BackupBuddyVFS Question

[Unregistered]

Hi Guys,

I'm having a problem with BBVFS. The problem is with scheduling backups. Even though I set it up to backup at a certain time, in never turns on and backs up my apps. Manually, it works fine. BBVFS is running from RAM and it is registered. It's almost as if the automatic backup function is "disabled."

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Steve

[DanT]

I have this problem whenever I don't acknowledge alarms. One time I have an alarm set at 10 pm and my BBVFS was scheduled to do a backup at midnite. I didn't acknowledge the alarm until the next morning. When I turned on the Clie, BBVFS was still waiting. It then proceeded to backup as soon as I acknowledged the alarm.

[PearlTongue]

Yeah, I thought about that....but that isn't the cause. I do have alarms scheduled, but I've even tried a little test of 5 minutes into the future, and still no luck.

I appreciate the suggestion....any others?

~Steve

[rhart00]

suggestion--- backupman

[jthompson]

Checked the FAQ at Blue Nomad's website? I had a problem recently where BBVFS would start then bomb. Turned out to be a problem file with a naming convention that the Palm OS doesn't allow.

[PearlTongue]

Originally posted by jthompson
Checked the FAQ at Blue Nomad's website? I had a problem recently where BBVFS would start then bomb. Turned out to be a problem file with a naming convention that the Palm OS doesn't allow.

Yeah, I looked there too. My problem is that it doesn't even launch. If it was doing that, I'd have some avenues to persue...but the fact that it won't even come on is strange. I'm wondering if it is some unknown compatibility issue with my launcher (LauncherX) or one of the 67 progs I've got on the PDA.

Sigh..

Steve

[aaronrkelly]

I am also having a similar problem......my scheduled backups dont start until I turn the unit on. It the backup is set at midnight it wont backup until I turn the unit on first thing in the morning, then it starts right away. I have *NEVER* set any alarms on my pda so I have no clue as to why. It worked A OK until about a week ago so I must have installed something that is having conflicts......oh well still a great backup program I just have to tap on the icon once a day - really how lazy can I be???

[rldunn]

It's more than being lazy; it's about having a reliable backup. You may be forgettful or busy and forget one day, and that will be the day you have a hard reset. Which devices do the people having problems have?

[PearlTongue]

Okay, I fixed it. Kinda strange...

I started disabling hacks and exited out of LauncherX to try and setup a sync from the default system. After exiting, I noticed there was no icon for BBVFS. Go back into LX and the icon is there. (Wha?) I searched through the file manager and JackFlash and there were no instances of BBVFS on the PDA (NR70). I also noticed there was a green tick next to the icon (I think that means the prog is running off of the memstick?). I remembered reading in the support FAQ that you can't run the prog off of the memstick. Funny thing is, I never set it up that way. I don't run ANY progs off of the memstick. Furthermore, there was no instance of BBVFS in the Backup folder on my PC. But there WAS a copy in the archive folder. This led me to believe that, somehow, the program had been at least partially deleted (I never deleted it)...because other than the icon in LX, there was no evidence of it's existence on the Clie. I deleted, hotsync'd, and reinstalled the BBVFS .prc and everything is working perfectly now. Strange how I was able to run BBVFS manually, yet there was no evidence of the program other than the shortcut.

Anyway, it's fixed. (Woohoo!) Now I can sleep...

Thanks guys...
~Steve

[aaronrkelly]

My copy of the program is in RAM and my device is a T615c....does it maybe have something to do with the way I turn the device off. Pressing the power button vs using a hack or program like off-it????

[DanT]

I emailed BBVFS support awhile back and he said that some hacks and especially shortcuts can cause problems with BBVFS.

The shortcuts, like the icons that PiDirectII (PD2) generated whenever you enable it, also he mentioned LX shortcuts, tricks the RAM into thinking that the apps are in RAM or in MS launcher directory. Apparently BBVFS just cant backup or conflict with these ghost icons. I was able to make BBVFS daily schedule backup to work by disabling PD2 and enable it only whenever I need to use it.

As far as hacks, to find out which ones are the culprits, you need to disable them and check to see BBVFS work. Use the process of elimination by enabling the hacks one at the time and check BBVFS, until you find the culrpits.

[PearlTongue]

Originally posted by aaronrkelly
My copy of the program is in RAM and my device is a T615c....does it maybe have something to do with the way I turn the device off. Pressing the power button vs using a hack or program like off-it????

You said it stopped working ~ a week ago....have you installed any new apps in the last week?

[*YellowRose*]

I just wish BBVFS would become OS5 compatable.   Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

[rldunn]

YellowRose, give BackupMan a try. Works flawlessly on my NX, is VERY fast, backups can be scheduled, weekly, daily, or hourly, and it saves up to X number of automated backups if you want (I have it set to always have 3 daily backups at a time). Restoring of individual files is very fast and reliable, and full restores after hard resets has also worked flawlessly. A very good app!!

[aaronrkelly]

I started using another DA launcher and have reassigned the back button to turn the device on......I must investigate, maybe I can figure it out.

[DanT]

I use the built-in option of Back button for Power On and Extended push of Back button for Power off, the ones in Jog Preferences. They work okay with BBVFS.

[narnia_77]

PearlTongue - (BBVFS has to have a copy of the program on the MS - to run a restore if all the info in RAM is lost.) Have you done a HardReset lately? I've noticed that I "lose" BBVFS after a HR. It will manually run fine from the MS and restore like it's supposed to, but it is the only program that is not copied back to RAM during the restore. (Everything else is there... I guess it can't copy itself because it's busy. ;)) I just put another copy of the BBVFS program back in RAM, and I am OK again with the scheduled backups.

[DanT]

If you don't like to have two BBVFS icons displayed in your Clie (one in RAM and the other in MS Palm/Launcher directory), you can hide the one in RAM with FileZ or what I do is to put FileZ in MS Palm/Launcher directory and build an Archive folder in MS to store a copy of BBVFS in that folder. When it comes to restoring from MS, all I need to do is to go to MS category of the default launcher, find FileZ, go to Archive folder, and copy the BBVFS back to RAM, then do the restoring.

[wnm]

If all else fails, try PiBackup II. I have been using it for over a year, and it's worked very well, with no problems.

[aaronrkelly]

Figured it out....if you turn the device off any other way than with Off-It the backup go as scheduled. For some reason if you use Off-It it will pop up and do the 30 second count down but at the end it turns the device off - then when you turn it on it completes the backup....

[*YellowRose*]

Originally posted by rldunn
YellowRose, give BackupMan a try. Works flawlessly on my NX, is VERY fast, backups can be scheduled, weekly, daily, or hourly, and it saves up to X number of automated backups if you want (I have it set to always have 3 daily backups at a time). Restoring of individual files is very fast and reliable, and full restores after hard resets has also worked flawlessly. A very good app!! I've seen you say it works well before . . . all I can say as to why I've never tried it is because it IRKS me that I registered BBVFS, and they can't be bothered to update it to work correctly with newer Clies. 

[rldunn]

Originally posted by *YellowRose*
I've seen you say it works well before . . . all I can say as to why I've never tried it is because it IRKS me that I registered BBVFS, and they can't be bothered to update it to work correctly with newer Clies.  So let me get this right. You're SO mad at the BBVFS developer that you won't try their competitor's product, which has been shown to work much better :rolleyes: :D

[doni]

Originally posted by narnia_77
I guess it can't copy itself because it's busy.

That SHOULDN'T have anything to do with it. BBVFS is supposed to copy all files that are in ram to the Backup directory on the MS. The copy of BBVFS that is stored on the MS for your launcher to display is in totally different location (not sure of the location).

AH. I think I just found the answer! When the BACKUP takes place, the ram copy of BBVFS IS in use. Therefore, it can't copy itself to the MS. Maybe it's not even on the MS when you do the restore.

[*YellowRose*]

Originally posted by rldunn
So let me get this right. You're SO mad at the BBVFS developer that you won't try their competitor's product, which has been shown to work much better :rolleyes: :D Okay, smarty ;), I'll rephrase.  I'm too cheap to pay for MORE backup software.  BBVFS SHOULD WORK FOR OS5!!!  Why are they being SO pokey about it???????

 :D

[DanT]

Originally posted by doni

AH. I think I just found the answer! When the BACKUP takes place, the ram copy of BBVFS IS in use. Therefore, it can't copy itself to the MS. Maybe it's not even on the MS when you do the restore.

Before you do a backup for the first time, BBVFS will ask you if you want to make a copy of it in MS.  If yes, then it will copy itself to MS Palm/Launcher before doing the backup.  The reason you want to have a copy in MS Palm/Launcher is because after a hard reset, you won't have BBVFS in RAM to do the restoring.

When you do the restore, it does not matter where BBVFS is, whether it's in MS Launcher or in RAM.  After a hard reset it is obviously not in RAM.  Unlike MSBackup, that resides in ROM, a hard reset would not wipe MSBackup out.  If you have a copy in MS Palm/Launcher, then you can launch BBVFS from MS and do a restore.  I just don't like to see two copies of BBVFS, one in RAM and one in MS, so I hide the MS copy in an archive (made up) directory. When I need to do a restore after a hard reset, I just move BBVFS from archive folder to RAM with MSGate.  If you use a 3rd. party file manager, like FileZ or McFile, obviously it needs to be in MS Palm/Launcher also since it will be wiped out during the hard reset.

[rldunn]

Originally posted by *YellowRose*
Okay, smarty ;), I'll rephrase.  I'm too cheap to pay for MORE backup software.  BBVFS SHOULD WORK FOR OS5!!!  Why are they being SO pokey about it???????

 :D OK, I can understand that :) I really wonder what BlueNomad is up to. I can't believe they haven't upgraded such a popular program to support OS5; wonder if they're having problems. Plus, Wordsmith hasn't had any major updates in about a year now, and their competition has quickly closed the gap or even passed them in features. And they had mentioned in their Yahoo group that they were working on an app that worked with Excel and also support FineType fonts, but I haven't heard anything about that in a LONG time. Maybe they're going to release a bunch of knockout programs all at once. Or maybe they're just stuck.

[Psikotic]

OK first, BBVFS works fine with OS5 (or at least with my Tungsten). The only thing that I noticed is that on the selective restore screen, the screen does not refresh properly when scrolling through the file list. The work around is to manually refresh it by choosing 'select none'.
Second, BBVFS will work either in RAM or on MS but if you want to use the scheduled backup feature it must be in RAM. My suggestion would be to keep it in both locations. In RAM for auto-backups and on the MS in case you need to do a backup away from your PC (after hard reset, you just move BBVFS from the MS to RAM and restore).

[*YellowRose*]

Originally posted by Psikotic
OK first, BBVFS works fine with OS5 (or at least with my Tungsten). The only thing that I noticed is that on the selective restore screen, the screen does not refresh properly when scrolling through the file list. The work around is to manually refresh it by choosing 'select none'.  It DOESN'T WORK fine on a clie.  :mad:

[rldunn]

Actually *YR*, it DID work fine on my NX. That's what I was using when I first got my NX; for a long time I was using MSBackup to get multiple backups saved and BBVFS to have an automated backup. Restores from hard resets also worked good for me. What problems are you having?

[DanT]

One of my problem was corrupted MS (it happened after I filled it up, by mistake, to the brim) After I realized it and deleted some files to make more room, things were not the same any more. For example, some of PGP images got defracgmented, PalmReader displayed weird characters, system crashes upon launching CRSImg View, etc. Reformatting the MS did the trick. BBVFS backup and restore went well afterwards.

One problem that I still could not figure out is restoring QuickOffice data with BBVFS. Is Anyone else having this problem?