If you're having trouble completing your backup, the first step is to assess whether the app thinks it was complete. There's a clear distinction between seeing the "Backup Incomplete" screen, and having files not included but still seeing "Backup Complete".
Backup incomplete
There are a number of reasons you may land on the "Backup Incomplete" screen. The first thing to note if you see this screen is that it will tell you exactly "why it stopped," which informs our next steps:
When particular files didn’t back up, the message starts with how many, such as “2 files”. Tap that number to see them: the File Not Backed Up list shows each file’s thumbnail, what kind of file it is, when it was created, why it didn’t back up, and which folder it’s in, so you can find it in your gallery app. If more than one thing went wrong, the screen shows the one that affected the most files, with a Show More button for the rest:
Below, we’ll cover the reasons a backup may stop, what each means, and what to do next. Where a reason begins “1 file”, your screen shows however many files it affected:
- The Ultimate Backup was disconnected. This can happen if you move your phone while a backup is in progress. If it disconnects repeatedly without moving the device, the drive may require further troubleshooting — take a look at our Connection Issues guide for assistance.
- The level of battery charge is below 10%. Recharge your Android device, and then tap Resume Backup to proceed.
- There isn't enough space on the phone or tablet. Ultimate Backup needs a small amount of free space on the phone to work properly (usually about 1-2 GB). Try deleting unused or unwanted information off your phone to free up space (ex. old/unused apps, old text messages, old voicemails, downloaded podcasts, etc.) — we also have a guide for further help freeing up Android storage.
- There is not enough space on the Ultimate Backup. Try checking the storage space on your Ultimate Backup. If your Ultimate Backup is full, you can simply purchase another one to pick up seamlessly where the first left off.
- 1 file couldn’t be downloaded from Google Photos. Files you back up from Google Photos have to be downloaded before they can be copied to your Ultimate Backup, so a file can fail if the connection drops. Check your internet connection, then choose it again with Backup Files from Google Photos (see Backup Your Google Photos).
- 1 file couldn’t be copied to your drive. This usually means a file reached the drive but could not be written to it. Restart your Android device and try the backup once more — if it happens again, please contact our Support Team, as repeated write errors normally point to the drive itself rather than anything on your Android device.
- 1 file was skipped because it stopped responding. The file, or the drive, stopped responding while it was being copied, so the app skipped it and carried on with the rest. This can be caused by a problem with the drive or a corrupted file on your Android device. Tap Resume Backup to try again, and if the same file keeps being skipped, please contact our Support Team.
- 1 file was too large for your drive. Most Ultimate Backup drives are formatted as FAT32, which can’t store a single file of 4 GB or more, so a very long or high-resolution video was left out while the rest of the backup carried on. Take a look at Why can’t my drive backup files larger than 4 GB? to see what you can do about it.
- 1 file couldn’t be backed up. This covers any other problem with a particular file. Tap Resume Backup to try again, and please contact our Support Team if it keeps happening.
- The "Stop Backup" button was pressed. This is the only reason in this list that should be expected. If you ever decide to stop the backup mid-process, this is the screen you'll see. When you're ready to resume later, reconnect your drive, open the app, and tap Resume Backup — it will continue from where you last left off automatically.
- The drive is formatted as NTFS. NTFS is a Windows disk format that your Android device cannot back up to — the drive will still appear and you can browse the files already on it, but nothing new can be saved. This almost always follows the drive being reformatted on a Windows PC. Please contact our Support Team and we'll walk you through reformatting the drive so it works again.
Backup complete but missing files
Seeing the "Backup Complete" screen means the app successfully saved everything it was looking for. If you're still missing files after this, the question becomes — is this a setting, do we need a workaround, or is the file type genuinely incompatible?
- First, it's important to note that not all file types are accessible to us within the Ultimate Backup app. This comes down to privacy restrictions on your Android device, as opposed to limitations within our app. On most phones and tablets, this means photos, videos, and contacts are what we can include in a backup.
- With that in mind, let's check your Backup Options. If you're missing entire types of media (i.e. your photos backed up, but not your videos), this is the most likely culprit. Fixing this is often as simple as enabling the setting, and then tapping Resume Backup.
- If only some of your photos or videos are missing, rather than a whole type of media, make sure the Ultimate Backup app's access to photos and videos is set to Allow all. On Android 14 and later, if the app is only allowed to see selected photos and videos, the rest are left out of the backup. Here's how to grant full access to your photo/video library.
- If your options are all set how you intend them to be, the final piece to note is where Ultimate Backup looks for your content. Third party apps (Google Photos, Amazon Photos, etc.) are not directly accessible from within the Ultimate Backup app. These apps require backing up in different ways, and we have guides available to help with this.
If none of the above fits your situation, or if your backup still won't complete or files are still missing, please contact us for additional assistance.