Backup Your Phone Without Root & Unlock

In most cases, a full backup can only be performed after someone has rooted their device and/or unlocked their bootloader. Typically, it’s done using methods like Nandroid backups, which are available in most custom recoveries or with applications like Titanium Backup, which backs up applications and their data for easy restoring. However, not everyone roots their phones. For those who don’t root, they usually have much less of a risk of losing all their data but, as with any electronic device, the risk for failure is always present. Now you can backup your phone without rooting your phone or unlocking the bootloader.

It was discovered awhile ago, but an unpublished feature to the latest versions of ADB is the ability to create backups without root or unlocking the bootloader. There are some limitations. Users must be running Android 4.0 or higher and the backup is only for data. This means it won’t backup applications, but rather the application data. As an example, if you have Angry Birds and you’ve beaten all the levels, an ADB backup will retain those beaten levels. You then have to re-download Angry Birds manually, then restore the app data and all will be as it was. So, in reality, it’s a two step process. Back up the application data, then either write down or find another way to backup the application so you can install it and restore the data afterward.

The process is otherwise quite simple, if a little tedious. Users are required to have the Android SDK installed in order to get things started. Once that’s done, it’s simply a matter of plugging the device into a PC, running a few ADB commands, setting an encryption password—did we mention the data is encrypted?—and then restoring it once you need it. For the full process, check the source link.

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