Ask Klaus

Ask Klaus

Article from Issue 195/2017
Author(s):

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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