I broke my HDMI jack trying to force a USB cable into it in the dark. I have a protection plan, but want to back my data up. Can I just copy the file structure to a PC and copy it back later?
EDIT: I missed the "file structure" key word.
Only copy your personal data and back up apps and data with Titanium. Copying and restoring everything can screw things up. I had a friend who did this and his phone immediately started acting weird.
Original post below:
First, what data do you want to back up?
Personal data like pucs, movies, etc? Or app data like game progress, etc and the apps themselves?
Personal data is easy to backup and can be copied by simply connecting your tab to a pc via usb.
App data will require root.
You can use a program like Titanium Backup to save "User Apps + Data" to the internal SD card. Then, just copy the Titanium Backup folder to your pc like the personal data method. Once you get your tablet back, copy that folder back, download Titanium Backup from market, and tell it to use that folder as the default location. Then, just restore.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Android Tablet Forum
For the average user, you seldom need to backup anything but your pictures and music and movies. Essentially, anything you sideloaded, you should back-up.
Use a file manager to copy (or move) all the things you want to a MicroSD card /mnt/external_sd and then remove the card. Pop it in the new tablet when it arrives. For media (movies, pics, music) there is no reason to move it back, just leave it on the add-in MicroSD card.
Game progress is the most likely thing you will lose. Some games handle this differently. Not all store progress in user areas, but most do.
In Settings / Privacy, there is a Backup and Restore option that will backup application data, wifi passwords, etc to Google Servers. This is usefull if you want to un-install an app and have it auto-restore everything when you re-install it. I can't guarantee it works with all apps.
Most of the directories in /sdcard can be copied but If you dig around in them, you may find that you don't need all that crap, and there will only be a few things you actually need. Its not worth rooting the tablet for i my opinion, especially since it means you probably won't get ICS once you root, and you will have to side load that too.
I would recommend a factory data reset (settings / privacy ) before mailing the tablet in for service, because I suspect you will get a different tablet back than the one you sent in. Nobody does board level repair work any more. Who knows where your old tablet will go.
Yeh, I looked at the HDMI with a magnifier, and it's ugly. Everything else works great.
Thanks for the advice. Sounds like a user data backup should be pretty easy, jut have to reinstall all my apps. I've rooted my Android phone, but haven't got that far with the A500. I downloaded Gingerbreak, but the virus alarms started going off, and the 3.2.1 update showed up, so I decided to learn more. Any thoughts on rooting?
