[Review] Titanium Backup

[RinTinTigger]

Hey folks,
after i played a lot with my rooted Milestone, i discovered that the pay app i had for backups, called Sprite-Backup was not really helpful. Apps where missing, couldnt be updated and a lot of errors for sheduled Backups occured. It was a pure horror, and i rather didnt wipe instead of doing everything new again. So, i was on the search for a backup-software providing all the important stuff. So i stumbled on TITANIUM BACKUP, in the market.

The features:

Free version:
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- No time limit
- Very fast app listing (~1 second for 300 apps)
- Sort apps by name / last backup / backup frequency
- Filter apps by name / type / status / Apps Organizer labels (also affects Batch operations)
- Backup/restore regular apps + their settings
- Backup/restore protected apps + their settings
- Backup/restore system settings (incl. Wi-Fi AP list)
- Restores the Market links when restoring apps
- Zero-click background batch backup
- Interactive batch restore
- Many batch scenarios (eg: if >N days since last backup, etc)
- Zero-click app un-installer
- Zero-click system app un-installer
- Widgets

Donate version:
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- Branded to Donator's name
- Multiple backups per app (history length can be chosen)
- Zero-click background batch restore
- Batch verification of all backups
- Ultra fast HyperShell (much faster for almost everything)
- Market Doctor can remake any broken Market links (only for apps that were backed up with the link in place)
- App freezer can disable an app (and make it invisible) without un-installing it

---Download the free version here--- ROOT IS NEEDED ---


Pro & Con:

The biggest plus on titanium is its ability to even restore market links on apps. That means, you can not only restore previously used apps, but also download their updates on the market. I havent seen this feature in any other backup software i tested! Titanium just takes out the threat on wiping, or installing another ROM. It restores just everything. Also, it has got an easy user interface, and one of the smartest function included is the "auto busybox installer". This means, if youre not sure how to do that, Titanium Backup is installing Busybox for you!

Another HUGE plus is its interoperabiltity. It can backup your apps for example on android 1.5 and restore em on android 1.6, which is just really awesome!

Negative sides are rarely seen on Titanium Backup. One negative side is that Titanium needs ROOT to be run! But as i see the last noob rooting his droid nowadays, i guess its not that bad, aye? Another negative, and for me one of the biggest, is the lack of a sheduler. I love "Set it and Forget it" - tools. To set what backup you want and at which time, would make Titanium just 100% PERFECT!

Screenshots:

Here are some Screenshots, i took to show you the user-interface and some features:



Overview:

Titanium Backup Donate is the BEST BACKUP APP i ever came across for android! Only feature missing, as mentioned, would be a sheduler for me. But as developer Joel Bourquard mentioned for his future plans, this might be a feature showing off soon! Also the huge functionalities provided was amazing to me. Backup up excactly what you want and even partially restore it on other android versions is just amazing, and more than even pc-backup software is providing mostly! Also, with a price of 3,99 USD its not even expensive. Titanium Backup is very fast. A backup of my 45MB apps and system data only took 3 minutes, and nearly the same on restoring!

Titanum works on all android versions beginning with 1.5 up to 2.1 - Joel stated, that he has 800 Downloads per Day, with a failure percentage less then 0.1 %. It even works on a rooted ARCHOS 5

Combining all pro and cons of the software, it would make it a very good 4.6 out of 5 points! THANK you Joel for this great piece of software!

Future Functions:

Very soon:
- new batch scenarios for removing backups
- persistent filter settings

Quite soon / probable:
- universal app data export/import in CSV / html / text format
- scheduled backups
- improve widgets
- auto-zip and e-mail a backup
- Automatic self-backup of Titanium Backup "apk" to SD card
- filtering/selection of backups by ROM version
- GUI overhaul

Possible:
- universal data exchange between any apps

The Giveaway:

Now guess what?! Joel decided to give away 7 Licenses of the donate version to OUR MEMBERS!
The giveaway is soon to come, stay tuned on www.droidforums.net

And this is NO april fools joke


Tigger

[NeverEndingXsin]

I fully recommend this to any root user who frequently changes roms and wipes data. The payed version is worth the 3.99. I used astro at first to backup apps but got tired of missing the market links and having to wait forever to reinstall apps but titanium backup pro makes it so much easier =)

Thanks for the review tigger, I give this app 10/10 =)

[dave4100]

As soon as I figure out how to root ESE 81 without any roms, I will re-download it. If anybody has the update.zip root file for this build, please point me to the link.

[evilsock]

thank you rin tin tigger. i think more people should be aware of this , bc b4 this, i dreaded swapping roms bc of the app reinstall. now that i have apps to sd i wont be using this as much but ANYONE who has root should support the dev and donate bc the donate ver is well worth it.

[mrdroid]

The paid version really is worth it. No other backup app is this complete and functional.

[Riddick]

This is arguably the best app in the market. Buy the pay version if you want to donate to the developer for making such an amazingly useful app but the free version is excellent and does everything you will need. I don't understand why anyone who is rooted wouldn't use this, right along with SetCPU this should be a mandatory download for root users.

[cj1896]

I use this app everytime I install a new ROM. It lets me wipe and do a clean install no matter what. Also if you clear your widgets off your desktop and then backup your "home 2.1" you can restore all your homescreen setups too! This IMHO one of the most useful apps on the market for a root user.

[styx]

Matth3w would be so proud. :-)

[Matth3w]

Matth3w would be so proud. :-)

I lol'd.

[mamorgan1]

I highly recommend the paid version of this app. It is a real time saver and the developer is very responsive to any inquiries.