Need Software advice to Backup/Clone my x51v

12-23-06, 10:56 PM

OK, I'm having trouble with my x51v not holding a residual charge so it may be going back to Dell and a replacement sent. This is a refurbished one sent to me for a previous problem not related.

The problem now is that since I aquired the refurb, my job has changed and I now have alot of techincal data and programs on it that I did not have or use before. I have the software on my home computer and that is not a problem to reinstall. My problem is with the Wireless setups on my PDA.

I need something that can copy and reintall all the different WiFi settings and programs on my system. I had to send my PDA off to IT for a week to have some of the information and settings placed into my PDA to use at work and I cannot be without the unit that long now. Before that, it was not an issue. Now, I rely on it far too much to let it go. Is there a program that will copy all the information needed in order to be able to "clone" my original unit and carry on without having to send my unit out to IT?

Thanks

AKAJohnDoe · 12-23-06, 11:57 PM

Any of the reliable backup solutions should suffice. Why not download a trial of each of them and backup using each of them just prior to sending your PDA in? Maximize your possibilities for success.

davidtm · 12-24-06, 11:08 AM

I'll have to put in a plug for SK Tools and its backup utility, as I had to use it just yesterday. After a hard reset, I remembered I had done a backup as recently as last week. Bingo! Even all my wireless WPA settings came back with restore, no problem!

12-24-06, 01:05 PM

That's what I'm mainly concerned with is loosing my wireless settings. I can reinstall my needed software and conatacts when synching the new unit. I just need to know what the best option is software wise, instead of buying alot of Backup programs in order to find one that works.

AKAJohnDoe · 12-24-06, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by johnmcd348

I just need to know what the best option is software wise, instead of buying alot of Backup programs in order to find one that works.

Then you might as well sit down and read through this, including the linked-to main comparison chart.

12-24-06, 05:54 PM

Originally Posted by AKAJohnDoe

Then you might as well sit down and read through this, including the linked-to main comparison chart.

Thank You, that's very much appreciated.

12-24-06, 08:02 PM

definately do a little reading. I use Sprite and of course recommend it. Others use something else and of course they will recommend that. Most of them work fine for what you are trying to do. One thing to keep in mind is that I don't think any of them will do a clean restore unless the new machine is the same ROM as the old one. Hopefully that won't be a problem for you.

AKAJohnDoe · 12-24-06, 08:57 PM

And do keep in mind that you could download the trial versions of these, timing that carefully with your PDA swap and have multiple backups without actually buying the software. All except for Sprite, that is, which for some reason does not have a trial period. I, of course, do recommend that you do go ahead and acquire backup software of some type!

Risk management is what is really is all about.

cravaus · 12-24-06, 09:26 PM

I switched to sprite for my x51v because my SK Tools Backup failed on it. I am not sure why. It has worked perfectly for WM2003. If others have had success with SK Tools on the x51v I would highly recommend SK Tools. I cannot risk a failure so I switched to sprite and then I saw a post here with a person who had a failure with sprite so I do not know. Sprite has a very graceful interface and is easy to use right after install. SK is not sufficient on its own, you should use MobSync to back up your archive to the PC (just in case) and get SKScheMa to schedule your back ups (unless once a week is sufficient for you because that is as good as it gets for SK Tools.

What I like about SK Tools with SKSchema over Sprite
I could schedule a daily back up, and limit the folder to 3 (sprite can to)
I also had a monthly archive saved to a different location (only one configuration on sprite)
I had a choice of compression levels (Sprite has only Yes/No)

Sprite will automatticly back up to the PC and will restore from the PC but that is about it. You cannot do a selective restore from the PC--only from the PDA-- so I do not see the benefit of this over mobsyc to the PC.

Sprite backups are self extracting. That is nice. SK's are not. They save a copy of SK to your card so you can do a restore. This has worked fine for me and the program is minimal.

SKScheMa is really cool too. It not only will schedule a variety of back up configurations but it will also make it so PlanMaker will always open in Landscape mode. It will let me have an unlimmitted number of alarms that open playing what ever MP3 file I ask for (works best if you do not use the WM Password protection, I have had no problems with PocketSecure, perhaps this is the key for getting the backups to work too). Every time I load NetFront wifi enables thanks to SKSchema.

SK Tools is much more than just a back up program too. It is the SwissArmy Knife of utilities.

SK Programs have clunky interfaces and you have to do some reading to figure out how to use them. They are worth the effort as far as I am concerned.

That said, I will still be using Sprite for the time being because it is working for me now. But, I will be doing some experiments with SK and will go back to just SK if all is well.

cravaus · 12-25-06, 06:05 PM

I got the latest SK Tools, out today, 3.1.1 and did some backup experiments. Menneisyys's review of backup programs indicates that SK Tools will not work for WM5 and that there is a conflict with the password protection. Menneisyys only discusses the new registry editor feture in the post today. Given that there is a new version I wanted to see if this problem was fixed. I also wanted to try it with PocketSecure as an alternative to the built-in password program. I also wanted to compare it to Sprite Backup. The test went this way:

Sprite + Built-in Password Protection
Sprite + PocketSecure

SK Tools + Built-in Password Protection
SK Tools + PocketSecure

Results:
Sprite + Built-in Password Protection
I could not reliably back up my system using the manual start. I tried several times and it did not complete the backup. The scheduled backup appeared to backup the system completely but it did not restore properly. Several programs were corrupted.

Sprite + PocketSecure
This worked (sort of). Manual start and scheduled backups completed as expected and appeared to restore propperly but I had to load codes into Caligrapher and PocketSecure right up front. On trying all my programs I had to re-enter codes for most of the software. I had to reload Caligrapher, ThinkOutsid BT Driver, and SprintDB for them to work properly. I also needed to re-enter my default paths for files in CryptoCard. Netfront, TextMaker, PlanMaker, SkTools, SkScheMa were some of the programs that appear to be very much intact although the file associations for TextMaker/PlanMaker were lost and had to be rebuilt in the registry. So, it looks mixed for the restore here but better than what I got with the Built-in Password protection.

SK Tools + Built-in Password Protection
SK Tools + PocketSecure
Neither system worked. I had to use scheduled backup to even make the files. I got the archives made using both system and view option shows the file structure but I cannot restore the files.

My conclusion is that SK is not an option for the x51v. Sprite is not at all reliable with the x51v when password protected with built-in password protection. But it seems to be moderately reliable when used with PocketSecure. I am not an expert but my experiement was simple and this is how it worked out for me today. I did not try restoring the device from the PC with Sprite. Usually I need to restore the Axim in the field away from the PC. So, I am not feeling very comfortable right now.