Where is the backup on the phone. Reader question: Backing up data and changing Google account password on Android smartphone

This is the process of creating backups (copies) on your device, which can be used in the future to restore the working state of the smartphone, for example, in case of unsuccessful firmware or loss of the phone. You can copy anything in backups, in particular, you can back up the following data on any smartphone if you have a Google account:

• Photos and other images in compressed quality (on Pixel devices in original quality);
• Files in Google Drive (limited free storage available);
• Settings for any application;
• Data and progress in games, account and most of the saves.

Every smartphone on Android is able to create backups automatically, since this functionality is included in the operating system by default. When connected to a Wi-Fi network, the gadget sends all the necessary data to Google servers and they are stored there until they are needed again. All this is available for free to any registered user.

This is an extremely useful feature for any owner of a gadget with an Android operating system. With backups, you can save app data, files on your device, game achievements, and more. All information is stored on separate Google servers, and completely free of charge. This is done so that at any time you need, you can easily restore this data, no matter where in the world you are.

Here are a couple of scenarios for the development of events in which the backup system comes in handy:

• You lost your gadget and eventually lost all the important information on it. Thanks to the backup, you can log into your Google account on any other smartphone and restore data;
• You do not have access to your smartphone, but you need to see the list of contacts, photos on it, or some other files. In this case, the previously created backup will come to the rescue. Thanks to this process, you can go to the Google website in your account and see all contacts from any device (even from a computer through the site) or through Google Photos, Google Drive. There you can view all files saved in the server cloud;
• You have decided to change the gadget or reset it to factory settings. It is enough to perform the backup procedure and all your application settings, games, contacts, photos and so on will be saved. To switch to a new device, simply sync the data by logging in with your account.

Why do users turn off backups?

It is impossible to say unequivocally whether it is worth turning them off or not. Let's see what are the disadvantages of enabling backups. In fact, there are not so many of them, but they are significant:

• The main disadvantage is traffic consumption. As soon as you connect to a Wi-Fi network, the smartphone starts uploading everything to the Google cloud to create another copy. This not only slows down the smartphone itself, but also reduces the speed of the Internet. Fortunately, in the system, you can turn off backup when connecting via the mobile Internet to save traffic;
• Your smartphone will run out of battery much faster while copying. Although this will often happen at home, it is still sometimes very critical, and if you use Wi-Fi in a public place, it will create extremely big problems;
• Your data will not be completely protected. If suddenly your account is hacked, the attacker will have access to all your contacts, photos, files and other documents. Therefore, it is better to set up double authentication and brute force a strong password.

If you are prepared that sometimes the smartphone will consume a lot of traffic, you will not be sufficiently protected and sometimes the smartphone will start to discharge too quickly when connected to the network, then you may not turn off the backup, because this technology has many positive aspects. But there is also an alternative method, which we have informed you about below.

If you don't want the backup to work every time you connect to a Wi-Fi network, but you really need this technology for cloud storage, there is a way out. You can turn off the backup system, but at the same time do this very copying manually through the settings. To do this, go to the menu with backups in your Google account and manually synchronize all data, and also do the same in the "Data Synchronization" tab on Google Drive.

Shutdown procedure

To disable the backup system, go to the smartphone settings. For example, through the notification curtain.

Then find the "Accounts" item and open this menu.

In it, you must select a Google account. You can also enable or disable automatic syncing here. Turn it off if you don't want the device to sync some data automatically every time you connect to Wi-Fi.

In the Google account of your choice, go to the sync settings.

And in this menu, you can manually synchronize your Google account data.

For manual synchronization, click on the required item and synchronization will occur. This is how the synchronization process looks like:

But that is not all. We disabled and manually synchronized only a part of the files, or rather the system ones.

To turn off the backup of applications and games, go to "Settings", then find the item "About phone" and in it open "Backup" - this is for the latest version of the Android operating system. If you have an older version, for example, 7.1.2 or lower, then go to "Settings" and there look for the item "Backup".

From this menu, you can easily turn off Google Drive data backup by simply flipping the switch.

Also, to create fresh backups, just click on all the necessary items, and they are synchronized. In the "Application data" tab there is an item "Data recovery automatically". Thanks to this option, the next time you download an application that you already have installed, Google Drive will automatically download its backup copy.

To turn off photo backups, go to the Google Photos app and turn off sync in its settings. This can be easily done through the Google website under "Privacy".

Last month, we looked at a great backup implementation for Apple iOS devices. What about other platforms? Today we will take a look at the main iOS antagonist - the Google Android platform. How to save data with and without root access? How to restore data from a backup, is it possible, and most importantly - should it be done?

Backups: Google Android

Let's define the terminology. In this article, we will write exclusively about the Android flavor that comes with Google services. We are not interested in open source code, AOSP, third-party firmware now: the number of their users is minimal, while these users are excellent at creating and restoring data backups when flashing the next "custom". The topic of today's conversation concerns the remaining 99% of users who want to open the box, enter the username and password for an account and get something that works.

In this study, we used about a dozen devices from ASUS, Google Nexus and Pixel, LG, Motorola, Sony. We tested both data recovery to the same device after a factory reset and data migration to another device.

So what are the backup mechanisms available on Android? From the diversity of available solutions, your eyes just run up. Let's start with applications that are supplied by device manufacturers.

Manufacturer solutions

Device manufacturers often offer proprietary data backup utilities. Some (for example, SONY) offer to install the application on a computer, others (ASUS, LG, Xiaomi) build the corresponding functionality into the firmware. Samsung offers to create backups in its own "cloud".

There are two things that unite solutions from manufacturers. Firstly, the created backup will be complete enough, which allows you to fully restore data after a device reset, firmware update or upgrade. Secondly, it will not be possible to restore a backup from a SONY phone to an ASUS tablet (and vice versa): you need to restore it with the same software for a model of the same manufacturer. But Xiaomi backups will be compatible with most devices running the MIUI firmware family. The flip side of the coin is the complete absence, even in the international versions of MIUI, of the standard "cloud" backup in Google Drive, which Google offers in Android 6.0, 7.x and 8.0.

However, if the device is going to be used for a long time, why not create a backup? Yes, this is not always convenient, and yes, it is not automated in any way, but is there a possibility? And if something happens to the phone, and if the user decides to replace it with a device from the same manufacturer, then it may be possible to restore it from a backup. Of course, there is no guarantee: the manufacturer guarantees successful restoration only to the device of the very model from which the data was copied.

Backup: Google version

Android devices come in a variety of platforms, architectures, manufacturers, hardware and software configurations. It is difficult to ensure that backups created from a phone from one manufacturer do not destabilize the operation of a smartphone running on a completely different architecture. This is probably the main reason for the speed with which Google implements backup mechanisms.

Historically, the backup mechanism appeared in Android 4.3. It was only available in development mode and only through adb - Android Debug Bridge. In other words, it didn't exist for "regular" users.

At some point, Google began to sync some data with the cloud. Now, when restoring a device, it was suggested to restore data (shortcuts, applications and settings) from one of the previous devices. This functionality, strictly speaking, is not part of Android, but is implemented in proprietary Google services.

Since Android 6.0, cloud backup has officially become part of the operating system. Now it is enough for the developer to include a checkbox in the application manifest that allows data backup, and the system will automatically copy them to the "cloud". Of course, the "cloud" is from Google, and the data is tied to a Google Account, so users of AOSP assemblies without Google services are left out.

Let's consider these mechanisms in more detail. Breaking the chronology, let's start with the most modern and interesting mechanism introduced in Android 6.0 and logically developed in versions of Android 7 and 8.

Android 6.0: we did it!

New in Android 6.0 includes the ability to automatically back up application data at the system level. Now applications do not need to create their own backups. To automatically create backups of data in Google Drive, the application developer just needs to specify the appropriate checkbox in manifest.

In theory, everything looks more than interesting. After resetting to factory settings or purchasing a new device, the smartphone will automatically pick up the settings from the cloud, install the applications that worked on the old device itself, and automatically configure them, restoring the saved data. Almost like Apple! This is how the system worked in pre-release builds of Android M until release.

In the official version of Android 6.0, Google developers decided to be careful. If in preliminary assemblies automatic backup worked for all applications whose authors did not explicitly block this feature (opt-out flag in manifest), then in the official version of the system, backups are created only for applications whose authors explicitly requested the service ( opt-in via manifest) and added support for Android 6.0 (targeting API level 23).

How many developers have taken advantage of this opportunity? At the time of the release of Android 6.0 - not much, as expected. And six months after - too. In the article Android 6.0 has a great auto backup system that no one is using (yet), the journalists took a close look at which applications use and which do not use the backup mechanism built into Android 6.0.

The results were surprising. Primarily the built-in backup mechanism DOES NOT USE Google apps. The developer of the new backup system himself decided to do without it. The basic system settings, alarms, "quiet mode" are restored, but the data of Google applications is not restored; they have to be re-configured. And large social media apps, email clients, games, and other popular apps are in no rush to add support. Of course, the situation is slowly changing over time. After resetting the Nexus 5x and recovering from the cloud, the following happened:

- all applications have been restored. However, they were installed from Google Play, i.e. the latest versions were always restored

- some of the settings have been restored: languages ​​of the built-in keyboard, “quiet mode” settings, alarms.

- the history of calls and SMS has not been restored. (More on this below).

- Facebook settings were not restored.

- the data of part of the applications was restored, the other part was not.

You can read more about the Android Backup Service on the Google page

Android 8.0

Let's skip Android 7.x, which differed little in terms of backups from the 6th version of the system, and consider the innovations in Android 8.

In the eighth version of the "green robot" was added back up SMS text messages... Moreover; backing up SMS to the Google Drive cloud was implemented much earlier, back in Android 7.x, but exclusively for Google Pixel devices. And starting from Android 8.0, SMS backup became available to all users of the system.

Call log backup

Call log backups are available on some devices. It looks like Google has been testing this system since early versions of Android - we were able to observe the backup and restore of call logs even on smartphones with Android 6.0 installed. Despite this, the call log backup was unstable for a long time. It seems that the Google developers managed to finally debug the mechanism only with the release of Android 8, and it worked simultaneously on all devices, including smartphones with Android 7 and 6 on board.

Extracting data from the cloud

First of all, in the same way as for downloading data from iCloud, we need a username and password for a Google account. If two-factor authentication is enabled in the account (and it is being activated more and more often), then a one-time code will also be required, which will be generated by the Google Authenticator application, Microsoft Authenticator or any of the many third-party ones (they work on the same principle, and only the cryptographic initialization code differs, which issued to the user in the form of a colored QR code).

Elcomsoft Cloud Explorer is used to extract data

After completing the process, we get access to information from the user account:

The amount of information Google collects is overwhelming and shocking. Yes, in the abstract, we know that Google collects data from Android devices. We know that every web page you open, every browser bookmark, and every search for the Good Corporation is saved (looking for a recipe for making a nuclear bomb at home is not a good idea.)

A list of devices, applications installed on them and application data itself is available:

Of course, there is access to photos (hello iCloud!):

The most detailed history of movements is saved:

And here's the same thing in text form:

There is a ton of interesting data available. There is far more to be found in the Google account than Apple's solutions have ever dared to save.

Where and how is all this data retrieved from? And this is perhaps the most interesting thing. Google has a policy of maximum information transparency. The user at any time can view or download all the information that the corporation has collected about him. Any data can be deleted, and for this you do not need to destroy your account. Finally, you can turn off the collection of certain types of data (for example, you can configure your phone so that its location information is not sent to Google).

You can download information from your account through the Google Takeout service: https://takeout.google.com/

Here you can choose which types of data we want to download:

The selected data will be packed into a file and provided as an archive:

What's the catch? Why do you need Elcomsoft Cloud Explorer if you have Google Takeout?

In addition to the fact that Google Takeout does not give out all the data (for example, it is impossible to download SMS messages), the problem arises with the analysis of the information received. To store and export data, Google uses a lot of different formats (mostly open). For example, movement data is returned as a JSON file, and Google is not an assistant in its analysis. He is not an assistant to the special services either: according to the company's official position, Google obeys the law and transmits data in clear text and in a standard format ... what will be done with them next is not worried about the company. But the very fact of issuing information to special services Google will record, save and will publish.

One more point. When downloading via the Google Takeout service, the user will definitely receive a notification that warns that such and such data was downloaded from such and such an IP. Using Elcomsoft Cloud Explorer significantly reduces the likelihood of such notification.

And the last thing. Google Takeout for some reason does not allow downloading passwords synced in Chrome. Elcomsoft Cloud Explorer retrieves them without any problems:

Generally speaking, Google provides access to this information, but using standard tools is extremely inconvenient. With the help of Google itself, passwords are available one at a time through the site https://passwords.google.com/

In conclusion, we note that the use of third-party tools for downloading and analyzing data from a Google account is not only convenience, but also the completeness of the extracted data, and cleaner extraction, leaving fewer traces on the user account.

Backup via ADB

Starting with Android 4.3, the system has a standard way to create a backup via the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) interface. To do this, you need to download the minimal ADB set, which consists of adb.exe, fastboot.exe and the required libraries (no installation required). In addition, you will need to download and install the ADB drivers for your device. As a rule, the drivers are the same for devices operating under certain sets of system logic. For example, Qualcomm's ADB drivers are universal and fit all Snapdragon-based devices. Let's assume that the USB debugging mode is already activated, and the computer is authorized.

So, to create a backup, you need to use something like the following command:

adb backup -apk -shared -system -all -f C: \ fullpath \ backup.ab

Why "approximately"? Due to the same variety of devices and firmware. We have tested a large number of devices from different manufacturers running different versions of Android from 4.4 to 8.0 inclusive. On some devices, the command worked in the specified form, on some, specifying the -system or -shared keys led to the creation of an empty file, and some refused to accept the -all key. We could not catch any logic in the behavior of the adb command; One thing is for sure: its behavior depends little on the version of Android. Rather, the dependence here is on the settings given by a particular manufacturer.

For example, on a Nexus 5x running Android 7.1.1, the following command went through:

adb backup –all –f c: \ temp \ nexus.ab

But the -noapk option "broke" the backup: an empty file was created.

And ADB backup may not work if encryption of the data partition is enabled. As a reminder, encryption is enabled by default on Nexus devices, as well as (at Google's request) on all devices that come with Android 6 preinstalled and are equipped with 64-bit processors.

One more point. Adb backup is designed in such a way that a backup created on one device can be restored to another without any problems. And the key word here is not "restore" at all, but "no problem": the device must work absolutely correctly after restoration. Accordingly, only those data and settings are saved and restored that will definitely not harm stable operation even when data is transferred from a 32-bit smartphone with a MediaTek chipset (ARMv7 architecture) to a 64-bit tablet with Intel Atom (x86-64 architecture).

The ADB backup command has the following syntax:

adb backup [-f ] [-apk | -noapk] [-shared | -noshared] [-all] [- system | -nosystem] [

- write an archive of the device's data to .

If no -f option is supplied then the data is written

to "backup.ab" in the current directory.

(-apk | -noapk enable / disable backup of the .apks

themselves in the archive; the default is noapk.)

(-shared | -noshared enable / disable backup of the device's

shared storage / SD card contents; the default is

(-all means to back up all installed applications)

(-system | -nosystem toggles whether -all automatically

includes system applications; the default is to

include system apps)

(Is the list of applications to be backed

1. If the -all or -shared flags are passed, then the

package list is optional. Applications explicitly

given on the command line will be included even if

Nosystem would ordinarily cause them to be omitted.)

It will be easy to restore data from a backup using the adb restore command.

What gets into such backups? Again, the answer depends on the device manufacturer. For example, in SONY smartphones, contacts, call log and SMS are not included in ADB backups, while Samsung phones save this data. The same applies to device settings (which are often manufacturer-specific) and system application data.

The list of installed applications is exactly included in the backup. The .apk files are extracted and saved (if the corresponding option was specified during the copy creation). But application data may or may not be saved: it depends on the developers who may or may not allow backups in the application manifest file. That being said, restoring from an adb backup is a lottery: on most modern devices applications (.apk) from the backup will not be installed on the device... Thus, in modern conditions, backup via adb cannot be recommended to the general user, but it can be useful for conducting an expert analysis of the contents of the device.

From a practical point of view, we have not been able to derive much benefit from such backups. When working with adb backup, you still have to log in to Gmail, Facebook and other mail and social network clients. The settings of FBReader and Nova Launcher (which, by the way, has its own mechanism for creating backups) were not saved. What has survived? I can hardly remember that on some devices it was possible to restore the call log and the archive of SMS messages.

ADB Backups: What's Inside?

Backups created via adb are pretty simple. The output is an archive containing application data (depending on the settings - and actually.apk). Application data is saved as the application itself stores it. As a rule, applications use the SQLite format, less often - XML, even less often binary data in its own format. There are so many tools invented to analyze SQLite that a separate article would be required for the very brief overview. Let's just say that with the help of such tools, you can pull out deleted records. Example? Please. If we are lucky, and the manufacturer of your phone has allowed copying the call and SMS log, then it will be possible to restore messages and calls that were deleted by the user.

Conclusion

Today we looked at some of the backup mechanisms available on Android devices. The fragmentation of the platform does not allow us to consider all the existing methods and applications designed to facilitate data backup and migration, but even those that have been considered demonstrate rather strict limitations both in compatibility and in the completeness of the copied data. On the whole, our conclusion is as follows. When using Android 6.0 and newer versions, it makes sense to activate both "cloud" synchronization of contacts and photos, and "cloud" backup to Google Drive.

The built-in ADB backup mechanism can help extract some of the user data from the device. Unfortunately, for its intended purpose - for backup and painless data recovery - abd backup cannot be used.

As a result, the Android backup system is rated “better than nothing”. No one could do worse than in Android: even in old Windows Phone 8, backup (and restore!) Works much better.

And what about backups for the outsiders of the market, phones running a mobile version of Windows and BlackBerry 10? More on this in the next issue!

Recovery options vary by device and Android version. For example, you cannot recover data from a device with a later version of Android to a device with an earlier version.

Backing up content

• Photos and Videos
  You can set up automatic backups of your photos and videos to Google Photos.
• Files and folders
  You can manually upload files and folders to Google Drive.

Backing up data and settings

To protect your backups, use a PIN, pattern, or password instead of swiping or Smart Lock to lock the screen.

Note. If the tablet is used by more than one person, only the owner can back up or reset the tablet.

How to add a backup account

How to switch between accounts for backup

Backing up data and settings manually

If you are using Android 8.1 and below, you can back up manually at any time, for example, if you want to transfer information to a new phone.

Deleting data after backup

Restore data and settings

When you add a Google account to your device, all the data previously reserved for that account is loaded there.

How to restore apps

When you restore your Google Account from a backup, the apps that were previously saved in that account are installed on your device.

Note. Not all old applications can be restored this way. If some apps are not added automatically, download them again from Google Play.

When it comes to creating a data backup or restoring, so that quickly and reliably, many Android users think about what and how, in this article you will find many ways how and how to back up and recover later!

Why backup?

1. Your personal Android can store a lot of information that is very valuable for which it is not permissible to lose it, or for example, you are planning to move from one Android device to another! Of course, when it comes to, for example, Google services, everything is very simple here, entered the username and password, waited 2 minutes until it was completed synchronization with the Google server and the data is all in place, but with other applications you will have to suffer to quickly make a backup and recover.

Method number 1 - backup on Android and restore using standard ADB tools

Thanks to Google for taking care of creating a backup, not perfect but better than none!

So what do you need for this?

1. Turn on USB debugging on Adnroid;
2. Download the branded program of the site ADB RUN(from version 3.21.35 and higher);
3. If not installed driver on pc, install;
4. USB cable.

Instructions how to do

backup and restore with Adb Run

Making a backup

1. Start Adb Run and select the Backup menu

2. Select the first item Adb backup

3. Take your Android smartphone or tablet and press the create a backup button (you don't have to create a password)

Restoring from a backup

1. To recover, select Adb restore

2. Take your Android smartphone or tablet and click the Recover Data button

Method number 2 - using custom Recovery (root)

First of all, you must have custom Recovery installed! How to do this and how, you can learn in detail from the article download and install Recovery. Making a backup is not really a backup - it is creating an image of the current state of the firmware !

Once installed Recovery enter it.

Select the Backup and Restore menu

Select the Backup menu item to create a backup

Select the Restore menu item to restore

Method number 4 - DataSync (root)

DataSync is suitable for those who need to back up application data, as well as instant movement them on other device... If you need to create backup copies of applications directly, and not just their data and settings, then this application is not for you. In more detail how this application works DataSync.

Method number 5 - OBackup (root)

OBackup - Creates backups just like Online Nandroid Backup, only this time the app has an intuitive graphical interface, and you can also send the backup to a cloud drive. In detail OBackup.

Method number 6 - Titanum Backup (root)

Method number 7 - Helium (root / root)

A very interesting tool for creating backups. The principle of operation of this application is similar to the work of ADB debugging tools, more precisely based on this method, only with the ability to choose which application to create a backup copy for. This application does not work on Motorola

The Helium application can work without Root rights, but if they are even better (if you do not have root rights, you need Android to your computer).

How do I create a backup using Helium?

1. First, download the application from the official Google Play store

free version

If there are no Root rights, then you will also have to download and install the add-on on your PC

You may also need to install drivers on your PC ( for non-root devices), which are presented on the download page of the PC add-on

Creating r.k in Helium on Root devices

Run the application, give up from the offer to enter Google Disk, so this function does not work quite honestly (backup, but recovery works only in the paid version of the application)

You can save backups to internal or external memory

To create a backup, select applications in the section RESERVATION which you want to back up and press the button to start the process

The recovery process is simple as well

Creating r.k in Helium on NOT Root devices

The process is very similar, only with certain caveats. After you have downloaded and installed the add-on on your PC, run it

If you are interested in the question: how to make a full backup of your Android gadget, then this article will describe the main methods that will solve this issue. Agree, we live in an era of technological boom and mobile devices have become an integral part of it, we store on them a lot of valuable information that needs to be copied and saved.

Backup or backup to Android

Basically, there are three methods: cloud, software and through system recovery, we will consider everything in stages and try not to miss a single point. Let's start with the easiest ones and gradually move on to more complex ones.

Google cloud service

Almost every Android device is tied to a valid Google account, if you do not have one, then first create an account for this, follow this link. After the account is created, go to the menu -> settings (personal section) -> backup and restore.

And we check that there are checkboxes everywhere, if you did not have an entry, then we press the "Reserve account" and the add key, enter all the data from the previously registered entry.

In order to configure what the gadget should remember, we return to the previous menu and go to "Accounts and Synchronization", where we mark the items that need to be backed up.

Important! Synchronization must be active on the smartphone or tablet, usually it is located in the top drop-down menu.

z
This is the most primitive way, and is not able to save your messages, applications, and so on, in order to do this, read on.

Programming method

To do this, we need a program, how to download and install it we described earlier, so we believe that it is already installed on your device, it is also necessary that it be on the device. Now follow the instructions:

1. Launch the MyPhoneExplorer program;

2. We connect the gadget to the PC using a cable;

3. Press F1 or in the File menu -> Connect (phone with Android OS and USB cable method);

4. Wait a minute;

5. As soon as the phone connects, go to "Miscellaneous" -> "Create a backup";

6. Select the folder for the backup;

7. We mark all the items that need to be saved;

8. Click "Create a backup";

9. Go to "Miscellaneous" -> "Restore from backup".

Titaniumbackup

There is also a method for creating copies using the application, but you will need root rights and the application itself.

To make a copy:

1. Open TitaniumBU Pro;

2. Go to the "Backups" section;

3. Click the sheet icon with a checkmark (upper right corner);

4. In the backup section: "Make r.k. all user software and system data ”;

5. To restore, go to the section below and tap on the required item.

The path where the r.k. file will be available. (backup) is specified in the application settings.

Rom manager

Another option using the application, we described how to install and configure it earlier, so we will not repeat ourselves, you will also need it.

Open the utility, go to the "backup and restore" item and select "Save current ROM", then enter its name.

By default, it will be saved to the memory card / sdcard / clockworkmod / backup

To restore, tap the item "Backups".

After that, Android will be rebooted into system recovery and a copy will be created, or vice versa, recovery is performed.

For smartphones and tablets from Samsung

The manufacturer took care of its users and released a special program, so it will assume that you already have it. Next, we act according to the instructions.

1. Launch kies;

2. Turn on USB debugging on Android;

3. We connect a smartphone or tablet to a personal computer using a cable;

4. We are waiting for the program to determine the model;

5. Go to the item "Backup / Restore";

6. Select the desired items and click "backup";

7. To restore, go to the "Restore data" item;

8. Select the folder with the previously made copy, mark the necessary items for recovery, and click "Restore".

Backup Android through recovery

To do this, you first need to install one of the alternative recovery. For example, or, then you need to download the phone in recovery mode.

For CWM - section backup and restore, for TWRP - backup (copy), restore - restore.

Outcome

As you can see, there are many ways to make a backup copy of Android, which one you choose to use. We recommend using the programs myphoneexplorer or kies, and for advanced users, do it all through the system recovery menu.