Save/Restore Backup Process & Batch File

[bethel95]

Note to moderator: Please relocate this thread to another forum, if this isn't the most appropriate one.

If you're confused about how to save your Save/Restore backup files to a Windows PC, this guide is for you.

This guide specifically references the TouchPad, but applies equally well to all webOS phones.

Preparation steps (note the links to other relevant guides):

1. Install Preware using WebOS Quick Install. (Click here for explanatory screen shots.)
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2. Install Save/Restore from within Preware (just search for Save/Restore from the Preware main screen).
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3. Connect your TouchPad to your PC via USB; when prompted, tap <USB Drive>.
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4. On the desktop, in the Start menu, or in Windows Explorer, right click on Computer (Win7 or Vista; My Computer in XP) and select "Manage" to open the Computer Management control panel.
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5. In the left pane of Computer Management, under "Storage," select "Disk Management."
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6. Once the list of drives appears in the center pane (including your TouchPad), right click on the TouchPad entry and select "Change Drive Letter and Paths..."
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7. Click on <Change...>, then select a fixed drive letter for your TouchPad (I use T; this will ensure that your TouchPad has the same drive letter every time you connect it to this PC. [Note: Windows may occasionally forget the drive letter assignment; if this happens, just reset it, as above.)
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8. Close the Computer Management control panel.
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9. Unmount your TouchPad from within Windows Explorer by right-clicking on the TouchPad (T:, or whatever drive letter you assigned it) and selecting "Eject." [Note: Do not use Windows' "safely remove" utility from the taskbar for unmounting a TouchPad.]

Using Notepad, create a batch file to back up the important folders from the TouchPad's USB drive (including the Save/Restore backup folders and files); here's an abreviated version of the batch file I use:

: Copy backups from TouchPad to hard drive
:
SET TP=[Enter the full path of the TouchPad backup folder on your PC]
:
DEL "%TP%\.contactphotos\*.*" /s/q
DEL "%TP%\.icons\*.*" /s/q
DEL "%TP%\.palmkindle\*.*" /s/q
DEL "%TP%\.wallpapers\*.*" /s/q
DEL "%TP%\DCIM\*.*" /s/q
DEL "%TP%\downloads\*.*" /s/q
DEL "%TP%\PDF\*.*" /s/q
DEL "%TP%\ringtones\*.*" /s/q
DEL "%TP%\saverestore\*.*" /s/q
DEL "%TP%\SubOrbitalBackups\*.*" /s/q
DEL "%TP%\Typewriter\*.*" /s/q
DEL "%TP%\wallpapers\*.*" /s/q
DEL "%TP%\zinio\*.*" /s/q
:
XCOPY T:\.contactphotos\*.* "%TP%\.contactphotos\" /s/v/c/r/y
XCOPY T:\.icons\*.* "%TP%\.icons\" /s/v/c/r/y
XCOPY T:\.palmkindle\*.* "%TP%\.palmkindle\" /s/v/c/r/y
XCOPY T:\.sword\*.* "%TP%\.sword\" /s/v/c/r/y
XCOPY T:\.wallpapers\*.* "%TP%\.wallpapers\" /s/v/c/r/y
XCOPY T:\DCIM\*.* "%TP%\DCIM\" /s/v/c/r/y
XCOPY T:\downloads\*.* "%TP%\downloads\" /s/v/c/r/y
XCOPY T:\PDF\*.* "%TP%\PDF\" /s/v/c/r/y
XCOPY T:\ringtones\*.* "%TP%\ringtones\" /s/v/c/r/y
XCOPY T:\saverestore\*.* "%TP%\saverestore\" /s/v/c/r/y
XCOPY T:\SimpleBible\*.* "%TP%\SimpleBible\" /s/v/c/r/y
XCOPY T:\SubOrbitalBackups\*.* "%TP%\SubOrbitalBackups\" /s/v/c/r/y
XCOPY T:\Typewriter\*.* "%TP%\Typewriter\" /s/v/c/r/y
XCOPY T:\wallpapers\*.* "%TP%\wallpapers\" /s/v/c/r/y
XCOPY T:\zinio\*.* "%TP%\zinio\" /s/v/c/r/y

Notes:

• The SET command creates an alias (TP) that replaces the backup path for all of the DEL and XCOPY commands (%TP%). The "full path" for the location of your TouchPad backups would be something like "C:\Users\UserName\Documents\Backups\TouchPad". You can use SET to name your alias anything you'd like (e.g., PRE or PIXIE)--just be sure that it's the same in the SET, DEL, and XCOPY commands
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• The DEL commands delete the "old" backup folders; if you want to keep copies of files you've deleted from a particular TouchPad folder in the backup folders on your PC, don't include a DEL command for that folder--you'll add any new files in that folder to the backup set when you run the batch file, while retaining the old files in the backup set (but remember that all those old files will end up back on your TouchPad if you need to restore from your PC backup).
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• The XCOPY commands copy over the folders from the TouchPad's USB drive that you consider to be important, along will all subfolders. You may add additional TouchPad USB drive folders using the same pattern for the XCOPY command line. Do not back up the .app-storage, .palm, or .developer folders, as restoring old versions of those folders to your TouchPad could really foul things up.
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• If you're curious about the function of the different XCOPY command line switches I've used, open a DOS window and enter XCOPY /? at the command line. You'll see a listing of all available command line switches, with explanations of their functions.

After you create and save your batch file, place a shortcut for it on your desktop, so it will be conveniently available whenever you want to backup your TouchPad to your PC (preferably after every time that you run a Save/Restore backup on your TouchPad).

To create a Save/Restore backup (as well as backing up your Palm profile), see The Definitive Guide to Backing Up and Restoring Your webOS Device.

To restore your TouchPad (after, say, running webOS Doctor), restore your Palm Profile (to restore all your apps) and reinstall Preware and Save/Restore per the Backup Guide, then connect your TouchPad to your PC in USB mode and copy all of your backup folders over to the TouchPad USB drive. You'll now be ready to restore your app data via Save/Restore (again, per the Backup Guide).

If you think you see any needed corrections, please point them out to me in a thread comment.

[ramesh77]

This an excellent presentation of how to use save/restore.

I would be curious if you have tried (or willing to try) to create disk image of the Touchpad using program such as Acronis/Norton Ghost/Paragon while connected to your PC. And, later on successfully restored that image back onto the Touchpad using the PC based software that was originally used to create the image. If this works, it would be a full backup and restore using, say, ACRONIS and 100% accurate.

Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks again for leading me to the solution that I have been looking for a long time.

[bethel95]

Originally Posted by ramesh77

I would be curious if you have tried (or willing to try) to create disk image of the Touchpad using program such as Acronis/Norton Ghost/Paragon while connected to your PC. And, later on successfully restored that image back onto the Touchpad using the PC based software that was originally used to create the image. If this works, it would be a full backup and restore using, say, ACRONIS and 100% accurate.

I would think that making an image would be problematic, assuming that Acronis, et al, could even do it (I seem to recall some restrictions on imaging USB drives). The problem would be restoring files that shouldn't be restored--see the third "note" in my original post. Since my TouchPad is now on the endangered species list, I wouldn't be inclined to take the risk of trying this.