Backing up phone options and insurance question

[gazmix]

Hi
My z3 compact contract is up on April 1St and am wanting to back my phone up.
My pc is too old to install pc companion and won't even accept my phone being plugged in despite trying to install drivers and all public pc's won't let me do this.
Can I backup to Google drive? Photos, videos, calendar, texts etc?

Also if I go sim only can I still have my phone insured in a sim only contract?

Many thanks

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi

Some info in > http://support.sonymobile.com/gb/xperiaz3compact/userguide/Backing-up-and-restoring-content-on-a-dev...

I back up to my Google account and I use Dropbox too and My Samsung Account too with contacts also in my gmail. I save items to my Sd Card too. 

There are a few ways to insure a mobile phone. 

Some bank accounts also provide cover as a perk of the account. 

Network provided cover and 3rd party options. 

The answers yes to covering your phone if you wish via Vodafone. 

What-is-Vodafone-Covered-and-how-do-I-get-it.

[hrym]

Yes, you can use Google Drive, which will probably have enough space unless you have a lot of content. It may also take quite a long time, depending on your network upload speed. There are other options however:

1. Buy an sd card.  You can then copy everything to this and transfer it to the new phone.  Set it as default storage for as many apps as possible and things like photos and music should go there automatically.  You'll never have to fiddle about with backup again. :smileyhappy:

2. Install a file manager app such the ES File Manager or File Manager from Cheetah Mobile (that's the one I use, but they're both good).   You can then use it to access a shared drive on a PC (t logs in just like the PC itself) and back up to that.   Note, btw, that 3rd party File Managers CAN'T write to an sd card due to Android security - you have to use the system one for that, but they don't access external networks.

3. Use the Transfer My Phone option which should be in you phone's main settings menu (as long as it's running Lollipop onwards).  That'll pick up logs, SMS, contacts and quite a lot more, though how much depends on the manufacturer and whether the two phones are the same brand, I think.

Edited to add: you can't back SMS up directly to Google Drive.   If the Transfer option isn't available, there are apps which will will back them up.

[gazmix]

Thanks I think I can backup to Google drive just using my phone.
Things never go smoothly. Does it mean I can backup all texts, etc to Google drive.?

Thanks

[gazmix]

Thanks
I got an sd card which has now all my pics and vids on it. Not sure why everyone doesn't go this way.

I can't find the option in settings to backup texts, tasks etc though.

Is there any way to put pics/vids to both phone and sd card incase either the phone or card damages.
I had years ago a Sony Ericsson w995 and I backed up to card then the card broke.

[hrym]

The only way to back up texts is to use a 3rd party app.   The one to go for used to be called SMSBackup+, but I have a feeling it may have been renamed.   I'm not sure what you mean by Tasks (though, if it's a To-Do list, use Google Tasks).

You can't duplicate files automatically on internal storage and the card other than by periodically copying.  A better solution is to use cloud backup - Dropbox or Google Photos (or both).  You can limit uploading to wifi only to save mobile data.   Google Photos by default uses Hi Res rather than Original Quality, which doesn't count against your storage limit, so you don't need to do any housekeeping.  Dropbox is best used as a vector for transferring to a PC.   It only has a 2gb free limit, but preserves the files intact and uncompressed.

[jeffkinn]

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@gazmix wrote:
Thanks
I got an sd card which has now all my pics and vids on it. Not sure why everyone doesn't go this way.

---

If you lose the phone having an external SD card doesn't help a lot. Photos should be uploaded to a cloud storage service and the best one is Google Photos. I use that even though I'm now an iPhone user. Microsoft OneDrive can do the same thing.

[hrym]

There are indeed downsides to using a card.   They're slower (slightly), a little more prone to failure than internal storage and, as Jeff says, if you lose the phone, no help at all.   That's why off-device backup is essential.

All that said, I do use a card, for the follwing reasons:

Ease of transfer

Recoverability if the phone itself fails - I'm not locked out of my content

I do use cloud and other backup, though.

[gazmix]

OK I will backup to Google photos or drive, (are they same thing)? When I have phone back from repair.

Vodafone can't insure phone once I go sim only unless it's a 2 years contract.

[jeffkinn]

They are almost the same thing. Photos is a subset of Drive. If you upload in high quality but not the full file size they offer unlimited storage.