Does this actually back up all my files (Android)?

[jtpetch]

Hi, I'm looking to install and use Ubuntu touch on my spare (old) phone as a little side project, and I saw that one of the processes wipes the phone (as expected). Now, I have a simple question, would simply enabling usb storage on my phone and copying all the files and folders on my phone to my computer be enough so that later, when I want to restore android (which, in this case, is 2.3.6) just by copying it back over after formatting the phone?
And if it isn't, then how would I go about doing this? I have access to LinuxMint Cinnamon, and Kali Linux, both under Virtualbox VMs on my Win 8.1 machine.
Thank you!
(Did not see Android in the list of topics, which is why this is under Linux.)

 

[Ijack]

The simple answer is "No". How you reinstall Android (or even if you can) depends upon what make and model you have. You will have to research this with Google.

 

[dmroeder]

I don't know what device you have but considering that it has gingerbread, you almost certainly won't get Ubuntu Touch installed unless you have a supported phone. People put a lot of effort into getting a build working for a particular devices, usually they are buggy at best.

The proper way to backup your phone is either install a supported recovery (ClockworkMod, TWRP, etc) and perform a backup from there. Or you can do it the manual way using fastboot, this takes a little more knowledge. XDA is your source for android mod's. Just find your device and do a lot of reading. Make sure you understand what you are getting yourself into or you could wreck your phone.

FWIW, Ubuntu Touch is really just a novelty in my opinion. I ran it on my Nexus 5 for a while. Not nearly as polished as Android, lacks a lot of features nowhere nears as many apps, not nearly as fast (lot of waiting when launching apps). I do think it's neat to tinker with, but like I said, kind of a novelty.

So, what device do you have?