How to Backup and Restore Samsung Galaxy S7 to PC
It is advised to regularly backup your Samsung Galaxy S7 smartphone. You can backup everything on your Galaxy S7 including, contacts, app, app data, SMS, photos, videos, call logs, device settings and more. Backing up makes it possible to restore your apps and files in case of a device reset or any accident.
In this guide, we’ll explore a couple to ways to backup and restore files and applications to your Galaxy S7 smartphone. These can be achieved either by using Samsung’s Smart Switch program or the adb utility. Note that method 2 can be used with any Android device.
Method 1: Using Samsung Smart Switch Application
Before you proceed with this method, you must have have the Samsung Smart Switch application installed on your Windows or Mac computer. You can click to download Smart Switch for Windows or here for Mac.
- Connect your Galaxy S7 to your computer using a USB cable.
- On the Smart Switch Screen, click on More.
- From the Backup Items tab, select Preferences. Select the content you’ll like to backup and click OK.
- Click Backup on the main Smart Switch screen. It may take a few seconds to several minutes to complete.
- A prompt will appear informing you that the backup is complete. Click Confirm.
Restoring your smartphone is as easy as backing up.
- Make sure your Galaxy S7 is connected to your computer via a USB cable.
- Click on Restore on the on Smart Switch main screen.
- Smart Switch will present the most recent backup you made. To restore the content, click Restore Now. If you prefer to restore a previous backup, click Change data to restore and select the prefered backup file.
Method 2: Using the adb Utility
In this method, I’ll assume you are using a Windows PC.
- Make sure Samsung USB drivers and adb are installed on your computer.
- Connect your Galaxy S7 to your PC using a USB cable.
- Enable USB Debugging on your S7 by navigating to Settings > About then Tap Build Number 8 times. Go back to the main settings page and navigate through to Settings > Developer options > Enable USB Debugging Mode.
- Hold the Windows and R keys on the keyboard. Type cmd and press enter.
- In the Windows command prompt type the following commandadb backup -apk -shared -all -f Path/To/Filename.abIf a prompt appears to authorize your computer, accept it.
- A window will appear on your S7 prompting you on the full backup. Tap Backup my data. This process will take several minutes to complete. You will be notified and returned to the home screen once the process is complete.
- To restore, with your device connected and command prompt opened, type the following commandadb restore Path/To/Filename.abTap Restore my data when the prompt appears on your screen.
Tip: There are several applications on the Google Play Store which can help you to easily backup and restore your smartphone as well.
You missed a VITAL step in you instructions. People need to path the command prompt to the folder where adb.exe is located BEFORE the command prompt will recognize it as a valid command. DEFAULT path on Windows 10 (should be the same for 7, 8.1 and Vista) is C:UsersUSERNAMEappdatalocalandroidsdkplatform-tools.
Caveat #1 – Replace USERNAME in the path above with your account name
Caveat #2 – In order to be able to see and access the AppData folder you will need to go to Folder Options and make sure that “Show hidden files and folders” is checked.