Is your phone rooted?

 

That's Ma'am if we're being politically correct

I've used all 3 back-up methods that you mentioned in you OP. When I flash a new ROM I use all 3, actually.

Nandroid backs up your current ROM. It saves pretty much everything including your apps. If you're flashing between ROMs you can do a nandroid backup but when you restore that backup it restores the ROM as well. For example, if you want to move from CM6 ROM to MIUI you can do a nandroid to backup CM6 before flashing the MIUI. If you were to restore that nandroid it restores CM6 ROM, does that make sense? If you just want a backup of your current configuration then a nandroid should suffice.

I use Titanium (paid version) when I switch between ROMS because it saves all your apps, their market links and the settings within each ROM. So, I use K9 Mail for all 5 of my email addresses. When I restore my apps in a new ROM using Titanium it saves all those addresses and all the additional settings in K9 (ringtones and such) so I don't have to input it all again when setting up a new ROM. There are some additional features with Titanium too (removing unused apps, etc.), it's defnitely worth purchasing. If you use the free version the restore process is much more manual. I don't think I'd enjoy flashing ROMs too much if I didn't have this app, it saves a TON if work!

MyBackup Pro is a good app as well. It's the first backup app I ever purchased on my Eris before I even rooted. I use this to backup MMS and SMS when flashing between ROMs. It also backs up the system settings and apps but I have to admit, I haven't used those features since they are included in Titanium backups.

If you plan to flash between ROMs and you have a lot of apps or custom settings I would definitely recommend Titanium, paid version. And nandroids are priceless.

Let me know if you have any other specific questions. I hope this helps!

ETA: I should add that I'm not sure how any of these affect the apps stored on your sd card. Don't have much experience with that personally.

 

No worries. Us girls are definitely in the minority here

I'm not the smartest when it comes to this stuff so someone please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong with anything I've posted. I'm just posting based on experience.

If your phone should get hosed for some reason, you should be able to: hard reset it > nandroid, and that's it! If you're restoring to the same ROM you were using there is no reason to have to use Titanium backup. The nandroid should have everything you need. Nandroid is kindof like a mirror of your current system. Titanium is best used when setting up a new ROM, it saves a lot of work when setting things up for the first time on a new ROM. Does that make sense?

It also depends on how or why your phone gets hosed. If you lost root for some reason then yes, you'd have to re-root the phone after a reset before restoring a nandroid. If you didn't lose root then you could just restore your nandroid after a wipe. If you're not really messing with your phone (flashing ROMs, kernals, themes, etc.) then it's pretty unlikely that your phone would be hosed.

If you just want to backup your current configuration on your current ROM then a nandroid should be sufficient. A nandroid should backup the apps on your sd card too, even if you reset your phone for some reason those apps should still be there. How Titanium handles apps on your sd card I haven't a clue, sorry. I haven't found any issues with Android phones that cause a wipe of your sd card. Once stuff is on there it stays there unless you format the sd card or delete stuff off of it.

If I'm reading your posts correctly you're just looking for a backup for your current settings.... Kindof like backing up your music or photos to a harddrive. Just a safety net of sorts. If that's the case then you should only need nandroid.

 

I'll check this thread again in a bit.... Headed out now to take Optimus Prime and Bumblebee trick-or-treating!

Happy Halloween!!

 

I've been using ROM Manager, and visually it seems like it backs up everything, apps+settings+themes+accounts. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Yes, ROM Manager is a nice interface that's used to do a nandroid.

 

How about doing this exact same thing except that my Incredible is not rooted?

 

When you do a nandroid backup, everything is backed up TO your sd card, so if you are looking to preserve the apps on your sd card just copy the contents of your sd card to a computer or other hard drive, thereby keeping a backup of your nandroid and your sd card just in case your sd card breaks.

@imtoomuch, there is no way to do a system type backup that nandroid does without a rooted phone, but you can use other market apps such as my backup pro to back up the information and apps you have on your phone.

 

I used MyBackup pro a few days ago when switching Roms. Went from 'Sense' based to AOSP.
Backed up all apps and their data, as well as all system data/settings, and everthing went smoothly... took forever, but smooth.