Ask Klaus
Ask Klaus
Klaus Knopper answers your Linux questions about Android USB backup.
Android USB Backup
I would like to back up my Android-based smartphone to a large hard disk attached to a Linux computer while the phone is connected via USB. Apart from all the apps out there that use their own archive format, is there something simple that I can do from the Linux desktop for creating a backup that is also readable from Linux without needing a special program or app?
The universal tool for accessing Android at the system level over USB or the network is the adb command, which exists in the android-tools-adb Debian and Ubuntu package.
Install adb (use the "unstable" Debian branch to get the newest version) with:
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