How to Back Up Samsung Galaxy Phone to Laptop - 4 Options

If you've had a Samsung smartphone for some time, it's likely that it's easily clogged up with valuable data that you can't afford to lose, especially if you're a power user: photos, contacts, documents, email message, etc. Backing up the Galaxy phone to a laptop can prove worthy when disaster strikes; to make sure you don't lose anything if your device gets damaged, stolen, wiped or something catastrophic, Samsung has a built-in feature to copy files from Samsung to laptop for a backup. If the native method fails to give out favorable results, then you could switch to other three ways assisting you in managing and backing up Samsung Galaxy on laptop.

Using Samsung Smart Switch

Smart Switch serves as a dedicated application for switching from an old phone to a new device, but it also performs well in backing up data from Samsung Galaxy to laptop in just one click via USB connection, such as contacts, messages, call logs, photos, videos, photos, music, etc.

Note: Backups created by using Smart Switch requires that your Samsung phone runs Android 4.3 or later and the laptop runs Windows 7 or later.

To back up Samsung Galaxy to a laptop, download Smart Switch, install and launch it on your computer first. Then follow steps below:

• Connect Samsung smartphone to the laptop via USB cable.
• Tap "Allow" on your phone when Smart Switch asks for permission.
• Choose Backup option in the main interface, then the backup process will start.
• Click OK when the process is done.

Samsung Smart Switch makes taking backups of Samsung Galaxy onto laptop a breeze. Furthermore, you can take a little more control get certain types phone data backed up:

• In Smart Switch, click More > Preferences at the top right position.
• Choose "Backup items" tab and select whatever you wish to back up.
• Click OK.
• Hit Backup to begin creating a Samsung backup.

Using USB cable

If you only care about backing up photos, videos, music and audio files from Samsung Galaxy phone to laptop, make the USB connection to file transfer Mode. This doesn't require any app installation and with a few taps and clicks, you should have a backup file of (old) phone on the laptop's hard drive through copy and paste.

Note: Depending on the system your computer runs, the process of manually backing up contents from a Samsung Android phone to laptop may differ slightly. Steps below applies to laptop running Windows 10. If you're using MacBook, click How to use USB cable to back up Samsung phone data to laptop running MacOS and this page should get you on your way.

• Plug your phone into your computer.
• Tap the notifications and select USB for file transfer.
• In USB settings menu, choose Transferring files / Android Auto.
• Go to your laptop and open up Windows File Explorer.
• Click your Samsung Galaxy device to open it.
• Copy the files and paste them to laptop.

Using a third-party application

Of course, if the two options don't appeal to you, it's worth considering a third-party backup tool that handles the task seamlessly for having Samsung device backed up on laptop (Windows or MacBook) in a simpler and more effective way.

Android Data Backup & Restore involves backing up content from Samsung Galaxy phone to laptop manually with clear-cut interface and simple procedures. You're able to back up particular types of data, such as Galaxy pictures, contacts information, messages, call logs and more from the Samsung phone and works quietly in the background. The Encrypted Backup feature is also available to help increase security of the backup copy on the laptop (Dell, Lenovo, ASUS, HP, Acer, Samsung etc.)

Here's the process of backing up data on a Samsung phone to a laptop using the utility. Supported handsets: Note 20, Note 10, Note 9, Note 8, S20, S10, S9, S8, A-Series, J-Series, etc.

• Connect Samsung device to laptop and open the program.
• Select "Android Data Backup & Restore" in the main interface.



• Choose "Device Data Backup" or "One-click Backup" mode.



• When prompted, allow USB debugging on your Samsung phone to let the process access the data in the memory. Detailed steps are explained in How to enable USB Debugging mode on Android.



• Select which types of files on Samsung you'd like to back up, then hit Start button.



• A popup will appear, where you can change the output location on laptop for saving the Samsung data backup. Click OK button to proceed.



• Wait the backup process to be finished.

Got it? Good. The robust software takes care of the business of backing up from Samsung to laptop and saves you the hassle whenever you need to restore lost files.

Using Google account

For those who prefer Google, there is an option to back up data over to Google account from Samsung Galaxy and then download the backup to the laptop for a local copy. The method is not efficient, however, as you need to keep your phone backed up with google account.

• Navigate to Settings > Accounts and backup > Accounts.
• Tap your email address, and then choose Sync account.
• Enable the option for the data you want to back up to Google account.
• The sync process should begin automatically.



• Go to https://drive.google.com/ via laptop's browser.
• Go to the Backups section from the left menu.
• Select the files you've backed up, right click it, and choose Download.

The data included in the Samsung backup should be saved onto the laptop.