How to do a restore back up from seedvault

[udengoogle]

I have do a back up of my phone with seedvault in an usb .
My problem is when I try to restore that back up in another phone from the usb?

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[udengoogle]

I have just figure it out.

1. Do the back.
2. while the first boot of the device, there is where you can do the restore of the back up. So the new device has to to be totally reset for using the back up.

[petefoth]

But remember there is quite a lot that SeedVault either doesn’t backup or doesn’t restore successfully. I strongly recommend looking at the ‘Android Backup and Restore Tools’ project as described in this post -

[HOWTO] Backup and Restore Data on Android Devices

I have had another look at the ‘Android Backup and Restore Tools’ project which uses shell scripts on a Linux PC to backup and restore apps and data. I looked at it a while ago, but then I started using TWRP backup / restore instead. I decided to revisit this project as a possible alternative to TWRP for backup and restore, to see if it can offer a more flexible and fine-grained backup and restore, specifically for using a known set of user apps and data on different devices and phone models. A…

[mihi]

I tried recently to restore but it failed. Since SD-Card were no option I tried OTG-USB. It did not work, I never got a screen to restore it when I started first boot. So I am wondering what medium you have used?

[tcecyk]

never got a screen to restore it when I started first boot

you can invoke Seedvault in different ways - searching it in the Settings works for some more recent versions of /e/, or install an ActivityManager and search for the activity “seedvault”, then there’s also cli options to start it

[mihi]

I was able to save to SD, my issue was restoring it again on the new device

[tcecyk]

but what’s the error? “never got a screen to restore” - you can start the restore screen anytime

[mihi]

I understood it comes at the first boot, it never did. So after the boot I went to the settings eo try to restore but I wasn’t able to restore there. Then I gave up, because manually is not that much of a pain

[tcecyk]

ok I understand it’s a hassle. I don’t like it either that it’s hidden. But if you’re determined to give it a try, you can start the “restore” activity directly. You’d install Activity Manager | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository and search for seedvault, then start the activity that has “restore” in its name.

(as pete said: Seedvault does not Backup everything, that is only solved from Android 13 sadly)

[mihi]

Thanks I will check it out. At the moment I am good, restored the important things on sunday.

I just wanted to give it a try. I like to see how things work if try to use the given methods. Without third party or such things. When I need to recommend e I can keep the expectations to a level.

[tcecyk]

sure makes sense. Seedvault shouldn’t be hidden

[petefoth]

@tcecyk

Seedvault shouldn’t be hidden

It should be if it doesn’t work

Seriously, making a backup feature visible which doesn’t actually work just serves to give users a false sense of security

[tcecyk]

the warning text clearly informs that there are Apps it cannot backup, so the false sense comes from… not reading?

as a user it gives you more than nothing. Lineage has it surfaced since ages and I don’t see the damage. Not everybody is up for twrp

[Franky777]

I use the “Activity Manager”. Unfortunately, I do not have permission. What can I do?

[tcecyk]

it still works on Android 10 / Q builds, but higher needs adb root to invoke the activity last I remember (if com.stevesoltys.seedvault is built-in). Seedvault integration is really dormant in /e/ for 2-3 years now.

[latgarf]

Not being able to restore easily (or at all) from backup by /e/'s default backup provider (Seedvault) seems pretty wrong