Help Backup broken GS5

[bkenobi69]

I dropped my phone and the screen shattered and fell off. I assumed it was dead, but when I replaced the battery and held the power button, it came to life!? I have my wife's old GS5 that I'd like to restore mine to. Anyone have a link or guide that I could follow that doesn't require changing things on the phone which require the screen?

My photos are safe as they were saved on SD, but I'd like to recover settings for apps (contacts, app settings, save games, etc). It wouldn't be the end of the world if I lost that stuff, but I'd rather have it!

 

[svim]

Try using Samsung's 'Smart Switch' utility to do a full backup of your S5 and then to transfer your data to that second S5:
https://www.samsung.com/us/smart-switch/

 

[bkenobi69]

I assume I'd have to use the PC approach. I'll grab the app and see if I can get it working. I have Kies installed, but I couldn't figure out how to connect the old phone without having it in the right USB mode.

 

[svim]

Read through the provided documentation, there's instructions on what to do. You can transfer from phone to phone but by backing up to a PC, you have some sort of backup of your data. That should be an absolute priority. Never assume storing your data only on your phone is a safe way.

 

[bkenobi69]

I was having a problem getting into download mode last night (or so I thought). In reality, the USB cable wasn't working. At this point, I have the phone in download mode but both Kies and Smart Switch claim the phone isn't supported. I tried with the working GS5 and got the same message. The broken phone is rooted and running Marshmallow IIRC. The new phone is running 6.0.1 Marshmallow. I am trying to connect them via USB to a Windows PC running both Kies 3.2.16084_2 and Smart Switch 4.2.18124_4. It looks like everything acts normal except for the screen being broken (lights turn on, vibration, beeps/dings/etc). I did plug it back in, but it's toast and won't turn on.

 

[bkenobi69]

I tried updating the USB drivers from the Smart Switch menu and it seems to have worked. I was able to connect the new phone (Marshmallow) to Smart Switch and it gave me the options to backup/restore. I switched to the old phone (Lollipop actually) and it installed new drivers but seems to have connected and is now backing up. I'm crossing my fingers!

 

[bkenobi69]

Fwiw, I used a combination of SDB, TitaniumBackup, a usb keyboard/mouse, and a script to get this phone backed up. Issue resolved.