MyBackup Pro from Rerware can be a very useful app to back up your phone – or transfer data between phones.
I set it up to backup my Android phone on a nightly basis, but more often than not it fails to connect to their server and cannot upload the backup.
I paid for the Pro version and I have 100MB of their online storage, but if I lose my phone and it has failed to backup online then it is suddenly completely pointless as a backup program.
So my solution is to take their servers out of the equation – backup locally and then sync that backup to my Dropbox account. This has the added benefit of allowing me much more space for my backups than 100MB (sorry Rerware, I’d pay more for your storage space if I could actually use it consistently).
The Dropbox app is already installed and linked to my phone, but it doesn’t support syncing. There is an app called Dropsync that does exactly that – the free version is limited to files under 5MB and one synced folder, but that should be enough for most of your needs unless you are backing up app install files and larger videos.
Dropsync is available on Google Play here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ttxapps.dropsync&hl=en
Install the app – it will use the official Dropbox app info to link up if that’s installed otherwise you will need to log in the first time to link it to your Dropbox.
Just set up a sync with your local folder as: /mnt/sdcard/rerware/MyBackup …and create a new MyBackup folder in your Dropbox to sync into (don’t sync into the same folder as other things or it will start download random files to your phone).
If you have the pro version you may also want to sync the folder DCIM (again into a separate folder) and I sync my WhatsApp folder as well – and exclude the pattern **/Thumbs.db to prevent errors in the logs.
My Dropsync settings: Enable Autosync checked, Autosync interval 12 hours (hopefully it is autosyncing so I don’t want to waste battery), Retry Delay 30 minutes, Instant Upload checked, Battery > 10%, Internet Connection Both WiFi and Mobile, Notifications both turned off.
Then set up your MyBackup backups to save locally and hey presto – local backups that actually work and are synced online!
Great idea about syncing my backup on Andxroid to Dropbox,
When you sync the backup folder to dropbox, do you do a upload only or a 2 way sync? If upload, how do you clean out old uploaded files?
(could not post under the actual topic as the captcha code was not readable)
I use “upload mirror” in dropsync – so old uploaded files are automatically removed if they are not still on the source. I moved your comment as well 🙂
Hey guys the new version 4.2 of MyBackup Pro now allows you to use your Dropbox account as the Cloud storage option for Backups and Restore. You can use this by running the app and hitting Menu->Options then select the “Cloud Storage Location” option and selecting Dropbox.
I have backed up my Nexus 5 to dropbox. Backup files are in a top level folder on dropbox call MyBackupPro. I can see them.
I have wiped and reinstalled the phone, and reinstalled dropbox. However, on trying to restore (having set the cloud storage option again to dropbox and having logged in), my backup files are not seen by the MyBackup pro app. Any thoughts appreciated.