FULL Backup and restore...no root!

[mirko77]

I have a HTC Desire S, not rooted. A lot of customizations, personal dictionaries, apps, pictures etc.

Let's say I lose the phone, or it gets stolen, or it breaks down whatever.

How can I get EVERYTHING back on a new device? By everything I mean I log in with my Google account to the new device, I run some backup utility and all the apps and their settings, pictures, home shortcuts, videos etc are back like the old device.

Is this possible? I read plentys of post but I did not find a viable solution

So far I have different tools in place:

- Dropbox saves my pictures automatically to the cloud

- SugarSync syncs some of my folders to the cloud, so I can get that content back. Many apps allow me to backup their settings to SD, some of them offer auto schedule backup

- Google backs up my mails, contacts, calendar etc so that is not a problem

Not sure if I will get everything back this way though..and what does the "Backup and Restore" function, under "Privacy", do? I got my phone back from a repair and I had to re-install all my apps manually moreover all the settings were gone...

Many suggest Titanium backup, but I can't be bothered to root my phone...other mybackup pro (and send the backup to the cloud)

Right now I am about to try Sandisk memory zone which lets me backup my whole SD and the internal memory to the cloud (Box for example, where I have 50GB available)...

What are your suggestions? What is the best approach to have a sort of iTunes backup function like in iOS?

Thanks

 

[jefboyardee]

Here's what I keep up-to-date in case I have to start over. I just had to, so I know it works, up to a point:

USB copy the entire SD to my PC
AppMonster Pro to SDK-reinstall apps
MyAppsList to keep track of what I have
ShootMe, no longer available, for screen shots of where icons sat

A lot of app settings must’ve been in the memory, not on the SD, and they all had to be redone... took a few hours, but it worked.

 

[aysiu]

As far as I know, if you want to back everything up, you need a rooted phone. Without root, you can back up most things, but there are some things you need root for.

 

[Rachel A]

I'm in much the same position with my Xoom that I need to send in for warranty service. My phone is rooted and fully backed up however many of my games are on my unrooted tablet and I'm loath to loose the saved game data which can only be accessed either by the app itself or a process with the appropriate permissions (root).

I'm really wishing I'd rooted it early on...

 

[T.M.M.L]

Greetings mirko,

As stated above, in order to have a full backup that you can restore and go, you need to be rooted.

Once rooted, you can do a nandroid backup that will return your phone to the exact state it was in when you made the backup.

 

[mirko77]

I did it. Now I use Titanium Backup. Better safe than sorry