Why no simple backup?

[Andy_P2002]

I've been having a lot of memory issues with my Tipo, built-in apps like the Music Player  and even "Settings" are crashing at odd times, and to cut a long story short, I think I just need to blitz it, return to Factory settings and start building up the system again from scratch.

I'm also having the issue that's been mentioned several times before here, where the Google Play Store has real problems connecting or downloading while I'm using Wi-Fi - it just keeps timing out. If it was consistent I'd have a better idea of where to start looking for a problem, but it's so random... it just doesn't work about 60-70% of the time.

However, the one thing stopping me doing a Factory Reset is that Sony do not seem to provide any SIMPLE BACKUP ability, either on the phone itself or in the PC Companion.

Just to make it clear, I don't want to SYNC to any other device, all I want to do is back up all my personal data e.g. contacts, account settings, call logs, and text messages.

There are plenty of options in PC companion to import stuff from an old phone, but not to just BACKUP and RESTORE.

Can someone explain to me in simple terms why they don't provide this any more, and maybe give some suggestions for how else I can achieve it please?? (I've looked at this topic http://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/Xperia-Ion/Alternatives-on-How-to-backup-Xperias/td-p/161240 already)

[_alexdon_]

I have no idea why the file manager cannot see the .vcf.Have you given myphone explorer a try?Also,try to install PCC from where I told you and update java.

[Andy_P2002]

To put this to bed....

I bit the bullet and used "sync" to a Google account to backup my contacts. It seemed to duplicate a few and made a couple of bizarre substitutions, but on the whole it workd fine other than my usual confusion about which to use if tyou have more than one Google mail account.

I used 'SMS Backup and Restore' to re-create my message history. That was excellent,  it only failed to restore 2 messages out of about 900.

I also used my Google account to try to sync my Calendar events, but that seems to have failed completely. When I look at sync settings it always says "Sync Error - Sync is currently experiencing problems. It will be back shortly." (A pretty unhelpful error message as it has been saying that for weeks now and obviously isn't coming back any time soon. (Everything else is syncing OK on that account).

All my apps have now been re-installed OK (several times dure to several "return to factory settings"!)

Google PlayStore tries to help by listing what you have downloaded, but again there were confusions where my stuff has been downloaded while I was logged in on various different accont names.

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As for the crashing issue itself, I'm 99% sure I've cracked it. I found two corrupted mp3 files in a single folder on the external SD card, and it seems those were causing constant re-scanning of the card, causing the media apps to fail and possibly causing the other crashes due to the low memory on theis phone.

I shifted everything off to a PC, reformatted the card and put everything back again (including new versions of the bad files) and after a final "return to factory settings and re-install of everything, everything seems back to normal.

I've no idea what caused those mp3 files to corrupt, but if it happens again, I'll ditch the SD card as it's the prime suspect.

[_alexdon_]

Good,if that happens again,use another SD card.