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Backup module and Prism...weird results!


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Topic: Backup module and Prism...weird results!

ragamuffinn
Member

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Mililani, HI, USA
Posts: 256

I tried to use my backup module to restore my VDx data to the Prism. What I got was really weird. After the restore, my Prism was black and white! All of the icons, even the color ones, were black and white. I don't remember if I actually launched a color app to see what happened (though I really should have). I quickly did a hard reset...so basically, a backup module storing VDx data cannot be used to restore to a Prism

Anyone else have this problem?

Here are the steps I went through to restore...for the curious:

-- Created a new backup directory on my PC
-- Transferred the VDx backup data to that new directory and cleared out /backup/
-- Used BackupAll to backup my entire VDx
-- Deleted certain problem files from the backup directory (files like preferences, avantgo...any of the stuff you really don't want messing up the new system)
-- Used PilotInstall (http://pinstall.envicon.com/) to transfer the contents of /backup/ to my Prism

[Edited by ragamuffinn on 10-20-2000 at 12:48 AM]

10-20-2000 05:38 AM

KypDurron
Member

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: New York
Posts: 23

I used the backup module on my prism and it worked like
a charm. I restored from my Visor Deluxe backup and
no problems.

10-20-2000 04:14 PM

SG
Member

Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 9

I've seen that after running a non-compatible third party application, the icons become black and white, but after clicking on another application, the colors are restored. A soft reset should restore the display as well.

10-20-2000 05:29 PM

reconnect
Member

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 48

I'm one of those non-technical people, but looking at all the steps that ragamuffinn went through . . . . couldn't you just insert the backup module into the prism and press restore? Or would that somehow create problems?

I'm interested in the answer for more than just theoretical reasons since I am impatiently waiting for my very own prism to arrive off the slow (standard shipping) truck.

10-20-2000 05:39 PM

ragamuffinn
Member

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Mililani, HI, USA
Posts: 256

quote:
Originally posted by reconnect
couldn't you just insert the backup module into the prism and press restore? Or would that somehow create problems?

That's precisely what I first did. And I got the weird results.

I wasn't unhappy to have taken the more labor intensive restoration/transfer route. My VDx had been crashing a lot, and this gave me the opportunity to have a machine with clean saved preferences, unsaved preferences, system files, etc. (I didn't transfer any system files except "launcher.db" and graffiti shortcuts--two pretty innocuous files.) Having reduced the possibility that those kinds of files were the culprit, I could observe any potential problems on my Prism more effectively--by more or less assuming that, since my system should have been clean, an app or apps were causing the problem(s).

I know the steps sound like many (in contrast to just popping in the backup module an hitting "restore"), but it was really easy. It took more time to restore, but at least I knew exactly what was going into the Prism. With the backup module, you really had no idea what potential problems you were uploading into the Prism from the old unit.

10-20-2000 07:13 PM

Rob
Member

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: at work...
Posts: 736

quote:
Originally posted by ragamuffinn
-- Deleted certain problem files from the backup directory (files like preferences, avantgo...any of the stuff you really don't want messing up the new system)

While you're at it, you might want to get rid of the 3.1H3 update/patch (HsExt_1_0_3) if you had installed it. I'm not sure if you have to, but I did. Also, my install process was a little simpler -- HotSync the VisorDeluxe, delete junk from the backup directory that I didn't want on my Prism, then sync my Prism for the first time, selecting the same HotSync ID as my VisorDeluxe.

10-20-2000 09:52 PM

ragamuffinn
Member

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Mililani, HI, USA
Posts: 256

quote:
Originally posted by Rob
While you're at it, you might want to get rid of the 3.1H3 update/patch (HsExt_1_0_3) if you had installed it. [...] Also, my install process was a little simpler -- HotSync the VisorDeluxe, delete junk from the backup directory that I didn't want on my Prism, then sync my Prism for the first time, selecting the same HotSync ID as my VisorDeluxe.

Yeah, I removed the update file.

I thought of doing what you did, but I had a LOT of extra junk in my backup directory that I did not want transferred to my Prism. (As you know, probably, the backup directory does not update itself to reflect files removed from the handheld. It was easier for me to clear out the directory completely instead of weed the stuff I couldn't even recognize anymore.) Also, what made things especially hairy was that the backup directory contained a lot of files that had once resided in internal memory but were later moved to the 8 MB module, so that the contents of the backup directory amounted to more than 8 MBs. In addition to exceeding the internal storage, I would have had a bear of a time dealing with duplicate files internal and external.

[Edited by ragamuffinn on 10-20-2000 at 06:13 PM]

10-20-2000 11:05 PM

MarkEagle
VisorCentral Staff

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2682

quote:
Originally posted by ragamuffinn
As you know, probably, the backup directory does not update itself to reflect files removed from the handheld.

Unless you're using BackupBuddy... it takes care of that by moving items to an archive directory, leaving the backup directory essentially as a "mirror" of the Visor. Any module files are also placed into a subdirectory.

With BackupBuddy, all one would need to do is hotsync the new unit (without a user name) and everything should be restored as it was on the old unit.

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God bless America, my home sweet home...

10-20-2000 11:18 PM

JHromadka
VisorCentral Staff

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Texan in Calgary for a while
Posts: 1361

quote:
Originally posted by MarkEagle
With BackupBuddy, all one would need to do is hotsync the new unit (without a user name) and everything should be restored as it was on the old unit.

The problem with this is that it also backs up system files, so those would get restored to the Prism as well. What I ended up doing was wiping out my backup dir, syncing the Prism to get my Outlook data, then beaming my apps over from my old Visor. Took longer but less headaches.

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James Hromadka
Old Friend

10-21-2000 05:08 PM

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