How To: The Easiest Way to Back Up, Restore, & Sync Files Between Your Computer & HTC One

If you've just upgraded to an HTC One M8, chances are you've got some media files you want transferred over from your computer or previous phone. Even after you've done that, there will be times when you want to transfer content back to your computer for safe keeping.

The old standby way to do all of this from an Android device to a PC is to use a micro USB cable and MTP, or media transfer protocol. MTP essentially turns your phone into a storage drive that you can access through Explorer on Windows or Finder on a Mac.

However, MTP can be finicky and doesn't always work, as issues with drivers between devices and computers are common. The M8 is no exception, and the same goes for the older M7.

There is an elegant solution to this potential issue, though, straight from HTC. You don't have to mess with any drivers, and it works even better than what you're probably used to. This is file sharing made easy—for both the M7 and M8.

Step 1: Install HTC Sync Manager

HTC wanted to provide their customers with an easy way to back up their device, exchange files with their PCs, and sync their data. HTC Sync Manager was born to take care of these tasks, and not only is it a cinch to set up and use, it works very well.

You can download HTC Sync Manager, available for Windows and Mac, for free directly from HTC (I'll be using the Windows version for this tutorial).

Step 2: Run HTC Sync Manager

After installation, all you have to do is connect your M8 to your PC with your micro USB cable. From there, the program will recognize your device and begin syncing automatically. You'll know Sync Manager recognizes your device because it'll show your device properties on the application's home screen.

HTC Sync Manager functions similarly to any file explorer, but looks pretty doing it and is streamlined to function with your HTC device. The program divides things up top into four headers: Home, Music, Gallery, and Files.

Step 3: Sync Music

If you have any music files on your PC that you'd like to send over to your M8, and you're down with using HTC's native music player on your device, you can send them over here.

Under Music Settings on the left, click Display to add music files from folders on your PC to your M8. You can also opt to have Sync Manager automatically import music files from iTunes and Windows Media Player, which is a useful feature if you use either of those programs to manage your library.

While this is all well and good, I'd be remiss not to mention that rather than adding music files to your phone's internal storage using this method, you could upload and stream your entire library from your PC using Google Music Manager and Google Play Music.

Using this method means not being tethered to HTC's built-in music player, but can take longer to upload and sync depending on the size of your library. Either way, you have options, and options are nice.

Step 4: Sync Photos

Click Gallery and you can browse folders, both on your PC and on your M8, on the left. Click the arrow to expand or collapse the folder albums.

To send a picture from your computer to your phone, simply find it in an album, then click the phone icon next to the image, as highlighted above.

To send a photo from your device to your PC, find the image in your M8 folder, right-click it, highlight Copy to computer, then select the album you'd like to send it to. Hold down the shift key to select multiple pics, or use Ctrl + A to select everything.

Step 5: Sync Files

You can also set up Sync Manager to detect and sync files and documents, such as PDFs or spreadsheets. Head over to Files, then navigate to the folder you need on your PC. You can select files to send to your device from here.

Again, while it's a nice thought from HTC, you could just as easily use Google Drive, or the multitude of other cloud-based storage options, and not have to worry about manually syncing via USB.

Step 6: Back Up, Restore, & Transfer

Saved the best for last, because this is a killer feature, and HTC did well for themselves to include it. Click on Home, then Transfer & Backup to check it out.

First up, you'll see a few options for transferring content from another device. If you're coming over to the M8 from another phone, you'll want to give this a look. HTC even has your back whether or not you're making the switch from an iPhone or another Android device.

This is a quick and easy way to get everything from messages, to contacts, to apps from your old rig to the M8 without missing a beat. The idea is that if you're using an iPhone, Sync Manager will guide you through making a backup then uploading that backup to your new M8. For Android devices, HTC provides you with a foolproof tool to make it happen.

The Backup & Restore option is a must-use feature—there are no more excuses for not having a backup of your device. We advocate rooting around here for a whole lot of reasons, but one of the main ones is that you can install a custom recovery to make backups of your device, in case anything ever goes wrong. Here, HTC gives you a non-root option for doing the very same thing.

All you have to do is click Back up now and let the program do its thing.

HTC Sync Manager was built specifically for HTC's flagship devices to do what common file explorers do, but do them better. Transferring music, photos, and files are easy, making backups (and restoring them) is now only a few clicks away. Check the program out for yourself, and let us know what you think in the comments below.