Thanks for the info. I have not really tested Seedvault myself so this is all good to know.
Ironically, one of the main reasons I switched to GrapheneOS was because Google’s backups were so frustrating and I was hoping Seedvault would be more comprehensive.
It is and its not. You just have to know the limitations, some of which I mentioned. Try it for yourself and to a restore then report back you’ll understand it’s very cumbersome in some ways.
Don’t expect to be able to wipe a phone and restore from backup like you never left it’ll get you closeish. So you need to ask yourself is that good enough for you with your opsec and threat model? To only have part of your data back…
In its current form its just a hassle right now to create backups on seperate drives (not even partitions on one drive I tried, as seedvault and the OS only identifies the drive you don’t get to choose) for each profile plugging them into your phone individually, backing up each one, and keeping them up to date often, it’s a lot! I have swapped several pixels and profiles I hate doing it everytime it really is a subpar process. I AM ALL EARS FOR A BETTER SOLUTION. Having to piece your data back together for it to be complete again doesn’t sit right with me to be considered backed up correctly. It leaves you vulnerable and some of us don’t like being locked into any specific device or situation like having your life on a device and being at the mercy of it for any reason you might encounter. I’m actually moving away from graphene due to these issues. It’s just not there yet.
Its one thing to read the documentation and another to have experience in using the software first hand which is why I got downvotes, over time, daily those are the ones who have experienced what I mean. I just wanted people to be aware that it’s not the saving grace yet.
Imagine the real world use case of backups and maintenance which should be done as often as possible as to lose as little data as possible. Phone gets broken, stolen, confiscated, what have you. Having reliable backups is the difference between starting over and continuing with what could be your entire life in this digital age.
Thanks for the info. I have not really tested Seedvault myself so this is all good to know.
Ironically, one of the main reasons I switched to GrapheneOS was because Google’s backups were so frustrating and I was hoping Seedvault would be more comprehensive.
It is and its not. You just have to know the limitations, some of which I mentioned. Try it for yourself and to a restore then report back you’ll understand it’s very cumbersome in some ways.
Don’t expect to be able to wipe a phone and restore from backup like you never left it’ll get you closeish. So you need to ask yourself is that good enough for you with your opsec and threat model? To only have part of your data back…
In its current form its just a hassle right now to create backups on seperate drives (not even partitions on one drive I tried, as seedvault and the OS only identifies the drive you don’t get to choose) for each profile plugging them into your phone individually, backing up each one, and keeping them up to date often, it’s a lot! I have swapped several pixels and profiles I hate doing it everytime it really is a subpar process. I AM ALL EARS FOR A BETTER SOLUTION. Having to piece your data back together for it to be complete again doesn’t sit right with me to be considered backed up correctly. It leaves you vulnerable and some of us don’t like being locked into any specific device or situation like having your life on a device and being at the mercy of it for any reason you might encounter. I’m actually moving away from graphene due to these issues. It’s just not there yet.
Its one thing to read the documentation and another to have experience in using the software first hand which is why I got downvotes, over time, daily those are the ones who have experienced what I mean. I just wanted people to be aware that it’s not the saving grace yet.
Imagine the real world use case of backups and maintenance which should be done as often as possible as to lose as little data as possible. Phone gets broken, stolen, confiscated, what have you. Having reliable backups is the difference between starting over and continuing with what could be your entire life in this digital age.