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[Q] Helium questions.

Hello and Thanks in advance.
I have Helium paid. I did the activate from my PC and backed up to Dropbox and the SD card a few days ago. Today I go into Helium and it wants me to activate on PC again. Is this normal?
Restore and Sync tab? It looks like restore is all I can do. I was hoping this would Sync changes after my last backup. Am I wrong?
I started Helium server to see what it did. It's in my notifications "Helium Server is Running" There is no EXIT, do I just wait to unplug or kill it with task manager? What good is "Helium Server"?
Thanks,
John

After every reboot of the tablet Helium will need to activate again.
But, don't rely on it. I've used it for a year and restoring apps with data is pretty iffy. I can normally restore about 80% of what gets backed up.

TabGuy said:
After every reboot of the tablet Helium will need to activate again.
But, don't rely on it. I've used it for a year and restoring apps with data is pretty iffy. I can normally restore about 80% of what gets backed up.
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OK, thanks! 80% might be better than nothing but, not very reliable. The reactivation is a real drawback though. Helium is no good unless your sitting beside your PC then.
Anyone have any suggestions for something better!
Thanks!

Transferring Apps/Data to Replacement Note7

When we get it, will "Smart Swich" do the job, Kies doesn't seem to want to back me up.
Perhaps best just to start clean again?

When I first set up my Note 7 I used smart switch and within a week I did a factory reset because of some insane battery drain. I'm paranoid of that happening again and will probably just set it up, and load everything from the cloud after initial set-up completes.

So it's a cloud restore vs. a clean install. Just planning for the best way to go when I get my replacement.

Most of my stuff is already on SD card, when I moved my files from previous phone, so it's just settings and installed programs, so I may take few screen shots to help in the future settings, maybe do back up to cloud, but probably do manual restore. Google has option, where any new phone will have all your programs automatically reinstalled, but my kids have couple tablets registered on my account and I don't want their games on my phone (already been there). If I figure how to manually mark programs for reinstall, I may use that. Either way no big deal.

pete4k said:
Most of my stuff is already on SD card, when I moved my files from previous phone, so it's just settings and installed programs, so I may take few screen shots to help in the future settings, maybe do back up to cloud, but probably do manual restore. Google has option, where any new phone will have all your programs automatically reinstalled, but my kids have couple tablets registered on my account and I don't want their games on my phone (already been there). If I figure how to manually mark programs for reinstall, I may use that. Either way no big deal.
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When restoring the phone there should be an option for you to see & select apps you want to install on the new device.
You can also go to the play store, under my apps and remove ones you don't want associated with your account any longer, and I believe they'd disappear from the list of apps being installed on the new device.

I'm debating whether to do a clean install and not use the cloud or any other restore option. Don't want to bring in any "cruft" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruft

That was the reason I opted to manually download the apps once setup was completed. I was trying to limit any "cruft" myself and my phone ran a lot better the second time around. Probably had nothing to do with the fact that I did it this way hahaha

fenderguy05 said:
When restoring the phone there should be an option for you to see & select apps you want to install on the new device.
You can also go to the play store, under my apps and remove ones you don't want associated with your account any longer, and I believe they'd disappear from the list of apps being installed on the new device.
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Sorry, I should have said easier, you're right you can delete them etc. but there has to be 400 to 500 of them on my account, probably want maybe 40-50 for now, so probably easier to manually download 50 than delete 350 to 450 LOL.

I will backup to Samsung cloud, but I have never used Samsung cloud before so I don't know how the reinstall works on the new device. In all my past devices I rooted them first thing after activating then used titanium and installed all my apps AND data (the data is the hard part to migrate) to my new device. This time I came from a Dev edition Note 4, rooted, but with no root (at the time) on the N7 I opted to try Helium. Helium was able to migrate almost (there were a few that didn't) all my apps and data from my N4, to my dropbox, then on my N7 I installed the apps and data from my dropbox using Helium. I let the texts and that kind of data stay with my N4 - I have probably 50K of various texts over the almost 2 years I had my N4. Didn't want all of that migrated over, started fresh on the N7. So I will be using Helium again. It will take probably a day to get things set up on my new N7 like it is on this current N7. Yes, it's a PITA, but there really isn't much choice. I could keep this N7, and according to samsungs website where you can check the IMEI to see if your phone is one of the effected ones with a battery issue, mine is not, but still I think I should do the swap if it is available. I am concerned if I don't that Verizon and/or Samsung could say they will no longer warranty or cover the phone since I didn't swap it out. Right now Verizon has no N7's to swap to (I called them last night, they don't have any), so I will wait until they do then switch over to the new N7 then.

So I used Helium when I moved from my last phone to my Note 7. It took me about a week and a half after that to get everything the way I want it and I rather not go through that again. When I use Helium it shows that about 1/3 of my programs can not have their data backed up, things like: skype, paypal, Nova Launcher, Samsung Pay, etc. I know if I root the phone I can use Titanium backup to do a full backup of all the apps and data but I don't want to risk putting a Sprint Rom on my phone and loosing everything and I don't I like loosing the ability to use some of the programs that won't work if the phone is rooted (like Samung Pay).
Is there an alternative program that will grab all these programs and their settings or is root my only option? And is there a temporary root option as I would only need it for one session on each phone (one to back up and once to restore)? I know this isn't the forum for the root question but it all goes together with getting my phone mirrored to my new one when it comes in.

Flashing Old Note 7 to new Note 7

I have a Note 7 and will be receiving my replacement Note 7 soon. Is there any software I can use to simply hard copy, flash, or whatever you want to call it to the new one?
Just make a full hard drive copy and transfer it?
Just to be clear I know about smart switch, but that doesn't do the actual app data, you have to re logon, re associate, and all of that. I want it to be an exact copy, if possible.

I don't think there is a way to do this. I suggest using LastPass. If makes it so easy to log everything back in that you won't mind.
Sent from my SM-N930T using Tapatalk

rocmat1 said:
I have a Note 7 and will be receiving my replacement Note 7 soon. Is there any software I can use to simply hard copy, flash, or whatever you want to call it to the new one?
Just make a full hard drive copy and transfer it?
Just to be clear I know about smart switch, but that doesn't do the actual app data, you have to re logon, re associate, and all of that. I want it to be an exact copy, if possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
impossible w/o root, TWRP, and nandroid backup/restore.
Best thing right now is to smart switch first so the apps, contact, media, etc copy over, then use Helium to backup/restore most of the app data with a microSD card. Some apps does not allow backup with Helium. With these two you should get back most of the old phone. You'll still need to re-do everything in Settings.

I thought Smartswitch was supposed to do apps and data? If not I won't even waste my time using it. I will just use Helium to back up all my apps and data from my original N7, then reinstall them to my new N7 (which I just got a few hours ago). What's the point of Smartswitch if it doesn't migrate app data? There is none.

Smartswitch moved all my apps and a majority of my settings over. It did not port over passwords and app Data. Very usefull doing a port outside of having reenter passwords. Think it uses a combo of nfc and Wi-Fi direct.

teegunn said:
I thought Smartswitch was supposed to do apps and data? If not I won't even waste my time using it. I will just use Helium to back up all my apps and data from my original N7, then reinstall them to my new N7 (which I just got a few hours ago). What's the point of Smartswitch if it doesn't migrate app data? There is none.
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Helium doesn't do all the apps tho. I remember that were quite a list of apps it couldn't back up. At least with Smart Switch, you can get all the apps back w/o installing them individually. Then use Helium to restore whatever data it can. Its best to use both.

maximus96 said:
Helium doesn't do all the apps tho. I remember that were quite a list of apps it couldn't back up. At least with Smart Switch, you can get all the apps back w/o installing them individually. Then use Helium to restore whatever data it can. Its best to use both.
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I used Helium coming from my N4 to my N7. Helium backed almost every app and it's data up to the cloud. There were very, very few that it didn't/couldn't.
As long as I can still migrate over the app data with Helium after I do smartswitch I guess I might as well try smartswitch then Helium. This will still be a time consuming ordeal though. I need to start backing up my apps on my original N7 to Helium now. Then after that is all done, hook my old N7 to the new N7 and use Smartswitch. Then after that go into Helium and start restoring app data.

What about Samsung backup? I made a backup to an SD card im gonna try to restore it to the new phone and see how it goes.

I haven't switched over to my new N7 yet - want to make sure I have at least 8 hours free to do it right. Reading on the FAQ's of Smartswitch, it says it is supposed to migrate over apps AND their data. Anyone comfirm whether it does, or does not migrate over apps AND data? What about Nova and how I have that set up? Will it migrate that over? Basically, is there really a reason to use Smartswitch if it isn't doing anything but migrating over apps without data? I can move call logs and texts over with Helium.
Also - is everyone doing a factory reset with their new N7 as soon as the update is installed? I have not had any issues with battery problems or lag on my original N7, but some who did said doing a factory reset seemed to fix any issues like this. What is the best protocol to set up the new N7? Something like this?:
1) Have all apps and data backed up to Helium from original N7
2) take SD card and SIM card from old N7 and put them into new N7
3) boot new N7, skip through the setup things like google restore, etc to get to where one can go to settings and take the new OTA
4) DL and install new OTA (the one with the green battery icon)
5) Before doing anything else, do a factory reset
6) Starting the setup again, this time logging into google and/or Samsung accounts
7) Using Smartswitch to migrate over as much as possible from original N7
8) If Smartswitch does NOT migrate over apps AND data, the use Helium to migrate over apps and data
9) Do any final tweaks to phone to get it to the same state as the original N7 (mine is very much different than stock using Nova Launcher, handcent for texts, and having quite a bit of bloatware frozen including the stock messaging and email apps)
10) If all goes well, root the phone (my original is not rooted, first phone I have had NOT rooted).
Sound about right, or should I do some of these steps differently?
Thanks in advance.

I think the current root method is broken by the update, so there is a kink in your plan there.
Sent from my SM-N930T using Tapatalk

rcobourn said:
I think the current root method is broken by the update, so there is a kink in your plan there.
Sent from my SM-N930T using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've read some people being able to root the new batch of N7's and some people having an issue. I actually feel like I don't "have" to have root this time around, but if I could I still probably would. I held off rooting my original because I knew I would have to send it back because of the recall and the root method for it was not exactly a one click method (not that I haven't done a complicated root method before) and also there seemed to be some issues with some things not working properly after root was applied (that may have been fixed, I have not checked for a bit). In any case, If I rooted I would be using adblock and the dual speaker tweak. And of course Titanium. Those three things for sure I would use.

How to backup and restore pixel without root? Having vibration problems.

Hello,
The vibration motor has suddenly failed on my phone. It now hardly vibrates at all and is extremely loud.
The problem seems more or less identical to this one watch?v=ZPqGD2uGG4o if you are curious.
The sound doesn't come from the speakers and I have no reason to believe it could possible be a software issue. Ie no recent installs or updates.
First thing I did was contact google. They had me boot into safemode to see if the problem persists. It does. However they now require that I reformat the phone.
This leads me to my question on how I can backup ALL app data. I have 400+ apps and it would suck to have to reset them all and or lose data.
I can sync phone contacts and such but without root I don't have a way of backing everything up.
Or is there another way to get Google to actually get me a replacement?
Thank you for your time.

If you're bootloader unlocked then root it and use Titanium backup, save it to the computer afterwards. Then unroot and factory reset as they ask. I'd probably not do that but if you have to get a new device, well then you have to. Maybe there is another way, but I've not seen it. Non root backup apps don't backup and restore your data reliably. If you are bootloader locked then I do believe you're out of luck. Pretty lousy of them to make you do that. If they just sent you a new one then you could copy from the old to the new. Maybe suggest that to them.

When you set up the new pixel using info from an old device, how much data is transferred? That may be an option.
I just went from rooted with custom ROM to full stock unrooted. All of my apps restored from the play store. I had to log into a few, but others seemed to retain app data, like Strava for instance. Google's back up seems to be getting better and better. I use SMS backup and restore for SMS/MMS because Google's backup service does not support MMS.

Well in case anyone is wondering... I bit the bullet and did the factory reset. The problem still exists of course.
Rant ahead, sorry/
There is an odd sound coming from within the device itself (not the speakers) and Google blames software? Is there some hidden second speaker inside?? It quite dumb and infuriating.
Even if there was doubt you would think running in safe mode which disables all the third party software would be enough to prove it.
It took me hours to copy everything and make sure everything was backed up. I don't blame the rep, he told me he HAD to make me do this. Honestly, I kinda wish I would have just told him I did it and it didn't work since there was no way it could have been software.
Well now a refurbished replacement is on the way. Which isn't ideal either. It has an issue that isn't too uncommon. I can find a dozen posts online about it which means there is probably hundreds of people with this problem at least. Now I have to put up with a refurbished which probably has a battery worse off as well as who knows what else.
This whole phone feels rushed, to be honest, and I regret buying it.
I won't be buying any more google hardware unless either they change in the future or the particular device has months of reviews.
/End rant
bobby janow said:
If you're bootloader unlocked then root it and use Titanium backup, save it to the computer afterwards. Then unroot and factory reset as they ask. I'd probably not do that but if you have to get a new device, well then you have to. Maybe there is another way, but I've not seen it. Non root backup apps don't backup and restore your data reliably. If you are bootloader locked then I do believe you're out of luck. Pretty lousy of them to make you do that. If they just sent you a new one then you could copy from the old to the new. Maybe suggest that to them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't know you could unroot and make it seem like it didn't happen. This is what I should have done. Thanks for the suggestion.
"If they just sent you a new one then you could copy from the old to the new. Maybe suggest that to them" I suggested this to them several times. One guy told me he wasn't allowed to even rma it until I reformat despite there being no way its a hardware issue.
mlin said:
When you set up the new pixel using info from an old device, how much data is transferred? That may be an option.
I just went from rooted with custom ROM to full stock unrooted. All of my apps restored from the play store. I had to log into a few, but others seemed to retain app data, like Strava for instance. Google's back up seems to be getting better and better. I use SMS backup and restore for SMS/MMS because Google's backup service does not support MMS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I had the replacement phone up front then transfering is easy. Google even has a built in mechanism, but google wouldn't RMA it and have one sent out until AFTER resetting it. A lot of data is synced but my 400+ apps, none of them seem to sync via the backup and restore feature. I also have 80+gbs of other files beside pictures. I bought the 128gb for a reason... Thanks for the suggestion.

Google Backup Seems to be Broken

I just discovered that my phone hasn't been backing up of late.
After a long talk with Verizon tech support, we discovered that this seems to be a common problem since the last o/s update - if any screen lock is in use, Google Backup just hangs ("waiting to backup" message), and the "backup now" button is greyed out.
If you turn off screen lock, all works just fine. Turn it back on, and things are broken again.
Anybody else see this? Any fixes?
And, on a different note, even when backup up, it seems like Google Backup ignores data from Samsung Voice Recorder that's stored on an SD card. Any suggestions on this?

I have stopped using Google as a backup method completely and use Samsung Smart Switch. It will create a complete backup of pretty much everything onto your SD card and makes it a breeze to do a complete restore. Something to consider...

mikeyk101 said:
I have stopped using Google as a backup method completely and use Samsung Smart Switch. It will create a complete backup of pretty much everything onto your SD card and makes it a breeze to do a complete restore. Something to consider...
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Thanks.
An interesting thought, but not automatic, and involves swapping SD cards frequently if one wants to keep a backup separate from one's phone. Me, I want automatic and OTA.
I'd kind of like it if Samsung & Google got their acts together (probably only if Verizon beats up on them), or there's a patch or work-around (what I'm hoping to find).

Personally, I like being able to control the backups and the fact that only I have access to them. I dont trust any cloud based storage to be able to keep things safe or give companies like Google the possibility of accessing any and all information. I keep a lot of the Google stuff that might track me or identify me for commercial purposes turned off. If I have to swap out a SD card or two from time to time, so be it but then I feel my stuff is more secure that way.