and re-named the resulting files to .csv. Unfortunately, these aren't recognised by Outlook....

Also, I tried logging into Gmail on my PC and tried to import contacts, but to no avail. I tried the .pib file and the .csv file

Can you help? cheers

thanks for the reply jan,

i FINALLY managed to get activesync working on my xp laptop, backed up to outlook, and restored to the hero from outlook.

i will now be backing up to google contacts from a .csv created by outlook, as the csv files unpacked from the .pib file just wouldn't work

thanks again, and great site btw

found an app that does the trick. Contact2Sim

I'm surprised you haven't updated this with a review of Sprite Backup. I used it (and the free migration tool) and it has all worked fantastically.

I agree,
Sprite backup for Android is an excellent backup program
It backs up not only your dat but also your system stiings and all the hanges you made on the several desktops of your phone
Costs only 0,99 dollar

guys, use the custom recovery image from MoDaCo and use nandroid backup. its the most powerfull backup-tool for android, i've seen and used so far! It backs up everything, all your settings and your messages, widgets and desktops
i cant suggest anything else.
cheers

Wavesecure is usually a paid service, but is offering a free lifetime subscription to Android users til March 31st, 2010, so get in quick. It's a great security tool and back-up service.

Here's a link: https://www.wavesecure.com/wavesecure/android.aspx

Hi - I'm sorry, I've read these threads and still confused as I'm running out of time and I can't try all the suggestions here and none seem to fit exactly what I need to do. I have an HTC Hero with lots of texts I want to keep and a very full contact list most WITH PICTURES added. The phone is faulty (signal, etc) and so is being collected tomorrow and replaced with a new identical phone. I keep my battery, SIM (I think SD card too) and all cables, et.c, and just hand over the phone. What I need to be able to do is export all texts and contacts WITH PICTURES in the correct format so that I can then import them back into my new phone so that the contacts will come intact with multiple phone numbers per contact, associated picture, etc. I signed up to googlemail as I read that that was the way to go, but there is no option for htc hero only iphone, blackberry, etc. Could someone please give me a real idiot's step by step guide (no assumptions) listing exactly what I should do (I mean press this, select that, not just "now export your contacts" when they don't tell you HOW to export your contacts). I am on a really tight timescale here as the phone leaves tomorrow and I really don't want to lose all my data. PLEASE HELP URGENT!!! Thanks so much.

Sorry - I should add that I don't want to synch with Outlook as I don't want ALL my Outlook contacts on my phone, I just want exactly what's on my phone now to be on my new phone tomorrow. Thank you.

Thanks but what about all my texts? Can I save them to gmail too and then import them back to my phone again?

I mean all the text messages that are on my phone in and out to my contacts which the Hero keeps as a message thread between you and the contact. How do I get these off my phone and back onto my new phone? And I still can't find the GMAIL app that I need that you mentioned to export my contacts - will that also export all the pictures and 'groups' that I've set up on the phone and seamlessly bring them all back in? Basically I'm looking to duplicate my phone I suppose!

Thank you I'll look there. Will the GMAIL app save all the contacts, with their designated mobile and home numbers (ie. multiple numbers per contact) and their pictures ready to import back into the new phone (when it arrives in 50 minutes!!!)

When I moved from HTC Touch to Hero, I exported all my contacts on the Touch to the Sim Card then inserted the SIM card in Hero and imported them all, no problem. Then I just had to edit them all to move name/surname and add the missing letters to people's names then add pictures to each one. having done all that I'd like to be able to not have to do it all again so will GMAIL app allow me to save all contacts ready for import? Then how the hell do I import if I can get that far? Sorry to be a pain, I can't believe this is not straightforward (maybe it is and I'm just being dim). Thanks for your help.

Hey
Thanks for a nice and super usefull webpage!

I have aproblem:
I used smsbackup on my first hero and it worked flawlessly -
unfortunately i lost the device and had to get a new one - now i have the new one, and i've installed smsbackup, but it wont backup - it tells me that:

"Please make sure you enabled IMAP in your Gmail account settings and check your username and password"

I checked all three things numerous times.
Do you have an idea what can be the problem and how i can fix it?

Thanks in advance,
Lasse

I just thought I would send you an update so this thread can be concluded and may be of help to others. I couldn't get my phone to work with Gmail because I had major connection problems which was one of the reasons I was getting a replacement. So I had to let go of my phone, all the contacts, all the pictures and all my texts and give them to the Orange man who swapped with the new phone. Then came the dilemma. I had the option of saving all my contacts from my Touch to import into the Hero, as I had done just weeks ago when i got the new phone. However, becasue of your advice saying that Sim contacts stay as Sim contacts, I figured I would be in the same boat next time. So I went to my GMail account and manually input all my contacts using my old Touch, and added pictures. My Hero was beside me when I was doing this and I was wondering how to get them down from GMail into my phone. When I picked up my phone they were all already in there as I was typing! Oh the wonders of technology (pretty scary too....). The pictures sync up too. So now at least I know that if I need to replace my phone again, all my contacts and pictures are safe in the ether. Sadly, I had to lose my texts. A final last ditched call to HTC themselves, who were very helpful even though they couldn't help - told me that I couldn't save my texts. SURELY with today's technology and all the amazing features of this phone, they would make a simple backup system and it shouldn't be so complicated for both contacts and texts. Nothing in the user guide to really help you and despite how this thread may read, I am not completely thick when it comes to technology, or maybe.....

sorry - I'm being an idiot!
I have backupped my phone on ASTRO file manager and installed the latest update as instructed
everything is fine but I cannot figure out how to restore from the backup!
I cant seem to even find how I access anything on my SD card!
help!

do I just need to re-download ASTRO from the Market?

Hi Jan,

I just wanted to let you know that there's a new player in the Android backup apps: Titanium Backup.

Just look at the rave reviews:
http://www.cyrket.com/p/android/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup/

It is a free app (with Donate version also available) and can backup EVERYTHING on the phone, including Wi-Fi access points. It can backup/restore normal and protected apps in no time and with zero clicks. It's the only backup tool that will preserve the Market links. With the Donate version it's even faster and you can keep several backups per apps. It can even uninstall system apps !

One drawback: it does require a rooted phone.

Ive got a htc hero on the way but im worried that i'll run out of space for storing apps on the internal memory?? can u store them on an SD card? or if you back them up r they useable from the card??

Thanks
Jimmy

Hi Jan

I tried backing up using my ASTRO and it threw me an error message as follows:
"The backup directory/sdcard/backups/apps could not be created. Please change the directory in the preferences"

I tried changing the name of the directory in the preferences but still no avail. Please assist.

Looking forward to your reply soonest. Cheers, S

Thanks, I realised that I have mounted by USB to my PC and thats why it didn't work. Now it works smoothly.
While I am using sms backup, the notification bar suddenly stops and it never increases for e.g. backed up 48/100 messages...its stays there for a longer time and after a while i stopped backing up and restarted it again...it worked fine and after a while, it does stop again...I keep repeating the process. Is this OK ?
I would also like to know is it possible from the phone to view how many msgs hv been backed up, etc...(in other words a backup log)....Please assist............