Re: Thumbnails, and what creates them.

Java Jive wrote on Mon, 4 Nov 2024 15:50:31 +0000 :

No "full backup" needed as the apps all restore themselves in a single tap.

 
So how does that help me with this backup problem: How to transfer all
my WiFi connection settings from my old Android 7, note carefully the
Android version, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 SM-T719 to a Pixel 8a.

Hmm... good point. Good question. Excellent question, in fact.
It's my understanding that, on Android, just as the entire homescreen setup
is stored in a single file that you can backup & restore, all the Wi-Fi
settings on Android are also stored in a single file (AFAIK).
 /data/misc/apexdata/com.android.wifi/WifiConfigStore.xml

I haven't tried it, but a quick Google search shows this backup method:
 <https://www.google.com/search?q=backup+wi-fi+settings+android+using+adb>
 1. Turn on the Developer options menu on your old phone.
 2. Turn on USB debugging and Rooted debugging on that old phone.
 3. Connect that old phone to your computer & grant debug permissions.
 4. Execute adb root on the computer
 5. Execute adb pull /data/misc/apexdata/com.android.wifi/WifiConfigStore.xml
 6. Repeat steps 1 through 4 on the new phone, only use push, not pull.

I didn't try it though... if you do try it, let us know how it works out.

I tried a number of general data transfer programs to copy stuff between
the two phones, but in the end got best results simply by copying
everything conventionally via my PC.  However, the WiFi settings are not
stored in the data accessible from a PC.

Mostly, a home-user's computer/phone backup is three things, right?
a. GUI (e.g., homescreen on Android, accordion-menu tree on Windows)
b. data (e.g., map data, camera data, document data, etc.)
c. apps (Android Homescreen:Web:Firefox, Windows C:\Apps\Web\Firefox\)

Since my phone is mounted as a drive letter on Windows, the "backup" of the
data is done by the Windows copy command (although I could rcync it also).
 <https://i.postimg.cc/6371SxNd/mountandroidonwindows.jpg>

Copy those two things and you're done with the main backup, right?
Oops. Did I say two things? Yup. I did say only two things. Just two.
GUI and data are personal to the user, apps are not.

For apps, on both Windows and Android, the original installer is always
there (for every single version & subversion you choose to install it is).

And, for both Windows & Android, most (but not all!) apps and versions are
already archived for you somewhere on the Internet (although not always!).

So while both Windows and Android already automatically archive all your
installers, you "could" (if you wanted to) back up those installers too.

But on Android, once you've reloaded the homescreen backup (which is only a
single binary file), then just tapping the first time on the shortcuts
inside your homescreen folders installs the most current version of the
app. <https://i.postimg.cc/Kv8RmGT3/telecom.jpg>

If you're OK with that most current version, then you don't even need to
back up the versions you've installed previously (although I do that).

Also note installing APKs is as easy as sliding it from Windows to Android.
 <https://i.postimg.cc/wvsbcNBz/scrcpy05.jpg>