Comment by baobun

Step 0: Use a reasonable device.

Story from a few years back: I have an old Samsung Galaxy I needed to migrate off of. As I recall, the only way to back up all the important data without involving trusted cloud infra was unlocking the bootloader and using TWRP. Don't recall if rooting was also part of the process - I think I wanted to back up before attempting rooting and later actually reflash it. Somehow I think I managed to trip a hardware fuse in the process because the device bricked and I'm not sure if I will ever be able to get at that data or if it's already gone forever...

Especially infuriating that what caused the full data loss was an attempt to back it up!

I'm so done with combating malicious manufacturers and OSs.