How do I backup the Eris?

[Jim1970]

Hello,

I would like to back up the contents of our new Eris.  The Verizon sales rep said we would simply plug it into our computer, and it would be very simple.

We tried this last night -- the computer asked us for the CD that came with our phone.  Problem is, no CD came with the phone.  The computer is running windows XP. 

We simply want to back up contacts, free downloaded stuff, etc.  How do we go abou this?

Thanks in advance,

Jim

[gerio]

You can't just connect the phone to the computer. You have to have HTC Sync installed for the computer to "see" the Eris.

I'm not sure if any of the back-up methods also back up "downloaded stuff". Apps can be re-installed for free.

One way to back up contacts is to download and install HTC Sync from, well,  HTC. Follow the link:

http://www.htc.com/us/supportdownloadlist.aspx?p_id=307&act=sd&cat=all

This program will allow to sync with Outlook and Windows Address Book. Alternatly, you can also sync your contacts with your Gmail account without having to use another program.

Thre is also Verizon's Back-up Manager, which is the direction I'm leaning. I have HTC Sync, but then I have to remember to connect the phone to the computer and let it and Outlook do theor thing. Back-up Manager will do this automatically over the air, although there is a fee per month for that service (either $1.99 or 2.99 a month, can't remember at the moment) That's worth it to me to eliminate one more detail I have to worry about.

Good luck, Geri O

[TKinVA]

There is a backup program called My Backup which will back up everything on your Eris, both in the phone and the storage card. It can be set to automatically back up your phone once a day. You can move thiese backups to your PC through the USB connection and they can be used to restore your phone if something bad happens.

The good news is that you can get a thirty-day-trial version through the Android Market app on your phone.

The bad news is that you can't get the paid version on the Eris through the Android market. It's one of the hundreds of paid apps that the Droid can see, but not the Eris.

You can buy the paid version through the developer's web site, then install it with HTC sync.

[kenyu73]

1) Backing up contacts

If you use Gmail, then your contacts are more or less sync'ed with Gmail.You can get an exportable CVS format file from the Verizon contacts page and then import them to Gmail.

2) Backing up programs

Android will remember your installed applications and automatically re-download them from the market once your phone is back online.

3) Backing up SDCard

The SD cardcontains program saved data, pictures, videos, and a bunch of cached data. You could always manaully "zip" up this data and store it on your PC somewhere.

Backup programs are good for the most part, but most of it is already backed up (1 and 2). You just need to save your SD card data really.

[kenyu73]

The Sprint Hero came with HTC Sync installed on the SD card, but for the Eris.. you need to download it from HTC. Which in a way is OK since HTC Sync is getting patched alot lately with all the new Android releases.