[jeffgibson]

I just learned today that you need to make sure your phone radio is turned off before you create backups with tools like BackupMan. If you don't your CalendarDB-Pdat file will be corrupted when you try a restore.

I have yet to fully verify this but this is what I was told by BackupMan support. I am tired of doing hard resets right now. In one of my restores, I successfully restored CalendarDB-Pdat and I "think" it was when my phone was turned off. All other restores this file was corrupted and could not be restored and I know the phone radio was turned on during those backups.

So many unexpected problems with this 650 device!

I am also finding that DateBK5's category names are not being restored from backup. I have a log into Pimlico on this one. Anyone else have this happen?

Jeff

[sxtg]

Now that you say something I can verify it.

I always turn my phone off when I go to bed (backupMan auto backs up at 2:30am) and have had very good results with backup man. The other day when I exchanged my phone I did a quick backup (phone on) and that file wouldn't restore. I couldn't figure it out and eventually went with the auto one that was created the night before and it worked flawlessly (well...except for voicedail that doesn't restore)

Good to know!

[dutchtrumpet]

I just learned today that you need to make sure your phone radio is turned off before you create backups with tools like BackupMan. If you don't your CalendarDB-Pdat file will be corrupted when you try a restore.

I have yet to fully verify this but this is what I was told by BackupMan support. I am tired of doing hard resets right now. In one of my restores, I successfully restored CalendarDB-Pdat and I "think" it was when my phone was turned off. All other restores this file was corrupted and could not be restored and I know the phone radio was turned on during those backups.

So many unexpected problems with this 650 device!

I am also finding that DateBK5's category names are not being restored from backup. I have a log into Pimlico on this one. Anyone else have this happen?

Jeff

I had this as well. Check out botzam backup. My resstores have been more consistent.

[shadowmite]

Agreed, this is also one of the biggest reasons a hotsync fails, once the database is corrupted you rarely can get the hotsync to go threw...

[bklech]

Is this a regular failing that you're seeing? I'd had no trouble at all with backing up and restoring using BackupMan for a while, but was only playing with the trial as I had a registered copy of Backup VFS from BlueNomad. When they released their beta I had my first corrupted backup (or rather, attempt to restore a corrupted backup) - and it took quite some doing to get a usable restore - I had to go back several days to a backup from BackupMan before I found something that worked.

Once I'd hit the corruption I couldn't restore from desktop either, even though the desktop had seemed to be syncing correctly just before.

I haven't had to do a restore from backup since that point last week, and am a bit worried about it.

Also - has anyone figured out what the ShimLogs hangup is caused by and if there's a way to get around it without using a custom backup set (which requires touching every time one creates new files on the device)?

[TheTreoGuy]

HELP!!! I did a backup and then had to restore (using both BackupMan and BackUpBuddy) and now it won't restore my calendardb-pdat or my memosdb-pmen. I have old backups of these and it never had a problem until just now! I need my calendar and have no hotsync of it (just the backups on the card). HELP!!

[Geckotek]

Was the phone off during these old backups? If not, I'd bet they are unusable.

I'm no expert, but you might try a reset while holding the directional pad up until the Palm One (grey screen) shows. This will keep any apps from starting up and possibly keep these files from being locked so that you can restore them. But I'm just guessing here.

[jasondeno]

Why can't Backupman simply make a function that allows for an option to have it turn the radio off automatically, backup, then turn the radio back on?

Seems simple enough to me. And as an option, I'd be willing to let my phone be off for the three minutes it takes to backup at 3am.

[grndslm]

I have a question for you guys....sorry to thread jack, by the way...Why even use BackupMan or BackupBuddy if you can just use the freeware SyncAll?? What benefits do those backup programs have?

Thanks

[shadowmite]

With a backup program you don't need your computer, you can get your backup restored in the field...

[shopharim]

Has anyone read of the USB driver (for lack of a better term) on the Treo being corrupted in a similar matter? All of a sudden, I'm having USB issues (USB Device Not Recognized) when attempting Hotsynch or Card Export (except for on my home computer).

Incidentally, I have Treo 600 GSM. My last succesfuly hotsynch was the morning of 12/18. Later that day, I did a manual backup (BackupMan) with the phone on. I normally only used auto backup as at night.

For the record, though, I did have overnight auto backups through out the weekend, and I never turned my phone off (since I was travelling without my family). And, my hotsynch worked after those occurences.

[TheTreoGuy]

Was the phone off during these old backups? If not, I'd bet they are unusable.

I'm no expert, but you might try a reset while holding the directional pad up until the Palm One (grey screen) shows. This will keep any apps from starting up and possibly keep these files from being locked so that you can restore them. But I'm just guessing here.

No. On the most recent backups my phone was on. Only on the backups that are automated (at 3:00 and 3:45 am) is the phone off (assuming it is truly "off" then?). Am I out of luck???

[Xathros]

Also - has anyone figured out what the ShimLogs hangup is caused by and if there's a way to get around it without using a custom backup set (which requires touching every time one creates new files on the device)?

Still no clue WTF shim logs is or belongs to. I have deleted it a few times but it reappears within a day. Backupman will back it up right after a soft reset but shortly thereafter it will fail trying to back it up. I have switched to BackupVFS since and no longer have a problem with shim logs. I haven't had to do a complete restore so I can't say if the phone radio is an issue for me or not. I'm hoping that Jeff's ScheduleCare is going to be the solution for me on this possible problem as I rarely remember to turn off the phone and my auto backups may not useful for a complete restore. With SC, I should be able to schedule a phone off before my backup runs then turn the phone back on sometime after that.

I really have only needed to restore my multimail files on a regular basis anyway. No hard resets here so far. (3 months and counting...)

-X

[airjoe]

This can't be completely true - I've used probably 20 or 30 backups which were made when the phone was on, and the only files I've had trouble restoring are btstack, bluetooth library (after reflashing bt car kit update), and ringtones if downloaded directly from the internet (no idea on that one). Never had a problem with calendar, and like I said, I've restored from Backupman countless times...

[Geckotek]

I'd bet having the "Show Calendar Event" option turned on locks that DB and hoses the backup.

[JohnH59]

This can't be completely true - I've used probably 20 or 30 backups which were made when the phone was on, and the only files I've had trouble restoring are btstack, bluetooth library (after reflashing bt car kit update), and ringtones if downloaded directly from the internet (no idea on that one). Never had a problem with calendar, and like I said, I've restored from Backupman countless times...

I have to agree. I have done numerous restores with both BackupMan and BackupBuddy and have had limited issues. Mostly the one's you mentioned. And, my phone is always on. I don't think I have turned it off on any backup or restore.

[bklech]

I hadn't found anyone mention this very useful discovery I made recently -- that if you find yourself in a situation where you're getting the "corrupted" backup problem (either with CalendarDB-Pdat.db, or with other files), you can still recover your data from this backup.

The trick is to move the file that is giving you trouble to a desktop computer and then add it to the files to be installed via Hotsync. PalmOS has always been more forgiving about what comes through a hotsync conduit than any other channel and in this case whatever it is that is resulting in the Error x0203 Invalid Parameter isn't a problem for this mechanism.

Both BackupBuddyVFS and TealBackup keep indvidual-file archives, so it's easy to just do a file copy. BackupMan, however, keeps an entire archive in a single file, and so is a little trickier to get that rogue .pdb. To get around this, you can put your sd card into a non-Treo650 device and restore the needed files onto this other device and then (with FileZ or the like) copy the new local restored files back to the card. Now you've got access to the desired files and can install them via hotsync.

I haven't experimented very much with all of the interesting permutations of dealing with out-of-sync restored-calendar and out-of-date palm-desktop-calendar, but I have so far always disabled the calendar conduit while installing the "corrupt" CalendarDB-Pdat. I did find in my first attempt at this (where I'd lost data, restored from hotsync to a week-old version, worked for a couple of days, and then had the brainflash to try this workaround) that on my following sync I'd forgotten to set the calendar conduit to Handheld Overwrites Desktop and the result was a perfect sync of the two datasets. Best possible outcome! Well, better would have been to have made the realization immediately and not had to go through the process, or to have the backup and restore solutions always working correctly.

But I'm happy to at least have a useable workaround.

[DocGo]

Shimlogs....seem to have something to do with Chattermail. I used to use Snappermail and never saw this file in my Treo. I installed Chatter last night to try it out. When it is running/connected, I can not delete the "Shimlogs" file but if I disconnect and exit Chatter, I can delete Shimlogs using Resco Explorer without any problem.

[dutchtrumpet]

shim logs has nothing to do with chatter.

shim was on my 650 for months before going back to chatter

[DocGo]

Hmmm, that is strange...because when I deleted Shimlogs...it stays out of my Treo until I open up Chatter and connect...then *boom*, Shimlogs is back in my Treo.