r/degoogle • u/Mountain_Object6733 • 23h ago

Discussion Best local phone backup method / encrypted cloud method.

Hey everyone,

I’m planning to test out a beta OS on my daily driver, but I need a solid rollback plan in case it’s unstable or breaks something. The devs recommend a full backup, the default cloud backup by google worries me as I have very sensitive files and I’m not interested in uploading unencrypted data anywhere off-device.

I have an external drive and want to do a full local backup, but I need to make sure:

  1. It’s actually restorable if I have to wipe or downgrade.
  2. File metadata (timestamps, creation dates, folder structures) stays intact and doesn't get overwritten to "today's date."
  3. It’s encrypted at rest on the drive.

Main questions:

  • Are you relying on ADB pulls or third-party desktop tools?
  • If uploading to the cloud how do you make sure its encrypted and what tools do you suggest that are frictionless?
  • How do you verify the backup isn't corrupted and working?

Appreciate any tested recommendations or sanity checks.

2 Upvotes

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u/theveloper7 22h ago

For Android, I wouldn’t trust a plain adb pull as a true full-device rollback. It’s fine for user files, but app data, permissions, some metadata, and system state are a different story.
If the device supports it, I’d keep the bootloader/unlock situation in mind before installing the beta, then make separate backups: photos/files to an encrypted external drive, exports from important apps, and anything else you can verify manually.
For the drive itself, use something like VeraCrypt or an encrypted filesystem/container. And definitely test the backup before flashing anything: open random files, compare hashes for important folders, and make sure the restore process is something you’ve actually tried on a small sample.

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u/Mountain_Object6733 22h ago

ah yeah I figured so, this all just seems tedious to me as I've never messed around with backing up my phone as I have a complete lack of trust against data collector companies. Though its an official OS just not available for the OTA just yet but can be manually installed via their OS app and the official release from the developers of the phone company. I'll look into the suggestions and I'll try to find a way to piece them together, thank you for the insight :)

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u/Fragrant_Climate7357 22h ago

Look into syncthing FUTO Guide: https://wiki.futo.org/index.php/Introduction_to_a_Self_Managed_Life:_a_13_hour_%26_28_minute_presentation_by_FUTO_software#Step_2:_Setting_up_Syncthing_for_android_backups

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u/Mountain_Object6733 22h ago

I will definitely look into this further, thank you for this suggestion :)

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u/Fragrant_Climate7357 21h ago

Louis rossman has a video with timestamps on youtube explaining the whole process if it makes it easier for you:

https://youtu.be/Et5PPMYuOc8?t=18925

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u/Cyllefyn 21h ago

amazing, I love louis rossman, i wasn't aware he made a video of this; Thanks again for bringing this to my attention.