Backup and Rooting.

[LenB]

Have been enjoying using my Nexus 7 and keep on learning something every day. I have not seen anything about backing-up all my Apps and Settings probably to my PC or maybe even to Google Drive. Is this advisable, or even possible?
I have read some information about 'Rooting' which sounds interesting but quite intimidating. (What is 'Rooting'!) Is there somewhere I can read up about this (in an easy to understand way). Would a 'Rooting' tutorial and/or discussion be a welcome addition to this forum. Looking forward to reading Forum members views on this.
Thank you Forum for making my enjoyment of the Nexus 7 even greater. The reviews of Apps and Accessories are very enjoyable. Thank you.

[S.Prime]

Here you go LenB, the Forum's Guide to rooting the Nexus 7, which also contains a brief explanation of rooting and the advantages.

Nexus7Forun.com Guide to Rooting

[JayJ]

With the Root Toolkit by WugFresh in Primes thread you'll certainly find rooting less daunting and there is a whole plethoria of things that can be done with a rooted device but more importantly root can easily be undone and this device is very hard to brick.

[bjs229]

I was in the same boat about a week ago. With the help of Primes thread and JJ answering my million questions I am rooted, backed up and light years ahead of where I was. All of my fears of bricking my Nexus are gone.

[S.Prime]

I will "thumbs up" bjs229 on the previous post. It will be the first of many.

[LenB]

Thank you S.Prime for your reply which is very interesting and I will probably pluck up courage to try it later on. At the moment I think my Nexus 7 looks very good (I wondered if I should use the word 'pretty', but decided against it!) and I don't want to lose this and start again - yet anyway!
Do I understand properly that until I 'root' my Nexus 7 I am not able to make a 'backup'?
Thanks for your help and other members interest. It's appreciated.

[birdastrompgman]

You can do data backups anytime, rooted or not.  You may have to be rooted to do Nandroid OS and data backups.

[S.Prime]

You will need root to make a "Nandroid" backup, which backs up your OS (ROM) or to run Titanium Backup, which backs up your Apps and Data. I will have to say that Nexus 7 has a great stock ROM and very little bloatware, so IMO the choice to root rests on the users desire to unlock advanced features and/or tryout custom ROM's.

[CBers]

Anyway of backing up the installed apps & data on an un-rooted Nexus 7 before rooting, but still being able to then restore said apps & data once rooted?

What backup apps are there for un-rooted devices please?

[bjs229]

Avg antivirus pro backs up your apps. I think that Astro does too.

[CBers]

Avg antivirus pro backs up your apps. I think that Astro does too.

Astro file explorer ??

[bjs229]

My bad. I thought Astro file explorer did.

[S.Prime]

From what I saw Astro will backup the install apk. Sorry just from my recollection.

[JayJ]

Yes Prime is correct, Astro backs up/copies the apk...obviously this does not back up the apps data...

[CBers]

So no backup tool for un-rooted tablets, even from Google ??

Not the end of the world, but would be nice to do a backup once per month for example.

So, looks like I need to discuss fully, rooting methodology as that seems the only way to back up your tablet, but it's a bit of a mine-field, even for me with 30+ years in an IT/Unix Support role.