How to Back Up Your Android Tablet

For an Android tablet, the backup copy would include contact information, music, photos, videos, and apps you have installed. It should also include any settings you have made to customize the tablet. It is good to make copies of this information regularly, just in case you have problems with your tablet, it gets damaged or stolen.

However, the backup will not be on the tablet itself. You will need a Google account for this.

Your Google account information is backed up automatically. That information includes the tablet’s address book, Gmail inbox, and Calendar app appointments. Because that information automatically syncs with the Internet, a backup is always present.


To confirm that your Google account information is being backed up, heed these steps:

1. On the Home screen, touch the "Apps" icon and choose "Settings".

2. Scroll/swipe down until you find "Accounts". (on some Samsung tablets you have to go into the "General" table to find the "Accounts".) Then select "Google".

4. Touch the "Green Sync" icon next your "Gmail address".

5. Make sure that check marks appear next to "every item" in the list. There are a lot of items there and each one that you want to be backed up needs a check mark.

6. Touch the "Back" icon twice to return to the main "Settings" app screen.

7. Now choose "Backup & Reset", "Back Up and Reset", or something similar.

8. Now make sure that a check mark appears by the item "Back Up My Data". If you don't see a blue check mark there, tap to add one.


Other than your Google account, which "should" be automatically backed up (check your google settings to make sure), your other information can be backed up manually. You can copy files from the tablet’s internal storage to your computer as a form of backup. Which I highly recommend.

When backing up to a computer, the folders you should copy are DCIM, Download, and Music. Other folders you may wish to copy are folders named after apps you have downloaded, and other folders named after the apps that created them.

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