Backup Advice

[RD100]

Here are a few things I learned today regarding backing up your Pocket PC which you may find useful:

ActiveSync Backup Utility

In the Desktop PC screen of ActiveSync 3.7.1, if you click on the Menu Bar > Tools, you will see a Backup/Restore utility. This utility will backup everything stored in your PPC's RAM, including your \Windows folders, and copy it to your PC harddrive, all in a single backup file. There is also a Restore Utility, which lets you restore from this backup file, if you should ever happen to require a Hard Reset.


USB 2.0 High Speed 8 in 1 Card Reader/Writer

If you purchase one of those cheap USB 2.0 High Speed 8 in 1 card reader/writers you can copy an entire 256 mb SD Storage card in under a minute to your Desktop hard-drive. So these card reader/writers will give you a very high-speed method of saving your SD card data. It can also be useful if you purchase a new larger SD card. You can use it for transfering data from your old SD card to your PC then to your new SD card. You can also use it to quickly load up your SD card with MP3's, eBooks, Photo files, or large PDA game files (such as a 30mb Doom WAD file), without requiring the slower USB 1.1 speed of ActiveSync.

I recently purchased my USB 2.0 8-1 Reader/Writer on sale for under $10. Most computer stores sell them. It is about the size of a mans wallet, and has the ability to accept SD, MMC, Compact Flash, Memory Stick and other types of storage cards.

Make certain it is a USB 2.0, otherwise it will be MUCH slower !!!

These things are a lot more useful than I realized !!! :)

[ctmagnus]

One thing to note: The built-in backup software by Sprite Software is much faster than backing up via ActiveSync. Whenever I do a backup, I backup to a SD card and transfer the backup to the desktop (for safe keeping) via a card reader.

[tanalasta]

God no. Don't use activesync backup. It used to take me several HOURS to backup my device before I discovered Sprite's backup program that takes 5 minutes. I don't think Activesync will backup everything (e.g. the registry) as I have had to re-register programs online after using it to restore my device (more hours). The other major downside is you need a desktop with an activesync partnership to restore the dang thing.

Sprite Backup is worth it's weight in gold. Imagine being able to restore your device to the moment you pressed "backup" - so all you need to do is reset the clock. In about 2 minutes. Saved me hours of frustration on the road. All from your SD/CF card.

A USB writer is great to dump the contents of a memory card onto a desktop in case you corrupt it. It isn't so handy for backing up things stored it your device's RAM - e.g. Outlook data, registry data etc...