Similar to computers, your smartphone or tablet requires a data recovery plan. We often forget that the data on our handheld devices could easily be lost. For example, imagine that your phone suddenly stops working. You don’t want all your photos and music to be lost when this happens, do you?
What if you forgot iPad passcode? You may receive an error message saying your iPad is disabled. Such a scenario may require users to unlock, recover iOS system, or otherwise format the system entirely. If you have a data recovery plan in place, then replacing the phone or formatting the operating system becomes less of a hassle.
Experts highly recommend that you back up all the data on your handheld devices to prevent a data loss calamity. Some users may not understand how this process works. Smartphone operating systems can be difficult to navigate, unlike a computer. Read on to find out more about how to prevent smartphone data loss and how to create a backup plan to protect important files:
Use Developer Provided Tools to Back Up
Backing up data on your smartphone or tablet is relatively easy if you are using tools already provided by the OS developer. For Android, this would be Google. A phone setting option is provided by Google to quickly backup everything on your phone. Open the settings option on your smartphone, go to the Google section, and you should see a backup option. On certain Android phones, the backup option is under Google account settings on your phone.
Your data files will be backed up to Google Drive when you choose this option. Remember, you would need to have a Google account synched for this to work. A list of data files will appear, such as your photos, videos, call history, contacts and so on. You can manually choose which of these to backup from the settings menu.
For iPhones and iPads, you may choose to back up all data to iCloud. Apple offers up to 5GB of free space on iCloud that you can use to store backup files. Just like with Google Drive, you can select this option to save files without a computer.
Users of iOS also have a secondary option to backup data to iTunes, in case they don’t have an iCloud account. Your iPhone or iPad would backup data to your iTunes account. You can then access these files from your computer.
Directly Backup to Your Computer
Do you feel that setting up a cloud account on Google or Apple is too much work? If so, you can manually backup all files on your smartphone by transferring data to a PC or a Mac. Simply connect the phone to your computer using a USB cable or Bluetooth. You will now be able to view all data files stored on the handheld device. Copy the files you need and paste them on the hard drive. And voila, you will have copies of important files on your phone on your computer.
Use a Data Backup and Recovery Tool
If the above options don’t work for you, use a third-party backup tool to keep files on your handheld devices safe. This option is recommended for users who don’t want to open Google or Apple accounts. Also, if your computer does not recognize your smartphone, this option would be ideal.
You can download data recovery and backup apps to your phone. The app you choose would backup data either to a microSD card or to the cloud account you specify. Most data recovery apps offer additional perks apart from backup. For example, you may acquire useful tools to repair damaged files or even be able to erase unwanted files. These options are not available with Google or Apple built-in backup tools.
Don’t Wait to Back Up Your Phone
The golden rule of keeping your phone data safe is to back it all up. You may need to create new backup points as you add new files to your phone. Therefore, set a date on your calendar each month or three months ahead to back up data on your devices.
Try the options suggested above to keep your smartphone files safe. Using the developer provided option is the most reliable and convenient. However, if you require additional features, consider a third-party data recovery tool.
