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- How To / Troubleshooting (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=2)
-- Applications and full HotSync restore (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=2063)

It's late as I write this. I hope this isn't too unclear. :-)

I ran into a situation where I had to do a hard reset of my Visor, wiping out memory and all that fun stuff. I did a full restore with HotSync after that. All of my data seems to have come back fine, but here's the weird part: Only some old applications I had installed a month or so ago, and subsequently deleted, were restored by the HotSync. Newer applications that I've installed since then did not get restored.

I went through the tedious process of re-installing the newer applications and deleting the unwanted ones, and all seems to be close to normal again. No data was lost other than the data I entered today. Total catastrophe was thus averted.

But how can I make HotSync keep a current backup of the applications as well as the databases, so I don't have to manually re-install applications when I have to do this again?

Install Backup Buddy.

It had occurred to me to use Backup Buddy. However, I am confused. Some third-party applications I have installed in the past WERE restored. So there seems to be some sort of application backup mechanism already at work here. I would just like to know if there is a simple way to keep the backed-up applications up to date. Also, I am a little nervous about Backup Buddy due to some rumored stability problems with the Visor.

I'm certainly no expert but I do believe that the HotSync Manager only syncs the "base" applications that come with the Visor (contacts, calendar, to-do list, memos). No third-party applications are backed up using HotSync Manager. Perhaps you had a hiccup with your hard reset that brought some of these old deleted applications back to life.

Also, I have not heard of any stability problems with BackupBuddy and the Visor. It is mentioned often in this discussion group, but only for praise as a lifesaver.

I checked the backup directory on my PC, and lo and behold, the old applications that got restored were sitting there in the backup directory, all dated November 29. I sure as heck didn't put them there myself. I wonder what did? And I wonder what made it stop?