Backing up Android device on Windows via wireless

Question

I need a way to back up my whole Android device on my PC, which is running Windows 7.

I don't have USB cable for my phone, but I have wireless router, so my best option is using Wireless connection.

I have encrypted my rooted Nexus S device, and now I am locked out of accessing SD card via recovery. The only way to decrypt my device is Factory data reset, which will erase all data on my phone.

Before doing that I need to backup all my SD Card content, Apps, App data content to my PC. I need something much like Ultimate Backup Tool, but instead of recovering data through USB cable, using wireless instead.

Not a duplicate, but a lot of information: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/390/how-to-backup-an-android-device?rq=1 — ale, Mar 04 '13 at 17:05
Definitely give AirDroid a shot. It's an excellent tool for accessing the filesystem of your phone over a wireless network. — Nathan Osman, Mar 05 '13 at 08:44
I did it that way, I backed up all the apps using Rom Toolbox, and than used Airdroid to transfer SD card content to pc, which later I restore to Android the same way. — xcyteh, Mar 05 '13 at 11:54

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 14 '19 at 11:16

In my opinion the best and easiest no-cost and nag-free method of backing up [some or all] files from your Android to a Windows machine, uses an underappreciated feature of ES File Explorer, along with any FTP client software for Windows (my preference is a free download of Filezilla.)

Download & install ES File Explorer from the Google Play store. ^{_{(Documentation at bottom of post)}}↓
Download & install Filezilla from Filezilla-Project.org. ^{_{(Documentation at bottom of post)}}↓
In ES File Explorer:
- Tap the "hamburger menu icon" (at the top-left of the screen) to open the menu
- Slide down to find and tap "Network" and then tap "View on PC"
- Tap "Turn On" (at the bottom of the screen)
- Note the IP address and port number that is displayed.
  (The port number is the number to the right of the : colon.)
- Click Connect.
In Filezilla, you need to create a new connection to the IP and Port Number you were given.
- Click the first toolbar button to open the Site Manager.
- Click "New Site" and then fill in the values on the first tab as shown in the image below, and then click Connect.
Create a destination folder on your computer, where you want to store the backup.
You can now copy files by dragging them between your Android (in the right-side of Filezilla) and Windows (the left-side of Filezilla, or directly to desktop or other folders/shortcuts).

Note that Windows has alternative (less user-friendly) ways to open FTP folders that do not require an FTP client, such as typing the FTP address & port number (exactly as shown by ES File Explorer) directly into the address bar of any browser, or by adding a new Network Location in the "Network & Internet Settings" in the Control Panel.

More Information:

ES File Explorer:

Official User's Manual
More things it can do
Downsides about it ^{_{(I love it anyway and use it constantly.)}}

Filezilla:

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 10 '20 at 13:47

^{Summing up the solution from the comments and expanding:}

This process basically includes two steps:

Create a backup
Transfer it to the Windows PC wirelessly

A further pre-condition for the following is that the device is rooted, which is the case here.

Create the backup

Depending on what you need to backup, there are different good solutions available (you can see the backup tag-wiki for more information):

With a custom recovery such as clockworkmod, you can create a nandroid backup
Helium - App Sync and Backup can be used to create an adb style backup of all your apps including their settings
Titanium Backup does backups of all your apps, data, settings, etc., and has proven well over all the years

All three options store their backups on the SDCard. So if your device features a microSD slot, you could even simply take out the card, and attach it to your PC using a card reader. This generally works without a cable, and such could also count as "wireless" :)

One thing you might need to care for manually are the media files, and other downloaded/manually created stuff. Usually, this is stored on the SDCard as well – but that could be the internal one, so in case of the "card-reader option" you might need to copy stuff to the external card manually, which can be done with a good file manager such as ES File Explorer.

Transfer via WiFi

Now for the WiFi transfer. This can be done with the just mentioned ES File Explorer, which includes a "Samba client" to access Windows shares: Just share a drive from your computer, and then copy all files over. This also can be done "the other way round", pulling the files: with e.g. Airdroid you can access your device from any web browser. Airdroid includes a file manager, and lets you upload and download files.

Another more elegant variant, especially if you want to automate things, is to use a sync tool. Here you might want to take a look at FolderSync: As the name suggests, this app lets you synchronizes files and folders. Like with ES File Explorer, you can use Samba/CIFS here to access a Windows share.

Elegant permanent solution: Set up scheduled backups with Titanium Backup, and set up a matching sync interval for TiBu's backup directory with FolderSync. That way you always have an up-to-date backup off-board your device, in case of brick/loss/whatever.