How to back up and restore your Windows Phone data

Backup Windows Phone

If only backing up was this easy

Continuing on with our series of Windows Telephone how tos for those who are new to the platform, today we'll be looking at how to backup and restore our smartphones. Backing up is a chore than many have to undertake on their PC, whether it be apps, documents or photos from a memorable vacation - it's always best to have more than one copy of everything. The same goes for contents on your smartphone.

Should anything happen to your Windows Phone, or if y'all'd like to revert to an before snapshot, yous'll need a backup at hand to become everything working in perfect society. Unfortunately Microsoft doesn't currently offer an official facility to manually backup a Windows Phone (not even in Zune), just luckily there are alternatives thanks to an agile developing community.

For this how to we'll be using the WP7 Easy Fill-in Tool, past MarcHoover. This suite is a handy piece of software that does exactly what information technology says on the tin. The skilful news is we don't need developer-unlocked Windows Phones, nor any hacking / coding skills to conduct out the backup. The WP7 Piece of cake Fill-in Tool is well presented and a breeze to use.

So what's backed up from the device?

Letters
Apps (app data, game saves, etc.)
Registry and user settings
Windows Phone OS (including applied firmware updates)

The only downside is no Zune media is included. All music, video, etc. will be skipped. Simply with the tool taking care of the higher up, it's no biggie – especially if you utilize playlists for synchronising music, for case.

Windows Phone Backup

Backing it all up

Earlier we get not bad on with bankroll up our Windows Phones, at that place are a few requirements that need to be fulfilled before we tin continue:-

Latest version of Zune
Windows Phone Back up Tool (32bit or 64bit)
WP7 Like shooting fish in a barrel Backup Tool

Step ane - Nosotros commencement need to install required software. The WP7 Piece of cake Backup Tool doesn't need to be installed and can be executed one time the downloaded annal has been decompressed. Firing up the tool volition reveal the above interface, which provides usa with a number of options. We're going to want to select 'Backup' to have our Windows Phone data safely stored locally. Zune (and the Mac Connector) does this when applying updates, so nosotros're essentially forcing it.

Step 2 - Before we get excited and head through the process, we'll need to copy any previous backups Zune may have made to a safety location equally this tool will overwrite them. The location of said backups (and where WP7 Easy Backup Tool saves its own versions) is '%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows Phone Update' - copy and paste into Explorer location bar. Simply copy these folders to a safe location (they may be adequately large).

Windows Phone Backup 2

Step three - The WP7 Easy Fill-in Tool volition then provide some details about the process itself, namely we should ignore an error message that pops up, and should it appear as though the backup has halted we'll need to reboot the device (replacing the battery). Hitting 'Fill-in' will have us to the side by side step which is actually extracting everything from our Windows Phone. Ensure that it's plugged in earlier proceeding and that Zune is not running.

Windows Phone Backup 3

Step iv - The process volition kick off in one case 'Fill-in' is again selected. All that's left to do is to brand a cup of tea and sit back until the fill-in is consummate. Now yous're done! Your Windows Phone is successfully backed up and data secured in case the unthinkable happens. Please note that Windows Phone Central cannot have any responsibility for damage caused past the WP7 Easy Backup Tool, which is currently in beta.

To restore a backup to your Windows Phone, just plug the device into the PC, run WP7 Piece of cake Backup and hit 'Restore' from the main screen. This volition then use the most recent backup saved locally for that device. There you lot take it folks - a unproblematic and convenient manner to backup your Windows Telephone and keep contents safely stored.

UPDATE: Backing upward on Macs

Agent-P mentioned in the comments such fill-in functionality was nowadays in the Windows Phone Connector for Mac, without the requirement for third-party tools. We completely missed this facility and will be doing a follow-up article tomorrow highlighting this for those unaware simply equally we were. Check the below screenshot to come across where the fill-in and restore options are in the Mac Windows Phone suite.

Mac Windows Phone Backup