Migrate data from device to device

[kwah]

As a user, which has got a new UBports device, I would like to migrate all data from my currently used UBports device to the new one.

What can I do? Is there "simple" backup / restore howto addressing the user story above?

Quick search in interwebs and this forum returned a big number of discussed topics mainly on synchronizing various data categories to / from PC, but I could not find any consistent story about migration from device to device. If you know one - please comment.

[guru]

I have not done this (and perhaps would not do that), because IMHO it's better to move certain app data selectively. How to move, for example contacts, is written "in stone" here: https://gurucubano.gitbooks.io/bq-aquaris-e-4-5-ubuntu-phone/content/en/chapter9.html

[Flohack]

A complete backup should work as follows:

• Connect your device with USB and have adb ready
• Issue adb reboot recovery
• Create a local directory for the backup and cd into it
• Issue adb pull /data/system-data and adb pull /data/user-data
• This will take a while each. If everything goes well you should have both folders in your backup directory

A restore is the other way round:

• Connect your device with USB and have adb ready
• Issue adb reboot recovery
• cd into your backup folder
• Issue adb push system-data /data/system-data and adb push user-data /data/user-data

Note You have to be very careful with the adb paths. Sometimes it just throws everything into ., sometimes it follows into the sub directory. The correct how-to for this paths is not clear to me now

[Ingo]

Did anyone else encounter this:

$ adb pull /data/system-data
adb: error: failed to copy '/data/system-data/etc/writable/localtime' to './system-data/etc/writable/localtime': remote No such file or directory

[Luksus]

@ingo yes, I had the same kind of issue on my FP2 and gave up...

[Ingo]

Sounds a bit like a dangling link, similar to what is described here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/snappy/+bug/1650688

[Rondarius]

You have to create the directory of system-data and user-data on the pc and put the files that you pulled from the device into the directory. I did not do this until after I had pulled from both system-data and user-data, I copied all of the files/folders that was pulled in both directories.

[Rondarius]

HMMMM I bricked my phone. I am back shortly after doing a reinstall of my phone and I am doing a total wipe of the storage.

[Ingo]

@Rondarius said in Migrate data from device to device:

You have to create the directory of system-data and user-data on the pc and put the files that you pulled from the device into the directory

Yeah, but pulling the files from the device to the PC is the thing that doesn't work.

[Rondarius]

@Ingo Hmm I didn't get any errors while pulling the files to the pc, I'm on a Nexus 5.

[Rondarius]

Development branch.

[Rondarius]

I did a new backup on my phone and tried to migrate to another Nexus 5. The wifi nor the mobile network works, notes, the clock app, the calculator an gallery does not work either. But all my contacts and messages has been imported. I have not tried with other apps.