How to create offline backup of your Galaxy S8 files to your Windows PC using Smart Switch

A lot of #GalaxyS8 users don’t know how to create an offline backup of their data so we come up with this short tutorial. If you’re wondering how to do this yourself, look to further. Just read on and follow the steps below.

What is Smart Switch?

Smart Switch is a free application built by Samsung to allow users to move files and other contents between devices seamlessly. Smart Switch can back up a lot of things including contacts, music, photos, calendar, SMS, device settings, etc. it’s a very handy tool to create a software image of your device at any given time. Thus, when things go wrong, you can simply restore from your created backup and your device will have every content you’re missing.

Not a lot of Samsung users know how useful Samsung Smart Switch app is so hopefully, this article will help spread the word.

In this short tutorial, we’ll focus on how to move contents between your Galaxy S8 and a Windows machine.

Why back data up to your Windows PC?

If you’re a Windows man or woman, it’s best if you regularly create a backup of your Galaxy device to your PC.

Make more storage space on your S8. The Galaxy S8 may have an impressive 256GB storage capacity but sooner or later, you’ll find out that you’re running out of storage space. This is especially true if you employ two SIM cards (for dual SIM models only) and there’s no way you’ll be able to consistently keep an SD card in. if you take a lot of high definition photos and videos, 256GB can run out really fast on you.

To maintain faster performance. The less stuff you put in your storage device, the faster your S8 will be. The more clutter you put in your phone, the higher the risk of slow performance issues settling in. This won’t be an issue for the first few months but if you’re looking forward to using your S8 for say, 2 more years, you’ll need to offload those photos and videos somewhere to avoid storage clutter.

To save precious digital moments. Electronic devices like your expensive S8 may appear reliable but there’s no 100% guarantee that it’ll last for years. With such a complicated software and hardware, any bad bug can lead to a serious storage device glitch. In most cases, this does not happen but for those unlucky few who foolishly rely on their device to work perfectly all the time, losing photos and videos of loved ones or memorable travels can be disheartening. To avoid losing precious moments captured by your device, make sure to back them up to another device, like your computer. We understand most people would like to have an easy access to their photos all the time and thankfully our smartphones allow that. However, by storing your files in one single basket, you’ll run the risk of losing them all when the phone suddenly dies, or if it’s stolen.

Offline backup is safer. Keeping an offline backup is not only faster to do but it’s also safer from prying eyes. By backing up files to your computer, you’re actually making sure that you have a copy of your data when something happens to your S8. By saving to your computer instead of to the cloud, you are rest assured that only you have access to them.

What you need

Before you can start transferring your data via Smart Switch you need to have the following:

• A computer that has these minimum requirements:
  • Operating System: Windows XP® (Service Pack 2) or later
  • CPU: Pentium 4; 2.4 GHz or higher
  • RAM: 1GB or higher
  • Screen Resolution: 1024 x 768 (600), 32 bit or higher
  • Required Software: Windows Media Player version 11 or later
• A Samsung mobile device with Android™ OS version 4.3 or later

How to transfer data from your Galaxy S8 to Windows PC

Before you can start moving files to your computer, you need to install Smart Switch application first. To download Samsung Smart Switch and install it to your computer, visit Samsung’s website.

Once you’ve Samsung Smart Switch has been installed, follow the steps below to begin creating a backup:

1. Open the Smart Switch app on your PC.
2. Connect your Android device to your computer via USB cable.
3. Make sure your phone’s screen is unlocked.
4. On the Smart Switch app click on MORE at the top right.
5. Click Preferences.
6. Click Backup items tab. In this tab, you will be able to customize what items to copy and keep as back up. All items are selected by default by if you want to speed up the copying process, you may want to select the important boxes only.
7. Once you’ve selected what items to include in your backup, click OK. Otherwise, simply click Cancel.
8. Click Backup.
9. Tap Allow on your phone if Smart Switch asks for permission.
10. Once the backup is complete, you get a breakdown of all the data that was successfully backed up. Click OK to finish.

How to restore saved backup in your PC to your Galaxy S8

Smart Switch not only allows you to save a copy of your files from your S8 but it can also do the opposite. This is a useful feature in the event that you want to restore your phone using a previous backup, or if you only need to recover portions of your backup, like saved SMS or photos. Here’s how to do that:

1. Open the Smart Switch app on your PC.
2. Connect your Android device to your computer via USB cable.
3. Make sure your phone’s screen is unlocked.
4. Click Restore.
5. If you want to restore a previously created backup, select Select a different backup. If you want to simply restore one backup that’s saved before, click Restore now. You can also pick selected items that you may want to restore. After that, hit “let’s transfer.”
6. Tap Allow on your phone if Smart Switch asks for permission.
7. Once the restore process is complete, you’ll get a breakdown of the data that’s been restored. Click OK to finish the restore.

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