And, from the Department of Redundancy Department....
How DO you back up your data on your PDAphones?
I recently went trolling for Palm Freeware to accomplish backup to, and restore from, SD card. Even my new Treo 650 is not immune to data loss (despite the flash memory that keeps contents after battery rundown, a hard reset _will_ dump what's in the NVRAM).
The standard Palm HotSync does not adequately preserve the configuration of your PDAphone, as I can attest from personal experience. It's also rather nice to have a backup-to-SD solution, so if the phone (hasn't yet, doesn't main it ain't gonna) needs a reload when your's away from your desk, you are not stuck without your important address book data (not to mention the phone number of tonight's date and where the rendezvous is...).
Honestly I have VfsBackup on one of my hard buttons, and use it almost every time I add a name or an event. Seems that the more important the item added is, the more likely a hard reset. Though since I started doing this, real world data suggests that I have had fewer of those since I did my backups. Go figure. It's still a good habit I have not checked on an update to Vfs, seems the current iteration doesn't know what to do with shortcuts, and likes to back them up each time, but it's no biggie.
UPDATE: Since I got my Treo, it seems that VfsBackup isn't copying *everything* like it did on my other devices. I assume that it's either OS5, or more likely, the new NVRAM that the Treo Uses confuses the proggy. I am going to have a look at the other three apps in the meantime
Last edited by Copasetic : 05-29-2005 at 12:51 PM.
Re: And, from the Department of Redundancy Department....
I use Back-up Buddy to back up my Kyocera 7135 as well as my Sony Clie U50. There is a free version of the software, but I use the registered version and I have both devices configured to do an automatic backup to SD card every day at 3:00 AM. It works extremely well for me. As with everything in the computer world, YMMV.
Quote:
Originally posted by johnbartley How DO you back up your data on your PDAphones?
I recently went trolling for Palm Freeware to accomplish backup to, and restore from, SD card. Even my new Treo 650 is not immune to data loss (despite the flash memory that keeps contents after battery rundown, a hard reset _will_ dump what's in the NVRAM).
The standard Palm HotSync does not adequately preserve the configuration of your PDAphone, as I can attest from personal experience. It's also rather nice to have a backup-to-SD solution, so if the phone (hasn't yet, doesn't main it ain't gonna) needs a reload when your's away from your desk, you are not stuck without your important address book data (not to mention the phone number of tonight's date and where the rendezvous is...).
Update: After trying all 4 of these, each leaves much to be desired. SmartBackup seemed to be the most complete as far as backing up the files, though each time you ran it it defaults back to its original settings. I tried to do some progressive backing up and each time it wanted to save to the default directory. I have used it though, and got used to resetting the directory and pdb/prc/full each time. However, I have since dispensed with this utility until further notice as in the current iteration I downloaded, it does not include any form of restore feature (yeah, no kidding o.0), rendering it 99% useless. The files are intact in the folders, complete with locks, but also extensions . Regardless, going through the hassle of copying them using another utility, or reinstalling them, not to mention the locked file hassles one would face, is just not worth it.
RF Backup seemed to be the next solution, as it was simple and appeared to be complete. A Hard Reset in the field bought back all my apps, but got errors when trying to restore my address book, datebook, and memos (all are the most important). Alas, they were not there, and so I moved on.
CardBackup didn't even seem to back up as many files, and this was true. Even my Zlauncher settings were lost when I tried to do a restore (I got file lock errors on a fresh (hard) reset). Going to the folder resulted in every file having a date code extenstion attached to it, making it impossible to even copy the files back one by one (renaming them back didn't help).
VfsVackup had long been my standard, it was complete, and even was able to restore my voice tags on the 7135 (which I had heard was simply impossible) and so I had high hopes (and prayers) that it would do the same. It was the ONLY thing I have ever seen that could do a complete wipeout restore, and put my phone back so close to 100% that if there was something missing I never noticed it. Alas, it seems to have problems with either the NVRS or OS5, and hiccups all the time when trying to copy files *from* the Treo :'(
I am going to look at the suggestions posted here I suppose. For backups anything less than 100% just isn't enough (including a restore, sigh)
Last edited by Copasetic : 06-06-2005 at 04:52 PM.
BackupMan (registered) - I use it after I add, or delete, an app, sfter making sure there are no hiccups with the installation. Any problems I just restore the last backup and away we go.... Treo 650
I posted this elsewhere, but it seems relevant to your article. In the first synch of my (laptop computer) outlook data to my "new" Treo (supplied by Verizon when my old one developed two splotches on the screen), the categories for my contacts didn't transfer. I didn't think I was doing anything wrong, and your article seems to support that...
Is this an example of poor "backup" proceedure in the Treo?
How DO you back up your data on your PDAphones? 
I have not checked on an update to Vfs, seems the current iteration doesn't know what to do with shortcuts, and likes to back them up each time, but it's no biggie.
. Regardless, going through the hassle of copying them using another utility, or reinstalling them, not to mention the locked file hassles one would face, is just not worth it.
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