My Backup & Restore thread. Tips, Tricks, & my experience

Developer-Dude

Update on my 9a

Really liking my 9a, and glad I went with it over the 9 Pro. I dispise the look of the Pro, and iPhones especially. Phones in general just don't look good anymore. But the 9a is good. It looks good, doesn't look busy with a million cameras that poke out and look stupid. Its just a clean sleek look. And the battery life is unbeatable. Even my old 6a was nice, so I think I'm hooked on the "A" series phones now. Anyways, this is a great phone and I highly recommend it if anyone is looking for a new phone. It almost outperforms the Pro. Yeah it doesn't have the top of the line camera, but I'm no photographer. I just need a camera that works, nothing fancy. And the 9a is great at this (actually a very good camera even). Next month I'll have officially been using GrapheneOS for a year, and I'm very happy with it. Could never ever use Stock Android again, and while I know how to use it, I've never liked the layout of iOS. GrapheneOS is the perfect OS!

Developer-Dude

Update

SeedVault Backup

So this time in addition to my regular flash drive backups, I got another flash drive and tried SeedVault again (didn't backup files/photos). I also created a new profile to try restoring the backup, and I was actually impressed! Some apps failed to install, but it prompted me to install them before continuing. By the time I was done, I had an exact replica of my phone. So it turned out quite well. App data (for some apps) was restored also, as well as all my OS settings.

The Flash Drive

As usual, I also did my flash drive backup. The system is working well and I'm happy with how it all works.

Developer-Dude

VLC Library Organization

While not backup related, a nice touch I did that you guys might find handy.

So my VLC library was a MESS. All videos everywhere, mixed up, a mess. So I fixed that.

Create a new folder in Files called VLC and add videos to it
Disable storage permission for VLC and turn on Storage Scopes. Allow only access to VLC
Open VLC. First off, you'll notice how much cleaner its looking by not displaying every single video on your device there, but only selected ones.
Create playlists. Create playlists to categorize videos. It'll be much neater and easier to navigate.

I basically use VLC as my personal offline YouTube. If I download a video I move it to the VLC folder and the appropriate playlist. It makes for a much better video experience!

Developer-Dude

VLC Internet permission

Thought I'd mention this. Internet permission is optional, yet I have it allowed because then you can remotely access your library I recently figured out, which is SO cool!

Developer-Dude

Oh darn! Just realized I've been officially using GrapheneOS for a year now!! Wow. I honestly can't believe it!! Its been absolutely awesome! I'll never use Stock Android ever again. I only installed GrapheneOS to test it and see what it's about. But I never uninstalled it because I liked it so much! Its been so awesome having a phone I'm always in control of!!

GOoGone

Thank you for this thread! I have fought with the backup system on Android for months now and finally got it somewhat working, but it's just too much trouble. Your thread did help a lot though.

I've decided I'll run this phone as long as it'll go, then I'm going back to Apple. Specifically for notifications (esp weather alerts) and the ease of backup/restore.

If they ever fix this particular problem, I'll be hooked!

Developer-Dude

GOoGone Thank you for this thread! I have fought with the backup system on Android for months now and finally got it somewhat working, but it's just too much trouble. Your thread did help a lot though.

Glad I could help! I always try new ways to backup my phone to see what the best methods are and post them here to be of help! :)

GOoGone I've decided I'll run this phone as long as it'll go, then I'm going back to Apple. Specifically for notifications (esp weather alerts) and the ease of backup/restore.

What exactly is the problem with notifications, if you don't use Google Services? There are very good open source weather apps

GOoGone

Developer-Dude

The alerts issue is that alerts are "Alert from App" and not "Tornado warning for your current location", even with location on full time for the app. I can't seem to fix this, though I've meddled with it quite a bit.

As for open source apps, they are too slow for storm prone areas. We are in Tornado Alley and sometimes 60 second delays are long enough to get us killed. Local weather is our only reliable option.

Developer-Dude

GOoGone if you don't mind saying, what weather app is it you are using? I mean, "Alert from App" is better than nothing, you just have to check it. The default emergency alert system on GrapheneOS doesn't warn you?

GOoGone

Developer-Dude

if you don't mind saying, what weather app is it you are using? I mean, "Alert from App" is better than nothing, you just have to check it.

True, but if I'm not there for whatever reason and the kids see it they'll ignore it as meaningless. It's very important to see the whole alert. Think of it as "Russian planes have entered your county", similar to that. We sometimes only have 1-2 minutes to find shelter.

The default emergency alert system on GrapheneOS doesn't warn you?

It's too slow. It's usually 5 minutes or more behind.

The app we use is here:
https://apkpure.com/news-9-weather/com.wdtinc.android.KWTV
It's the only million watt radar in the country.

Developer-Dude

GOoGone you could create a private space or another profile and install the app and google play services. That way it will send push notifications to your main profile, although I believe they'd still be a notification like X app sent a notification from X profile so still useless unfortunately. Unless you use a Private space and leave it unlocked. Then you should get a full notification emergency alert

Oggyo

Developer-Dude Some apps failed to install, but it prompted me to install them before continuing.

Hey, based on your experience, what do you suggest, including the default option re. Backup my apps with APK backup or only the app data (from the three dots menu, Expert settings)?

I need to return to stock temporary due to repair shop requirement (run the Repair mode).

Developer-Dude

Oggyo I think I'd suggest Backup my apps since when I tried SeedVault last time, this happened for failed apps on a restore

Developer-Dude Some apps failed to install, but it prompted me to install them before continuing.

When it failed, it prompted me to open the app store (still in the backup setup phase) and reinstall the apps. Worked perfectly actually. Had an exact backup of my phone. Every single app. I just don't recommend SeedVault for files and photos, because its no good at that, at least in my experience

Oggyo

I tried it several times with different options, incl. the default ones.
Even, resetting the SeedVault settings and starting over. But some apps (approx half of them) are displayed with excl. mark next to them and showing Waiting to back up... E.g. Binary Eye, Bitwarden.
I can understand that some PlayStore apps throw App responded no data for backup and system ones with App didn't allow backup, but why about the FOSS apps installed by Obtainium.

Tested it locally (device) and WebDAV running on my NAS. No difference.

Not sure if I can trust the backup, so I can proceed with reverting to stock.

Developer-Dude

Oggyo do what I did and create a new profile and try to restore the backup, just for piece of mind. Or if you want, do my USB drive method. Way more work, but works 100% of the time

Oggyo

Developer-Dude do my USB drive method

Just for the record - I had absolutely the same results when tried backup to USB drive.

Anyway, I'm preparing for manual restore/settings as currently I'm running A16, not sure what OS ver. the Google installer will put and then when back to GrapheneOS the web installer will do the A17. And who knows how the SeedVault will handle the data migration.

Oggyo

OK, after reading https://github.com/seedvault-app/seedvault/issues/ and finding some patterns, I've concluded:

Waiting for backup - happened with apps not backed up because they weren't used recently, e.g. disabled apps, or didn't run for some time (e.g. Restricted battery usage), which I have a lot. This explains my previous experience.
App reported no data for backup - happened with apps which usually have protected backup or no data, They usually can be synced from the cloud, e.g. Bitwarden, Binary Eye.
App didn't allow backup, I guess that happened with apps which are protected from backup, e.g Vanadium.
Some apps display a red excl. mark (!) but running the backup again sometimes successfully back them up. Unfortunately, other set of apps then become like that. So, I'm not sure if they can be restored based on the prevous run, or just the last one matter.

I've tried restoring on a different profile with mixed results.
I use WebDAV mount via DavX5 because it is 2.5 times faster than backup to USB drive and allow me to charge the phone at the same time.

I hope this info to be useful for somebody.

Developer-Dude

Oggyo yes thank you for putting that info here. I found it useful

Developer-Dude

June Backup

Since its now July, figured I should back up my phone from last month. Still been using my USB method and also been trying SeedVault more. I've gotta say I'm actually impressed with it! It actually does seem to work relatively well (in some cases. Thats the catch ;) ) but I don't trust it 100% to restore my phone yet, although it did a really good job last time I tried restoring a backup (Developer-Dude). Not much more to say, all is backing up well!

Ubuntu on my computer

Well, I will add this. Got sick of Linux Mint on my Mac Mini since I have it on my Acer as well and don't need it on the Mini, so I installed Ubuntu! First time, and I gotta say, so far I like it the best out of all the distros I've used (Mint, Arch, and now Ubuntu). It almost gives off an Android feel to me with the UI and I really enjoy it. This may become my main OS, I like it so much. Anyways, that's it for now. Developer Dude over and out. 🫡

Developer-Dude

Photos

Oh yeah. Forgot to mention my photos backup solution. I tried Ente Photos and I really like it. Reminds me of Google Photos a little, which I loved. So I can recommend Ente to anyone who needs a goof photo backup solution

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