Backups

[unifoner]

I have my first android phone..LG Optimus Dynamic..straitalk phone. It's easy to see that this is really nothing more than a computer that you can use as a phone. And like all brand new computers, one should have a set of backups. However, like some folks here, I resent the google intrusion and don't care to use anything they have. It doesn't matter what they might already have regarding my personal business, I'm NOT willing to make it easy to extract even more. gmail accounts (and facebook) accounts are verboden on any and all of my electronics and in fact, are BLOCKED from them.

So, my question is this...what are my back up options? Can I back up the phone OS etc to my computer? To an SD card? And if so, how? I've not installed anything yet, not activated it yet, not entered any contacts yet, but have shut down some nosey-ware like sync and background downloads for the time being. My pesonal pc more secure than the pie in the sky they call a cloud. I'd like to put a copy there, and I'd like to have copies on sd cards or even on cd's also. I don't want to install any apps until I have the factory settings/os etc all backed up in case I bork something.

AND, can I ad a HOSTS file to the phone? I'll be installing Opera Mini at some point.

Thanks!

 

[argedion]

to do what you wish sounds like to me you need to root the phone and get a recovery that can backup the /system /data folder for you. You can try the adb commands of adb pull or even the newer adb backup however if you can't get root to system then its not going to be very helpful to try a restore using adb restore or adb push commands

Also if you don't root it you can always do a factory reset and take the phone back to factory specs this will erase all user data.

 

[unifoner]

Also if you don't root it you can always do a factory reset and take the phone back to factory specs this will erase all user data.

Thanks for your reply argedion. Does that mean that the factory specs are located on the phone itself, and isn't dependant upon cloud storage?

Does that mean that I can't make a copy of that file (factory restore) to save elsewhere?

I was hoping to have a copy of the factory restore data so that in the event of a bad rooting process, I could restore the phone and not totally brick it. Is that unreasonable of me to expect? I have this sinking feeling it is....

 

[jefboyardee]

I paid about three bucks for AppMonster Pro Backup Restore. It creates, on the SD card, installable APK files of everything installed. The SD card can be copied to your PC for redundancy.

As for pix, tunes, stuff like that, that’s also all on the SD.

As for email, contacts, stuff like that, I just let the cloud take care of that.

I’ve had to recover from a few factory resets and this all I needed. I also use
MyAppsList to keep a text inventory, but that’s not essential.

 

[argedion]

Thanks for your reply argedion. Does that mean that the factory specs are located on the phone itself, and isn't dependant upon cloud storage?

yes the /system/app folder has all the apps on the phone not in the cloud

Does that mean that I can't make a copy of that file (factory restore) to save elsewhere?

not really you again can try to do an adb pull if you want but no guarantee you'll be able to put it back on the phone.

I was hoping to have a copy of the factory restore data so that in the event of a bad rooting process, I could restore the phone and not totally brick it. Is that unreasonable of me to expect? I have this sinking feeling it is....

Not unreasonable just not the reality of it. However rooting and then getting a backup of the current phone state is as close as your going to get.

 

[SulkyAndroid17]

Install a custom recovery before you root and backup the stock ROM. Or if you have Android 4.0+ you can use adb backup.