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What Is Smart Switch?
The smart switch app is a software application that allows you to transfer photos, files and important data from your old mobile devices to your Galaxy S and Note series and to back up data on your PCs and MAC OS via USB cable or wifi.
Why Smart Switch?
It allows you to backup everything. Photos, files, calendar events, favourite apps, messages, emails, and even your mobile setting preferences.
Compatibility
The app is available on Galaxy Note 10, Note10+, S10e, S10, S10+, Fold, Galaxy Note 9, S9, S9+, Note8, S8, S8+, S&, and S7 edge. The app is compatible with Android 4.0 and later
How to encrypt your data before initiating the backup
To be able to transfer files between your device and your computer, you need to have the Smart Switch software installed on either your PC or MAC. For maximum security of backup data, before transferring the data to your computer –
i. Install and select the version of Smart Switch you want to run on your computer
ii. On the Smart Switch window, select ‘Check Encryption settings‘
iii. Before initiating backup, check the box for ‘Encrypt data backup‘ to encrypt your selected data content items.
How to backup your Samsung phone to your PC
To initiate a backup, connect your phone to your computer using a USB cable and then tap allow on your phone. Select the backup option on your computer and your computer automatically backs up your data.
Unless you have chosen a different location, you can find your backup data when you navigate to any of the following depending on your device:
Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista –
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Samsung\SmartSwitch PC
Mac OS X –
/Users/[username]/Documents/Samsung/SmartSwitch/backup
How to backup your emails to your PC
By default, the smart switch app tries to backup everything except your emails. to enable that, after installing your Smart Switch app to your PC, Navigate to More > Preferences > Backup items and then from this list, select only items you wish to backup to your PC.
How long does Samsung smart switch take?
Some users are usually skeptical about initiating the smart switch process, especially for backup since they are unsure of how long it takes.
Backing up your data with Smart Switch is so fast, that a Reddit user confirmed moving about 40gig worth of file from a Galaxy S7 in five minutes.
Other Alternatives to the Samsung Smart Switch
Although the Smart Switch App comes heavily recommended, If you for some reasons do not want to use it or it is not compatible with your phone, there are alternatives to look out for :
Jihosoft Phone Transfer –
This allows you to backup your data from your device, even if it isn’t a Samsung device. Although this is easy to use and fast, there are no free versions to the app so you have to pay to use.
HTC Sync –
If your phone is an HTC device, you can synchronize your data with your phone using the HTC Sync
Samsung Kies 3.2.16084.2 –
The Samsung Kies 3.2.16084.2 allows you to transfer a large amount of data to your PC for backup.
This does not restrict you to a Samsung phone, is compatible with 6000+ mobile devices, has a very friendly user interface and runs on both the mac Os and windows.
dr.fone –
Like the alternatives mentioned above, dr.fone offers users the ability to back up their data across platforms.
See Also: Best Ethernet Switch For Home Use, Gaming, Or Office Network
Google Drive –
You can always your files and data to your google drive and still have access to it via any device you are logged into once you are authorized. The downside though is that you can not upload apps, call logs, messages, and notes, and backing up here actually consumes your Drive storage and data bandwidth.
