Best rated back up program?....

[scrappinmama2]

How do you all safely back up your pda? I have been synching to my computer and I have a flash drive. Can I save on that or do you recommend purchasing a back up program as well? Thanks so much for all your help. I'm a newbie still. :confused:

[braj]

I don't know what's best overall, but on my TX I understand Resco Backup to be the most compatible.

[cyberdude]

How do you all safely back up your pda? I have been synching to my computer and I have a flash drive. Can I save on that or do you recommend purchasing a back up program as well? Thanks so much for all your help. I'm a newbie still. :confused:
You're not backing up if you don't have backups to your card. I HIGHLY recommend Rescoe Backup. It depends on your device - but I have a TX and that is the only backup app that I've heard NO complaints about from TX users. I hear OnGuard Backup is excellent as well. BackupMan is pretty good. I believe that your backup app is probably one of the most important apps you will have on your pda. I set RB to backup every night at 12:30 am. I also have it set to backup before every hotsync - although this makes the hotsync take twice as long, it is worth it to know that if I put something on there that screws up my PDA I will have a backup that is as recent as possible.

I also copy the contents of my card to my computer at regular intervals (about once a week). SyncWizard will do this for you, back up the card and the RAM, if you so desire. I like doing it myself.

Welcome and good luck - happy mobile computing!

[wellsjs]

The cheap way is to manually back your RAM up, when you can remember to do so. Sony's supplied MS Backup (not sure what comes on Palms) will do that.

The smart way is to use one of these: Resco Backup, BackupMan, BackupBuddy, and schedule backups at, say 4 a.m., everyday. I own all three of the above licenses and I use Resco Backup . . . what else is there to say? :)

But then if you lose or have your PDA stolen, the backup on the card that's in it goes away too! :eek: So once a week (using ToDo reminder) I back up my memory stick to my PC hard drive. That way if my PDA and memory stick are lost or stolen, I collect the insurance from my personal articles policy, get new PDA and memory stick, restore backup from PC to memory stick, restore backup of RAM on memory stick to RAM on new PDA, and I'm right back where I was! :rolleyes:

That's known as - "Havin' a plan!" :D

[Rob_T]

I have used BackupMan, Resco Backup, and Resco Exploerer on my TX. All have worked very well for me. Resco Explorer allows for manual backups only, so, if you want an automated process (set it and forget it), the other two would be better.

[pixelpainter]

I have used BackupMan, Resco Backup, and Resco Exploerer on my TX. All have worked very well for me. Resco Explorer allows for manual backups only, so, if you want an automated process (set it and forget it), the other two would be better.


You might look into the new version of Resco Backup. It does automatic backups as well as locking suspect files for those who use NVFs.

[I love my mom]

I have several backup programs I use. Five to be exact. All FREE.

First: BackupBuddyVFS lite. I does everything I need it to. Backup to card.
Second: InnerBackup 2005. Another free title from freewarepalm that backs up to my card.
Third: PalmCommander. Used to be commercial software, so you know it is good, has scheduled backups and you can choose what to backup also. Backsup to the card.
Fourth: BackupAll Simple 3k backup program that backs up to your pc.
Fifth: FileZ (this one is strange isn't it?) I use the attribute thingy to set all attributes to backup. I don't do each file individualy, it has a set all option or something like that where you can set attributes for all files in memory. I check 'backup' and poof, it sets all databases to backup on hotsync.

[applejosh]

For NVFS devices (basically anything introduced within the past year and a half), Resco Backup seems to work very well (it was the only one not to have errors on my T5). BackupMan (v 1.x - haven't looked at or tried v 2.x) worked well on non-NVFS devices, but didn't have encryption (v 2.x does now according to the website). BackupBuddyVFS has good encrytion, but it didn't like my T5. Resco has weak encryption (but at least some sort of password protection), and it's backup files are just zip files that can be opened with Winzip on the desktop in the event of a complete device failure (or loss).

I also have licenses for all three (except the newer BackupMan, but by the time it was released, I already had bought Resco, and there isn't an upgrade discount), and I use Resco exclusively now. You can have multiple sets (I backup 5 separate times a day), and it can either do complete new backups (like the one I run at 6am) or just update changed files (like I do for the ones that run throughout the day). You can also limit how many sets of a particular backup are kept, so your SD card doesn't fill up. (eg. My main nightly backup only keeps the 3 latest backup sets.) It was the most flexible solution at the time, and I still don't have a reason to change back to one of the other two.

[cyberdude]

The cheap way is to manually back your RAM up, when you can remember to do so. Sony's supplied MS Backup (not sure what comes on Palms) will do that.

The smart way is to use one of these: Resco Backup, BackupMan, BackupBuddy, and schedule backups at, say 4 a.m., everyday. I own all three of the above licenses and I use Resco Backup . . . what else is there to say? :)

But then if you lose or have your PDA stolen, the backup on the card that's in it goes away too! :eek: So once a week (using ToDo reminder) I back up my memory stick to my PC hard drive. That way if my PDA and memory stick are lost or stolen, I collect the insurance from my personal articles policy, get new PDA and memory stick, restore backup from PC to memory stick, restore backup of RAM on memory stick to RAM on new PDA, and I'm right back where I was! :rolleyes:

That's known as - "Havin' a plan!" :D
Uh, this once happened to me. I lost my pda card and all. Luckily I had recently done one of my copies of the card contents to my hard drive at work. I was up and running again as soon as I got a new PDA - no problems.

As to Backup apps I too have licenses to Backupman, CardBackup, Backupbuddy, and Rescoe Backup. I use Rescoe as my primary backup app and allow backupman to do a backup 1x/week as my secondary backup app. Why do I own all these you may ask. The answer is rather simple, I've progressed through them as my use of my palm has changed and as my device has changed. I started out using backupbuddy VFS with my handspring deluxe then moved to cardbackup when I got my m505, I found that OS5 was not quite the same so when I got my T|T I purchased BackupMan. I now have a TX and that's why I use Rescoe Backup - 'nough said. :)

[applejosh]

Third: PalmCommander. Used to be commercial software, so you know it is good,
<snip>

While I don't have much experience with PalmCommander (I think I had it on my device for about 2 minutes before I unisntalled it), I don't know if I'd make blanket statements like that. I know plenty of commercial software that is not good. I've also known plenty of freeware software that could have been commercial software.

(And actually one could make the argument that any previously commercial software that is now freeware was because it wasn't good enough to cut it as a commercial product.)

Not saying PalmCommander isn't worthy of consideration. Just saying that because something used to be commercial doesn't necessarily make it good. ;)

[yorrick]

Recommendations aside, I suggest that you load all the programs (whilst in the shareware trial period) onto your PDA and try them out ... by doing a hard reset. (Obviously, I am assuming that you'd back your RAM up with each respective program before you nuke everything!!)

Restore the image and see what happens.
Some backup programs restore everything as before the hard reset. Others do a mediocre job with some programs losing configs and so on.

[wellsjs]

Why do I own all these you may ask. The answer is rather simple, I've progressed through them as my use of my palm has changed and as my device has changed.That's my case too . . . I didn't go out and buy all three last week! :D I started, as you did, with BackupBuddy, who left the Palm community high and dry when OS 5 came out, so I bought BackupMan which was probably the best choice at the time. After buying and falling in love with Resco Explorer, and then hearing favorable comments about Resco Backup, I decided to give it a try, and between file compression (saving me 25M) and not having to reset ClieSkinner after a full restore (had to with BackupMan), I decided it was time for Resco Backup, and I couldn't be more pleased with it. It's saved my bacon a number of times that I've had to do a hard reset, with flawless restorals. ;)

[palmtastic]

Resco Backup
Sale price is $9.95 (usual price $14.95).

Resco Backup and Resco Explorer sold as a bundle.
Sale price is $19.44 (usual price $29.90)

Sale is on until March 15 at this site:
http://www.mobihand.com/palm247/product.asp?id=1201

HTH

[stevec]

I use BackupBuddy on my laptop to backup everthing in my T5 each time I HotSync, and BBVFS to do an automatic backup (of "RAM") to my SD card every night; additionally, I backup the internal card to the SD card about once a month. Thus, I have a regular backup and archive history on my laptop (which is, itself, backed up) and a copy no more than 24 hours old on SD (should my Palm crash totally whilst away from my laptop).

BB and BBVFS have worked fine on my T5 - a few hiccups were recorded when NVFS first came out but BlueNomad fixed those.

[CroCo]

I use UniCMD which is very good for automated backup and Update. Backup zipps all data into a separate zipfile with the date in the name of the file. I do that once a week. For update you copy all data you want to keep updated onto your memory card and the program will check for changed or newer files when it is active and copy them in the folder. This I do every second day.
I also found out that the megalauncher backup is quite usefull. It can be automated as well.
UniCMD is freeware. I guess one has to get used to it to love it- its a bit awkward.
Megalauncher is commercial and a solid launcher I can recommend.

[PinCushionQueen]

IMHO (plus it looks like other's as well) Rescoe is hands down the best backup. For me - I wanted a backup program, that after hard reset, would return my palm to the exact (well mostly at least) state that it was when I backed up last. You can have automatic backups, multiple set, pick and choose apps for stability, etc...

I play with a lot of software and sometimes beta test and as a result I can lock up my palm quite regularly :o . Rescoe has been consistantly a wonderful backup app. When I screw things up - RBU makes it look like it never happened. ;)

[cyberdude]

IMHO (plus it looks like other's as well) Rescoe is hands down the best backup. For me - I wanted a backup program, that after hard reset, would return my palm to the exact (well mostly at least) state that it was when I backed up last. You can have automatic backups, multiple set, pick and choose apps for stability, etc...

I play with a lot of software and sometimes beta test and as a result I can lock up my palm quite regularly :o . Rescoe has been consistantly a wonderful backup app. When I screw things up - RBU makes it look like it never happened. ;)
I couldn't have said it better! Rescoe Backup's locking feature enhances it all the more. No other backup app (and I've tried them all except OnGuard Backup) comes close to RB when it comes to compatibility and stability on the TX.

[Drunkard]

I also now suggest Resco since it's so feature-rich and reliable. I also use OnGuard Backup and it's great for situations where your worried about losing ANY changes you make in certain apps. I have OnGuard Backup set to watch for and backup changes made in the Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, Memos, Note Pad, and Secret! (an ecrypted notepad like app I use). Everything else on my Pam could be fairly easily re-installed if Resco Backup failed to restore, which is very unlikely, but for those critical apps, I have the added security of backing them up seperately with OnGuard Backup and can restore just those if I have to.

[LanMan]

Okay for you backup fans. I have a question especially those of you that have used the Clie MSBackup utility. What makes Resco (seems the be the agreed upon best available) so much better than the built-in Clie MSBackup util? MSBackup doesn't have timed backups or compression, both of which I would like to have but don't consider mandatory at this time. What else does Resco Backup have that would cause me to want to shell out $10-$15? Or maybe $20 with that PalmAddict sale for both Resco Backup and Explorer (which I also don't know what makes it better than FileZ).

[Drunkard]

Resco Backup: Comparison to other backup solutions (http://www.resco.net/palm/backup/default.asp). No comparison with MSBackup though on that page.

As for Resco Explorer vs FileZ comparison, there both very different approaches to file management.

FileZ is great in that it's freeware and quite reliable, but for a really powerful file manager Resco is the way to go. Too many feature to list here, but I say try it befre you buy, since you might not find a need for it. To me the difference between the two is like using a command line versus windows explorer to manage your files and directories on a PC. Filez works great and has mostly the same features though not as many as RescoExplorer, but it's not as intuitive as I would like. FileZ does seem to be wicked fast though at moving files.

My 2 cents.

[stevec]

From what I remember when I first got a Clie, MSBackup will only restore to the same Clie - OK most of the time but, if your Clie is nuked you can't use restore to build a new machine for you.

Personally, I've found BB and BBVFS rock solid -I've used both to rebuild a Palm from a hard reset with little effort. However, neither backup the hidden volume - not an issue with 99% of programs but viaMichelin hides some of its files there; you either need to reinstall the application through your PC or make sure you have a backup set made with FileZ; I'm told Resco Explorer can include this volume in its backup (but I don't have RE to check).

[oz-nom]

I'm surprised to read people dissing BackupBuddy on VFS devices. I bought it *because* of it's VFS support! It was the 1st backup app that I found to work with my T5. At teh start, it wasn't perfect (but better than the others I looked at), but now it works fine. Flawless back-ups & restores. And yes, it has had "real world" use: I have twice (at least) needed to restore from a hard reset, once from old back-up sets. It restores the handheld to identical condition it was in at time of backup.

I'm happy to accept that other backup apps work too, we all have our favourites. I just don't understand criticisms of BBVFS.

[oz-nom]

SteveC,

I'd never heard of the hidden volume until you mentioned it. So I launched FileZ to take a look. All of the apps that have files there have been restored perfectly with BBVFS Pro, so I'm not sure what you mean. Maybe it's just a problem with viaMichelin?

Just wanting to understand...

[bald1]

While I too use Resco BackUp on my TX (choosing it after trying all the others), there is one option I haven't seen discussed here for addressing the need to backup the primary SD card. I use SMBMate to copy my SD card information to my laptop. I found this much more convenient than using my laptop's built in card reader.

[wellsjs]

If you're talking about doing a backup/copy of your entire card, wouldn't SMBMate be incredibly slow as opposed to the card reader?

[bald1]

If you're talking about doing a backup/copy of your entire card, wouldn't SMBMate be incredibly slow as opposed to the card reader?

Not really. I actually timed how long it took to install a TomTom map to my SD card while plugged in to my laptop vs using SMBMate to copy it back to my SD BackUp directory.... basically the same. But more to the point, once a backup is on your computer, all you're really doing is making what amounts to incremental backups of the SD card. Files such as those created by Resco BackUp get copied. And sure, new apps that reside on the SD card, files I create with CardTXT, etc. all must be targeted. I don't find that to be an issue at all.

What I didn't elaborate on is that (at least on my machine) moving data between the different disk formats (e.g. NTFS, FAT, FAT32) when an SD or CF card is involved is speed limited akin to speed limits we see on USB ports. When doing my first SD card backup using my laptop's built in card reader, WindozeXP took extra time to set up moving data from the SD's FAT to a harddrive's NTFS. That's what prompted me to do some evaluation which ultimately resulted in my choosing SMBMate for incremental SD backups.

[wellsjs]

I guess our experiences differ, as I can copy to/from my Sony Memory Stick (FAT32) and an NTFS harddrive much quicker than SMBMate can do it. I love SMBMate, but not for that purpose. It's more of a one-sie, two-sie file mover rather than large jobs.

[bald1]

Honestly I think the built-in card reader on my laptop is inherently slow. Then it is compounded by WinXP when it comes to SD and CF cards. My old external reader which isn't compatible with my laptop was a screamer. I'm simply making due with what I have rather than look at hardware additions. Still I do think anyone looking at backing up key SD data should also consider SMBMate.

[wellsjs]

Resco Backup
Sale price is $9.95 (usual price $14.95).

Resco Backup and Resco Explorer sold as a bundle.
Sale price is $19.44 (usual price $29.90)

Sale is on until March 15 at this site:
http://www.mobihand.com/palm247/product.asp?id=1201

HTHThat's about the best $20 you can spend on Palm OS software today! ;)

[stevec]

SteveC,

I'd never heard of the hidden volume until you mentioned it. So I launched FileZ to take a look. All of the apps that have files there have been restored perfectly with BBVFS Pro, so I'm not sure what you mean. Maybe it's just a problem with viaMichelin?

Just wanting to understand...

Most files in the hidden volume are working copies or caches; via Michelin is the only application I have that uses the hidden volume in the way it does. Everything else in there is managed through the normal backup and restore process.

It just seems to be viaMichelin that needs to be reinstalled from the PC. For example, any locations you save in your favourites is stored just in the hidden volume; language files are also stored there. It's one more reason I wouldn't recommend viaMichelin to anyone needing GPS mapping on their Palm.

[LanMan]

That's about the best $20 you can spend on Palm OS software today! ;)

Is this discount being offered at Palmgear too? I've nevered purchased anything from Mobihand and would rather do so from PG.

[wellsjs]

Is this discount being offered at Palmgear too? I've nevered purchased anything from Mobihand and would rather do so from PG.Don't see it on PG or anywhere else . . . better grab it while the gettin' is good! :)

[jmg_NX21]

I have used the built-in Clie Backup program... *NO more clies =(


BUT you could never individually restore files. You could not just UPDATE the changes in RAM (both of which Resco's program allows)... and other features (compression, times back-ups, etc...)

BUT for $10 or so, I found it to also be a GREAT bargain (though i bought the bundle with the Resco Explorer... and I AM so glad I did...)