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Help How Does the Galaxy Nexus & ICS backup / restore?

T

TheSuperman

Member
I can't seem to find an answer to this.

If I go into Settings, I see a check box for "Back up my data" and "Automatic restore".

I was wondering what type of data get's restored? Is this a full restore? Will I get all apps back, and my customization's like Icon and folder placement?
 
I can't remember exactly what it backs up, but I know it backs up your wifi passwords. Any apps you have installed should be reinstalled automatically, but that doesn't include their associated data. Doesn't the backup screen tell you what's backed up?
 
It's a backup to the cloud of your WiFi passwords, wallpaper, and some other system settings. You can log in to your google account and look at your dashboard and select your mobile device and see what all it includes. Might have to do some googling to get a full list.

It does include your installed applications, so they will re-download from the market if you factory reset, but that is just the app only, not the data, as RobDickson said.

It does not include your icon placements on the home screen.

If you want that, you can root and use Titanium Backup to have access to backing up pretty much any app or setting. There may be apps in the market that allow you to back up some system settings without root. I used to use My Backup a long time ago with my Droid before I rooted it, so that is one to look at.
 
I just disabled the google backup on my GN. It was causing excessive awake times - verified through betterbatterystats. While the automation is a nice plus, I'll take the manual backup via titanium and no battery drain.
 
Haven't experienced this. Google Backup Transport is part of Android system and I've never seen mine be high on this list in either betteryBatteryStats or the regular Battery Usage screen.
 
crankerchick said:
Haven't experienced this. Google Backup Transport is part of Android system and I've never seen mine be high on this list in either betteryBatteryStats or the regular Battery Usage screen.
Click to expand...

On the regular battery stats page it was showing up as "android system" at 27% of the battery usage with like 11hrs awake (not to be confused with "android OS" another heavy battery user). If you look at the services running you'll see a long list, including one that says backup or something similar. Under betterbatterystats - partial wakelocks, *backup* was the number 1 cause with well over 1000 instances and the red bar was 90% of the way across the screen.
 
Agreed, backup was your culprit, just saying, the behavior isn't normal. Something was awry on your phone. I know I value the google backup ability so disabling it would be out for me if I found it was running a muck.
 
In Settings > Backup & Reset > Backup my Data
it says here, "Backup application data, Wi-Fi passwords, and other settings to Google servers

If I log onto "Google Dashboard", > Select "Android Devicea" > Select my Phone:
I see a list of some Application, Backup date, & Backup size.
Now, not all apps are here, and some of these apps are not even installed anymore.

It seems to me that Google is trying to make this work and or, it does work and there's something I need to do to allow a backup of all my apps.

Is anyone familiar with this?
 
I just wiped my phone...now how can I initiate the restore? I don't see any wifi passwords coming back...
Click to expand...

That's what this thread is about. I'm trying to find out more about how the Galaxy Nexus & Android 4.0 backs up.

For starters, sign in to your phone with your Google Account.
 
I've signed in and installed most of my apps again, but you're right...i don't see any options to initiate a restore.
 
I've never owned an apple product, and I gotta say....this is so disappointing that Google has not figured out a way to perform a full backup & restore with out having to root your phone. I mean this is ridiculous! Why should we have to post questions on forums to figure this stuff out? Apple has the icloud now, and iphones have been able to back up & restore for years. This kind of thing may drive me away from android. :(
 
You don't initiate a restore. It just does it.

All of my devices have always restored the system settings that it stores as soon as I sign into my google account on the device after a wipe. This includes my WiFi passwords and my keyboard dictionaries among other things that I can't quite remember. I've noticed with my Nexus and now my XOOM running ICS that it also remembers browser settings, specifically passwords that I allowed to be remember.

The apps that will be restored should install as soon as you log in after a reset as well. I don't think the dashboard lists the apps specifically.

I *have* owned an apple product and while I will say that the restore is more inclusive and easier to initiate (because you actually initiate it), but I don't find the Android implementation lacking *for my purposes*. THe only time my android stuff didn't restore was when I was flashing ROMs that broke the google transport so that my settings never got backed up.

I'm sorry I don't have much in the way of help for stock users. As a root user, you can use Titanium backup to backup whatever you want and batch restore it, so whatever Google backups or doesn't backup becomes irrelevant. I'm sure there are options for all or most of what you would want to restore in the market as a non-rooted user, I just don't know what they are.
 
Mine restored all my contacts, apps and all my passwords. I imagine it'd restore lots of other stuff I didn't notice too.

Thing is, all the paid apps are in the market to reinstall, and I know all my passwords anyway. As for pics and stuff, I always keep them backed up on my pc.

Can't see any other problems, and personally have no complaints with the way android backs and restores stuff.
 
TheSuperman said:
I've never owned an apple product, and I gotta say....this is so disappointing that Google has not figured out a way to perform a full backup & restore with out having to root your phone. I mean this is ridiculous! Why should we have to post questions on forums to figure this stuff out? Apple has the icloud now, and iphones have been able to back up & restore for years. This kind of thing may drive me away from android. :(
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, this is the number one reason people root their phones.

There are some apps in the market that have the ability to back some data up, but CWM and Titanium Backup are by far the best way to backup, but you need root.
 
When I first got my SGN last week, I just logged in to my google account from the initial setup and all my apps were restored/installed onto the SGN. Since then, I have had to wipe my phone, and when the phone reboot after the wipe, it was not able to get a data signal (ie, wifi is turned off, and the phone picked an incorrect carrier and thus no data access) and was always stuck at the "signing in" stage. The only way around this is to by-pass the initial setup, get into the phone first to setup data access, then enter my account information. However, I noticed that when I do it this way, the apps are no longer automatically restored to the phone. Is there a way to manually sync the apps to the phone?
 
What happens if you get a different GN you can't restore the backup from the old phone to the new one?
 
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