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5. Backup

This section may look pointless, as there are many backup & restore programs (I regularly use one). But there are alternatives that may come in handy.

5.1 Backing up applications

Installed applications are stored in /data/apps/, which is inaccessible on unrooted devices. You can, however, backup your .apk files using Ghost Commander or the adb backup command. I prefer the former, which is way faster and more convenient (IMHO).

Start Ghost Commander and select a directory on the internal storage; for example, /mnt/sdcard/Tmp. Move to the other pane, select ``Home'', then ``Applications''. Select the applications you want to backup, the select ``Copy''. Please note that all applications will be listed, including system applications.

To copy the selected .apk to your Linux box, all you have to do is:

Linux~/backups/apk$ adb pull /mnt/sdcard/Tmp/

To restore, say, foo.apk, use this command:

Linux~/backups/apk$ adb push foo.apk /mnt/sdcard/Tmp/

Then open Ghost Commander, move to /mnt/sdcard/Tmp/, and tap on foo.apk to install it.

5.2 Backing up applications data

As explained in Section Main Directories in the Internal Storage, applications data is stored in directories under /mnt/sdcard/Android/data. You already have all the information you need to back up these directories!


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