+Just Roger Posted January 3, 2008 Posted January 3, 2008 (edited) I was out for a day's caching yesterday and on the first one after lunch, the PPC battery went flat. No problem - just change if for the spare as this happens every major trip. This time however it decided for some reason that it felt like doing a hard reset which it promptly did. I had the trusty e-trex backup with me so that was OK but, although all the cache sheets and OS maps were on the SD card, the programs to access them had gone so I was left rather blind for the rest of the day. TomTom had gone the way of everything else as well. As soon as I got home I restored from the regular backup that I always keep on the PC and all was well again. Now we get to the point of the story. While doing all this I found that there is a utility on the PPC to do a backup to an SD card. It is clearly much easier to carry an SD card than a PC for restoring in the field and, with the horse well and truly bolted, I will be carrying a backup in my caching bag in future. The SD card needed is only a small one - my backup file is about 20Meg and, as it will, hopefully, only be used rarely, it doesn't need to be a particularly fast one. Hopefully this tale may save someone from similar grief. Edited January 3, 2008 by Just Roger Quote
+purple_pineapple Posted January 3, 2008 Posted January 3, 2008 good advice, which would have saved me some hassle recently after a hard reset (I was at home, but its still a pain in the wotsit!) What backup program is it? Are we using a windows based device? Any extra info?! Ta! Dave Quote
+purple_pineapple Posted January 3, 2008 Posted January 3, 2008 (edited) bah - double post... Edited January 3, 2008 by purple_pineapple Quote
+Cryptik Souls Crew Posted January 3, 2008 Posted January 3, 2008 I used to hate that, made my PDA into a fancy paperweight cos I don't use it very often and it would always go flat and forget everything. A quick upgrade to Windows Mobile 5 and now you can reset the thing as much as you want or leave it uncharged in the cupboard for months and it doesn't lose anything. Quote
+Happy Humphrey Posted January 3, 2008 Posted January 3, 2008 good advice, which would have saved me some hassle recently after a hard reset (I was at home, but its still a pain in the wotsit!) What backup program is it? Are we using a windows based device? Any extra info?! Ta! Dave There's nothing fancy about the backup software, it's just a standard feature (in Windows Mobile 2003 and I think earlier versions too). At risk of sounding smug... It's also standard practice to always back up the PDA to a memory card: it only takes a minute and prevents the annoyance seen above. Quote
+Just Roger Posted January 3, 2008 Author Posted January 3, 2008 What backup program is it? Are we using a windows based device? Any extra info?! Ta! Dave As HH says its a standard feature of Windows Mobile 2003 (and doubtless others too) It appears under Programs and is called Data Backup. I had sort of vaguely looked for it before but looked in amongst the B's (for Backup) not the D's (for Data). I have always done a PC (Active Sync) backup weekly and after instaling any new program but have never needed them until yesterday when sod's law decreed it had to happen in the field (churchyard actually). Quote
+purple_pineapple Posted January 3, 2008 Posted January 3, 2008 What backup program is it? Are we using a windows based device? Any extra info?! Ta! Dave As HH says its a standard feature of Windows Mobile 2003 (and doubtless others too) It appears under Programs and is called Data Backup. I had sort of vaguely looked for it before but looked in amongst the B's (for Backup) not the D's (for Data). I have always done a PC (Active Sync) backup weekly and after instaling any new program but have never needed them until yesterday when sod's law decreed it had to happen in the field (churchyard actually). not in windows mobile 5.0 it ain't! Didn't think I'd seen it on my mio before now... surely they haven't dropped the feature? I'll have a nose around microsoft website when i can... Quote
+Jaz666 Posted January 3, 2008 Posted January 3, 2008 Thanks for the info, it appears at xBackup on my XDAII. Quote
+Vin42 Posted January 4, 2008 Posted January 4, 2008 I Use an Acer N35 which has an annoying habit of resetting itself when you switch it back on,only just started doing it in the last 3 months. Always back up now after adding something, eg waypoints as it decided to do this mid cacheing day out. luckilly i'd printed of everything i needed to complete the walk and the caches Didnt know you could do this at the time as i inherited of my son when he bought a new PDA which is how i became involved in geocacheing Quote
+rogerncook Posted January 4, 2008 Posted January 4, 2008 not in windows mobile 5.0 it ain't! Didn't think I'd seen it on my mio before now... surely they haven't dropped the feature? I'll have a nose around microsoft website when i can... Its on Windows for Pocket PC 2003 & 2002 because if the main and back up battery go flat, you loose your data. Windows Mobile 5 devices use a different type of memory that does not loose the data when the battery dies - so the feature is not contained in Win Mobile 5...Hope this helps! Quote
+purple_pineapple Posted January 4, 2008 Posted January 4, 2008 not in windows mobile 5.0 it ain't! Didn't think I'd seen it on my mio before now... surely they haven't dropped the feature? I'll have a nose around microsoft website when i can... Its on Windows for Pocket PC 2003 & 2002 because if the main and back up battery go flat, you loose your data. Windows Mobile 5 devices use a different type of memory that does not loose the data when the battery dies - so the feature is not contained in Win Mobile 5...Hope this helps! cheers! I wouln't say it helps, but thats microsoft's fault not yours!!! Certainly explains it though! I suppose they're saying that you shouldn't ever need to do a hard reset - thats rather optimistic of them!!! Quote
+Jennie's Mum Posted January 6, 2008 Posted January 6, 2008 (edited) As HH says its a standard feature of Windows Mobile 2003 (and doubtless others too) It appears under Programs and is called Data Backup. I had sort of vaguely looked for it before but looked in amongst the B's (for Backup) not the D's (for Data). I have always done a PC (Active Sync) backup weekly and after instaling any new program but have never needed them until yesterday when sod's law decreed it had to happen in the field (churchyard actually). I have a Garmin M4 using Win Mobile 2003 and can't find this useful gismo. Any ideas welcome! The reason for my interest is that, just as I disconnected the charger unit, the PDA went into a hard boot and lost everything - calendar entries, MM software, tracks, GPS settings ..... yes, the lot. The mapping on SD card was fine. So some sort of backup utility would come in useful - using activesync means carrying the desktop around which makes a PDA seem unwanted! Thanks Jennie's Dad Edited January 6, 2008 by Jennie's Mum Quote
+Just Roger Posted January 7, 2008 Author Posted January 7, 2008 I have a Garmin M4 using Win Mobile 2003 and can't find this useful gismo. Any ideas welcome! The reason for my interest is that, just as I disconnected the charger unit, the PDA went into a hard boot and lost everything - calendar entries, MM software, tracks, GPS settings ..... yes, the lot. The mapping on SD card was fine. So some sort of backup utility would come in useful - using activesync means carrying the desktop around which makes a PDA seem unwanted! Thanks Jennie's Dad On my Dell Axim, go to 'Start' - Programs and look for 'Data Backup', It seems that sometimes some manufacturers do modify the Programs menu. For example, on a friends Compaq PPC 'Task Switcher' doesn't appear on the menu; if that is the case here I don't know if there is anything you can do except rely on the PC/Active Sync backup which as you say, and I found out, is not a lot of help in the field Quote
+T.R.a.M.P. Posted January 7, 2008 Posted January 7, 2008 Slightly OT but even Win Mobile 5 is not immune - it is Microsoft after all I installed Wherigo on my IPAQ rx5720 SD card and lost the contents of the card Trevor Quote
+drsolly Posted January 9, 2008 Posted January 9, 2008 After reading this thread, I did a backup to my SD card. Today, in the middle of nowhere, my PDA/GPS decided to restore itself to factory-fresh condition. No Memory map. No clue where I was or which way I should be going. Fortunately, the backup restored just fine. So thanks for the suggestion! Without that, I would have been up short creek without a paddle. Quote
+Just Roger Posted January 10, 2008 Author Posted January 10, 2008 Hopefully this tale may save someone from similar grief. Thanks Dr Solly, I'm pleased that it has helped at least one other person already. Quote
Nediam Posted January 10, 2008 Posted January 10, 2008 Hopefully this tale may save someone from similar grief. Thanks Dr Solly, I'm pleased that it has helped at least one other person already. Yes, thanks for letting us know about that feature My PDA has crashed a couple of times over the last 4 years and I've had to re-install everything. I did do a back up to PC once but that never worked when I tried a system restore. I've now backed up my PDA to a spare SD card that I carry around with it. Hopefully it will work if/when I need it. Thanks Quote
+T.R.a.M.P. Posted January 10, 2008 Posted January 10, 2008 With all this talk of save and restore, I would be much happier if Win Mobile 5 also had the capability It seems as though a hard/soft reset does not lose everything as with earlier versions but I don't want to trust in that. Does anyone know of any way to make similar backups from WM5? Quote
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