I am looking for a simplified answer - do I need to back up my Droid (to my PC?) and if so, using what?
Please, before I am scolded on using the 'search' function -I have done that for over an hour this morning. Everything I have found refers back to "roots", and my phone does not have roots and I do not know where to get them or how to install them. :unsure:
I'm just a simple gal looking for simple answers. :stupid:
Welcome to the forums. Your phone will handle backup slightly differently that some other devices, and many aspects will use Google's "cloud" to back them up. Here are some general details:
Apps-Anything you download from the Market is linked to your Google account. If you need to move to a new phone, or do a factory reset, your account will sync and your apps will be available for you to download again. Additionally, you can also use an app like Astro to back up the apps to your Sd card. Bear in mind, this will only restore the app itself, not in-app settings. In order to do that, you will need something more advanced that is generally only available to rooted users.
Email- Your Gmail will live on Google's servers. Personally, I also use an e-mail client on my other computers to sync the same account, so I have the originals on the server and copies on my computers.
Contacts- Same as e-mails, generally speaking. I have my Addressbook on my computers set to sync with Google's servers, so again, I have multiple copies should something happen. Details on how to set this up should be available in whatever kind of software you use on you computer if you want to do this.
Photos/videos- This is not handled by the cloud. You can connect your phone to your PC, mount it, then navigate through it as you would a USB drive to find the photos or videos and move them to a computer. This is a good idea, not just to have a backup, but also to keep you phone storage freed up if you take a lot of pictures.
Also, to your questions about "roots". "Rooting" is a process that can be done to gain special permissions and access to the phone's core operating files. People will do this to gain additional functionality outside of what is supported by the official OS. once this process is done, the phone is said to be "rooted".
Hope that helps!
