palm tx software question...

[rmd]

so, i recently upgraded from a sony clie to a palm tx. the clie had a built in app for backing up all the data files to the memory stick. the palm does not have anything like this afaict for backing up to the SD memory card.

in particular, if you had to completely wipe the clie, or if you let it run so out of battery that it lost all its config info and data, you could do a full restore from the memory stick.

anyone know a similar product (preferably free/open source) for the palm tx?

thanks!

Comments

[lil-brown-bat.livejournal.com]

Uh...unless this is a complete deviation from every version of palm OS that ever there was, it's called "hotsync" and it syncs to your computer. Or am I missing something obvious?

[rmd.livejournal.com]

hotsync is good, but this backup program 1. would save the complete state of the machine, including registration status of any programs that were installed and such and all data even data that's set to not sync, and 2. could be done from anywhere and didn't need my computer nearby to restore. (having once had my first palm pilot completely lose all its data when i was on a road trip, i particularly valued that second feature)

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

i was just wondering the same for my treo 650 (it's something i miss a lot from the "backup module" from my visor).

[rmd.livejournal.com]

*points down at charleshaynes' suggestion. this looks interesting.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

thanks!

[charleshaynes.livejournal.com]

BackupBuddyVFS (http://www.bluenomad.com/bbvfs/prod_bbvfs_details.html) Not free, but worth it. Personal version is $10 and does full backup each time. Pro version is $25 and includes things like incremental and scheduled backups (like "backup after every hotsync" or "backup if I haven't hotsync'ed in [n] days")

I used the Personal version for years, and have only recently upgraded to the Pro version. Both include reasonable trialware versions.

Charles Bob says "check it out."

[charleshaynes.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I have used it to completely restore after a full factory reset, as well as simpler restores. It keeps a copy of the app on the card so a restore is trivial. I also like that even with the personal version I could do a snapshot every night at 4am. Saved my ass more than once.

WOWFTVOE

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

What Charles said. I haven't used them, but, BackupBuddy will back the whole thing up to your computer, and it comes with BackupBuddyVFS Lite which backs it up to an SD card.

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

Someone recommended the freeware app nvbackup to me. I haven't yet tried using it to restore data.

http://www.freewarepalm.com/utilities/nvbackup.shtml

[johnromkey.livejournal.com]

I upgraded from my TX to an iPhone and just recently sold my TX.

Not trying to discourage you from backing up at all, but I did want to mention that the TX uses flash memory for its storage, so you're unlikely to lose what's stored on it unless you lose the TX itself or there's some corruption of its data.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

oh yay. that's good to know. clauclauclaudia also has a tx and had mentioned that she thought it might be storing data in a less volatile way. i still like having a backup for those times when i totally mess up my syncing.

how are you liking the iphone?

[johnromkey.livejournal.com]

I love the iPhone... it's replaced my old cell phone, my Palm and my iPod... not really replaced the iPod but at least for daily wandering around I don't need the bigger iPod; the iPhone has plenty of music.

I always found the TX' wifi a bit dicey... it's been very smooth on the iPhone. Not having to hassle about syncing with with my calendar and address book is very nice, too; having my bookmark sync to it is even nicer. And the mail client and web browser are much better than Palm's.

The iPhone software has clearly been a work in progress and I think that we'll see a major upgrade of it come February when they allow for 3rd party application development. Depending on how you use your Palm TX it's quite possible that an iPhone wouldn't be a good replacement for it at this time. The lack of a todo list on the iPhone really kills me... I used my TX for my grocery list... kept the list in iCal... now I use this 3rd party web app for it, but cell service in the grocery store that I shop at it very unreliable. I have to hope that the todo list was an "oh shit we're out of time what are we going to drop for now" item.

I was already a Cingular customer before AT&T Wireless ate them (after they ate AT&T Wireless and SBC ate AT&T...) so that part wasn't a problem for me.

The integration of Google maps is really sweet, too... there are some very fine things you can do with it - like look up a business, add the business to your address book (syncing that back to your computer). Mostly it just works "right" in a way that no cell phone has thus far imagined.

[radioactiverich.livejournal.com]

I use a utility called Red Feline Backup (v. 1.2) which backs up to an SD which I can put into my PalmOS smartphone. http://www.redfelineninja.org.uk