[Archi tech]

Diesel, Shotta, et al.-

You seem to be well informed regarding backup software and procedure. What is the difference between this program (the Backup Plus) and the backup software that is part of ActiveSync on my PC.

My intention is to be able to restore my 2215 to its current state (installed programs, registry settings, themes, etc.) in the event of a hard reset or worse yet, unit replacement.

I looked at the iPAQ backup utility discussed, and it appears to my untrained mind that this only backups things to the iPAQ File Store which I am guessing is part of my 64MB of RAM. I would rather backup to my PC and save the space on my iPAQ.

Thanks for the info to this Newbie ops: and possibly others!

[Archi tech]

Diesel, Shotta, et al.-

You seem to be well informed regarding backup software and procedure. What is the difference between this program (the Backup Plus) and the backup software that is part of ActiveSync on my PC.

My intention is to be able to restore my 2215 to its current state (installed programs, registry settings, themes, etc.) in the event of a hard reset or worse yet, unit replacement.

I looked at the iPAQ backup utility discussed, and it appears to my untrained mind that this only backups things to the iPAQ File Store which I am guessing is part of my 64MB of RAM. I would rather backup to my PC and save the space on my iPAQ.

Thanks for the info to this Newbie ops: and possibly others!

[diesel]

archi,

i don't have my ipaq yet but will soon, but i've used the backup plus program on my axim and it's fantastic, it allows you to create a "self-extracting" backup file which you could then transfer to your pc................what i mean by self extracting is that it's an .exe file that contains a snapshot of your pocket pc including all data, settings, etc................after a hard reset you can simply run the self extracting file on your pocket pc and it extracts and restores your pocket pc.....................with all programs and settings and data

my understanding with the ipaq is that they have an older version of the backup plus utility built into the ROM, so when you create a backup file (older version ipaq has doesn't allow you to create self extracting backup file) it's not self extracting with an .exe extension, but this should not matter since this program is built into the ROM, after hard reset, the backup program will still be there since it's in ROM, launc the program and restore to your backup from within the program.................

[Archi tech]

Diesel

Thanks for the explanation. My one point of misunderstanding is: can you save that self-extracting .exe file to your PC or must it reside on your PPC, (in my case in the iPAQ File Store which is where the 2215 wants you to save it). Maybe I can just copy it to my PC from the file store but it sure would be nice if the app did all that for me.

Secondly, any thoughts on the viability of ActiveSync Backup/Restore? I am a little chicken to try it by hard resetting my PPC and seeing if it can restore everything.

I wonder why would HP feel the need to offer their own app if a great backup utility is built-in to AS?

Thanks

[ajmaggs]

My one point of misunderstanding is: can you save that self-extracting .exe file to your PC or must it reside on your PPC, (in my case in the iPAQ File Store which is where the 2215 wants you to save it). Maybe I can just copy it to my PC from the file store but it sure would be nice if the app did all that for me.

Using the built in app, you can store the backup on either a CF/SD card or the file store (remembering that the Filestore on the 2210 is only 3.8Mb big). You can also copy the backup file across manually and store it on your PC. In the event of a restore being necessary you would need to connect your 2210 to the PC and create a partnership to copy the backup back across before restoring. Personally, I keep a couple of backups on my CF card, and do a device to PC backup once a week.

but it sure would be nice if the app did all that for me

If you upgrade to Backup Plus ($10 from www.spritesoftware.com), this includes a service that runs on the PC, which will allow you to run backups from the PC and store them directly on the PC automatically.

any thoughts on the viability of ActiveSync Backup/Restore? I am a little chicken to try it by hard resetting my PPC and seeing if it can restore everything.

It works OK, but is quite slow. At least it was when I last used it (on a 5450). The increase in AS speeds since the launch of the 2210 may improve this.

I wonder why would HP feel the need to offer their own app if a great backup utility is built-in to AS

I think speed and convience. PocketBackup Plus is much quicker at doing Ipaq to PC backups than AS is, and you get the convience of having a backup stored on your device.

Personally, I would definately recommend the upgrade to PocketBackup Plus, it's well worth the $10.

[diesel]

i agree with ajmaggs, upgrading to backup plus is well worth the money, it's a much more robust program than the built in active sync backup utility, in fact the one and only time i tried the active sync backup, it did not work on my old axim.......................had to restore after a ROM upgrade, and it failed, after that i got the backup plus on my axim and has never failed me after two additional ROM upgrades on the axim....................i just received my 2210 today and is now charging..............................