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Ask HN: How do you backup your Android?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you backup your Android?

#101

Post by hiatus »

dsp_person wrote: post #70
drio wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, very sad. Two alternatives exist: 1. Syncthing-Fork ( https://github.com/Catfriend1/syncthing-android ) - Works just like the official app. Install from F-Droid or GitHub. Single developer but active. 2. Syncthing in Termux - Run the actual Syncthing program in Termux. Takes more setup but uses the standard version. The fork is easier to use, while Termux needs more setup but gives you the standard Syncthing exp…

Are there any issues or tricks for syncthing in termux, for e.g. always running in the background?

Termux persists for me via a silent notification—is that what you mean?

Re: Ask HN: How do you backup your Android?

#102

Post by thebeardisred »

deathanatos wrote: post #38
m463 wrote: post #28

wow, hacker news and all these people just "phoning it in" We really need more folks to hack on their phones and set/spread a good example. Otherwise "general computing" will be replaced by landlords. The concept of a landlord may be traced back to the feudal system of manoralism (seignorialism), where a landed estate is owned by a Lord of the Manor... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landlord#History

Perhaps a few more responses now from people who own their data? There are still a scary few "I use adb" or "I copy the data over MTP" Sadly, not everything on the phone is visible to those two. IIRC, [MS]MS logs aren't (I might be wrong here though) and if you use Google Authenticator, your OTPs aren't , which I learned the hard, hard way. I need to root my phone.

Tragically, as you mention, the security restrictions on most apps at this point block filesystem access via adb.

Wild to learn about the OTPs, I'll need to take a look and (likely) rectify that security hole since I manage my backups myself (at enrollment time the keys go in escrow).

Re: Ask HN: How do you backup your Android?

#103

Post by elorm »

ur-whale wrote: post #74
seszett wrote: post #8

My device is rooted and I use NeoBackup to backup apps with all their data (including what the app developer marked as "should not be backed up", often data that they would like you to backup on their own cloud instead). Syncthing synchronises these backups to my home server automatically, as well as the phone's user data (photos, mainly). The photos are additionally sent to Photoprism. I avoid Google's cloud as much…

> My device is rooted A problem in and of itself: brittle when upgrading, won't work with you banking app, etc...

Play Integrity Fix.

Re: Ask HN: How do you backup your Android?

#104

Post by seb1204 »

jasoneckert wrote: post #15

I just plug in an external SSD formatted with exFAT via the USB-C port and manually copy folders (Documents, DCIM, Downloads, etc.) to it in the Files app. After dismounting it in the Settings app (Advanced menu), I plug it into my computer and copy any files over I want to store there too (e.g., Pictures).

How do you deal with duplicates when you copy the files?

Re: Ask HN: How do you backup your Android?

#105

Post by troyvit »

fullstick wrote: post #52
rsync wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I back up my photos using termux, rsync, and rsync.net. This model seems pretty solid." This is a common workflow. In addition to termux/rsync we do see a number of people using syncopoli. FWIW, my personal phone is an iphone and I use the excellent 'iexplorer' to browse the phone as if it were a filesystem.

Can you share resources on how to backup through termux? I hadn't thought of that.

I wrote a how-to!

https://troyvit.net/2023/01/backing-up-android-to-rsync-net/

It has one error. termux-job-scheduler isn't a separate install.

Re: Ask HN: How do you backup your Android?

#106

Post by Zak »

exabrial wrote: post #92
grakker wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just install a couple Magisk modules and your banking app should work fine. At least mine does.

Sorry for a dumb question, what are those

To add to the existing comment, the solution I use, and I think the most popular solution right now is called Play Integrity Fix: https://github.com/chiteroman/PlayIntegrityFix/

I haven't had to touch it in about a year, but some apps may try harder to keep people from having control of their own devices.

Re: Ask HN: How do you backup your Android?

#107

Post by seb1204 »

fragmede wrote: post #86
dismalaf wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I would have figured. My actual question is how is Google's backup lacking?

to be clear Apple's "full" icloud backup is full in name only. if you get a new iphone and do a backup and restore, expect to spend several more hours setting up various apps and details on your new device. you'll have to log in to your apps on the new device and setup things there if the app doesn't work with iCloud's backup mechanism. it might be better than android's backup system, but it still leaves a lot to be…

Yep, Signal is not backed up via iCloud for example

Re: Ask HN: How do you backup your Android?

#108

Post by anotherevan »

alyandon wrote: post #6

The only data I care about on the phone already gets backed up by Google and is then exported regularly via Google Takeout. I don't live on my phone so I tend not to generate much of any value on it other than random pictures of things. Prior to Google automatically backing up everything, I used Titanium Backup.

Just to note, it seems Titanium Backup is no longer maintained (last Play store update in 2019) and definitely does not work on more recent versions of Android.

I've found Swift Backup pretty much fills the same role at TB.

Re: Ask HN: How do you backup your Android?

#109

Post by kQq9oHeAz6wLLS »

esperent wrote: post #60
sriacha wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

also use NeoBackup, and it works pretty well for the most part.

Since your phone is rooted, how do you manage banking apps and other things that don't like working on a rooted device? How much work is involved in getting those to work?

I don't use banking apps, but you usually can get around this with Magisk's DenyList.
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