Backup and Upgrade Android Devices

This articles keep track of all lessons learned while doing backsups or AOSP upgrades.

Backup using `adb` from platform-tools

A backup of all system data and apps can be done using adb:

$ adb backup -all -f 20160508_android_backup.ab

Options are

apk        – Backs up your apps.
noapk      – Does not backup apps.
shared     – Backs up data on the SD card.
noshared   – Does not backup data on the SD card.

A complete backup can be done as follows:

$ adb backup -apk -shared -all -f 20160508_android_backup.ab

The smartphone has to be unlocked after execution. The backup starts after an optional password request.

To restore the whole backup execute:

$ adb restore 20160508_android_backup.ab

For more options when restoring the adbextractor can be used.

A howto can be found here.

Backup using OrangeFox Recovery

Enter recovery mode holding UP + Power.
Enter password for decryption of data partition.
Create backup of Boot and Data partition.
Move backup from your phone to your backup destination.

Upgrading

Backup your device first.

Upgrade LineageOS from older version to the next version.

In general you are not able to use the system updater to upgrade e.g. from version 20 to 21. But what you can do is to download the version and conduct a locale upgrade manually.

Click on the three dots in the right corner of the version you would like to use.
Copy and open the link in a browser of your phone and download the image to your sdcard.
Backup your device.
Click on the three dots in the right corner of your system update menu and select local update.
Select the downloaded image and upgrade.
Install Google Apps for the appropriate LineageOS version.

GAPPS

Use ARM64 version for your device from Google Apps.