Database Develop

Sprite Backup & ROM upgrades

Hi there,
I'm interested in upgrading my MDAIII to WM5005 but the idea of re-installing all my apps isn't very appealing.
The blurb on the Sprite Backup page claims the latest version will allow restores across ROM or device upgrades.
Is this the case, has anyone tried it and is it worth spending $30 for it?
Cheers,
Q.

Yes I am also interested in the same question. Maybe someone has a full or cracked version of sprite we can all experiment with?
Regards,
Simon

You guys might want to try (SPB Backup) instead

I had both and only use SPB backup now. Sprite is a big PITA compared to SPB.
Just my thoughts.

Personally, I'd never use an upgrade tool on a phone or a PC. When you import things, you import old stuff you might not want. Irrelevant config settings, incorrect registry keys and so on. I prefer to start afresh, nice & clean. With the phone, it's best (IMHO) to use ActiveSync to get your PIM data and simply enable file-sync to make a copy of My Documents on your desktop. Just drag over the old sync folder to the new once it's been upgraded and you have all your stuff across with little effort.
I'm prefering cabs these days for apps as they can be kept on the storage card and reinstalled in seconds if required.

You actualy HAVE to hard reset your device when updating to WM5; that means erasing all. You cannot restore some old settings or programs as this will be death for your PPC.
On the other hand, both SPB and Sprite can be used to restore Contacts, E-mails or PIMs (if you have a WM5 version).

Backing up before flashing - what do you use

...and what do you lose?
I've been having a ton of fun upgrading the ROM on my Wing, which I've had nearly a month now. Except now I'm reaching the point where I don't want to lose all my data when I flash (I've got DirectSync running on my own Exchange Server, so I'm covered for contacts and e-mails).
I've seen SpBBackup listed as a good backup solution, but I was curious - what will it back up for me? Will it restore logs of text messages and phone calls after a backup and flash? Will it backup installed programs (actually hoping this isn't the case, since I imagine a flash really deserves a reinstall of programs).
What do you use or recommend if I want to keep as much of the logged data on my phone through ROM updates?

use pimbackup (2.5) to back up your:
contacts
mms/sms
emails
all calls

Personnaly, I use Sprite Backup, well worth the money.
You can backup/restore exactly you want (documents, system settings, even system files...). Excellent even when not flashing, after a hard reset for example.
I always have a backup file of a good working system on my storage card, so I can get all my applications back in ten minutes, even away from a computer.
Last time I checked, SPB backup didn't work when upgrading ROM, or at least didn't work well.
I don't know how well it does it now, though.

Thanks guys - I'm going to have to look into them. I was under the impression that SpBBackup was the frontrunner, but that's purely based on an older device that I used to back up (that I never changed ROMs on).

I have spbBackup but the only thing I ever used it for was call logs/contacts/text messages/ etc. and I found out the pimBackup does this all for free. So I've switched to pimBackup. Spb backup has a nice feature where it makes the backup files executable so you don't need the program installed to restore your backups, but pimbackup is just a single executable that comes built in with most roms (or in the case that it doesn't you could just place the executable on your storage card.) It works very well for me. Whenever I reflash I like to reinstall and reconfigure anyways (this also helps find any bugs in the rom.)

Diamond - MDA Compact IV First Impressions

Dear All,
OK, I need to change the Signature. I shall do that after writing this entry..
So, I upgraded to the MDA Compact IV on Saturday morning through T-Mobile. I managed a free upgrade, which was nice.
I had owned an MDA3 for quite some time before moving away from PDA Phones. When I used to play atound with everything, we were trying to get the Blue Angel to go from WM2003 to WM5! - That will show you how long ago it was!
Anyhow, I got the Diamond on Saturday morning and spent a few hours charging it up. I played with the T Mobile software for a little bit before suddenly needing to flash the ROM with something a little more erm, better.
Having cruised through the Site, I did note that there were a few suble changes to what was needed to flash a ROM compared to how it used to be done!
Not knowing exactly who's ROM to go for, I trialled a few ROMs and have now settled on what matched my closest needs.
Everything was quite easy and I now have a Diamond powered by Swiftblades version 7 ROM with the 16MB Page Pool. I have just noted though that there is now a version 7.5 using a new build so I'll flash that later and see what differences I get. I may flash a lower Page Pool as I don't need to Multi-task different applications that much.. Yet..
As a result of the Version 7 ROM, the phone is running a lot smoother without any noticable lag however it is early days yet and the phone has not really been used in anger yet!
I also updated to the 08 Radio and I have to say, I am impressed with the Signal strength compared to the other phones I've had recently.
Battery life is actually quite good so far. As I just said, the phone has not seen that may calls but I have fiddled a lot whilst looking around. It had its initial charge on Saturday afternoon and with the fiddling, a couple of calls, some texting and a couple of email exchanges, I'm down to about 50% power. However, that was this morning and I've not used it since.
Anyhow, that's it really. As I become more used to the phone, I'll start helping out on guiding various Newbie questions, etc like I used to in my younger days!

Good review, that's exactly what i did, though i flashed a differnt ROM first.
What contract are you on if i may ask?
Im on flex web n walk £40/m (£90 cashback), the phone was free and i get 575 minutes, 500 texts, unlimited internet (works out £420 which ain't bad at all )
Also another question, i don't suppose you have seen a program that is actually good at backup & restoring apps/messages/contacts etc? At the moment i use Jeyo Mobile companion, which means i save all my contacts and threaded sms, then i backup my Start Menu folder and just copy it back after (as all my programs are installed on Internal Storage). This isn't really that effective as some programs may still have changed, some maybe updated in the new ROM and i lose the registry settings for Activating my apps/games etc.
Sorry for putting the pressure on you

Addicteddddd said:
Good review, that's exactly what i did, though i flashed a differnt ROM first.
What contract are you on if i may ask?
Im on flex web n walk £40/m (£90 cashback), the phone was free and i get 575 minutes, 500 texts, unlimited internet (works out £420 which ain't bad at all )
Also another question, i don't suppose you have seen a program that is actually good at backup & restoring apps/messages/contacts etc? At the moment i use Jeyo Mobile companion, which means i save all my contacts and threaded sms, then i backup my Start Menu folder and just copy it back after (as all my programs are installed on Internal Storage). This isn't really that effective as some programs may still have changed, some maybe updated in the new ROM and i lose the registry settings for Activating my apps/games etc.
Sorry for putting the pressure on you
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Pressure..? Hah - No worries..
Ok, I'm on an old fashioned Flext 30 Contract. I've managed to stay on the twelve month renewal plan so far. I pay £30 per month and that gives me 500 mins, 400 texts and unlimited Web & Walk. I did try to change a little while ago to a cheaper alternative however, T-Mobile themselves said that it there was nothing else that they could offer.. There's probably different plans available now but I think it's going to be best to stay with what I have for now.
Regarding back-up and restore, I guess this is something I need to look into. What I ended up doing back in the Blue Angel days was keeping the required Cabs in an external Memory to restore various Programs back on to it post flashing. The way then was to copy the cab into the Windows directory and then run it from there. Othere items such as Contacts, Messages, emails, etc were restored by running active sync before flashing then again afterwards.. I see there's still the PIM Back-up facility but in the Blue Angel days, it couldn't always be trusted and you ended up losing contacts, message settings, etc etc
Actually, remembering now, I used to keep a list of what needed changing within the registry settings for the programs I had installed.. haha
I understand that things might have moved on a bit now. For example, I noticed somewhere on the settings that Cabs can be installed and there's an option not to delete them after the installation process.
To be honest, I just need to play and experiment with the Diamond to see what it can and cannot do.
I've just looked back through what I've written thinking that actually, this doesn't really answer your questions but still, it's nice to talk! I won't finish by saying "Hope this helps.." hehe..
Nice to meet you.. I see you're running the 05 Radio.. Any reason why you're not using the 08..? I've read on here that there appears to be a positive leaning towards T-Mobile UK reception..

Looking forward to your reviews, always good to read something sensible and well written.
A couple of things to help you based on your posts so far - I've recently installed Swift's 7.5 lite ROM and so far it seems excellent - very quick and doesn't contain loads of software I'll never use. I use the 12mb pp version which works fine for me, but to be honest I've not tried the 0 or 16 versions.
I'm also on the 05 radio, and T-Mobile like you, and to be honest haven't tried anything later because it seems to work fine. If it ain't broke...
I tend to keep all my common cab files on the internal storage, you can install from there and by default they aren't deleted. No need to copy to the windows folder. I've reset so many times I can get back to a full working system within about an hour these days! The advanced config tools out there means there is little need to hack about in the registry these days, and ROM's like the excellent Swift ones often have many of the reg optimisations already set.

Nice review
Regarding the post flashing technique, I've tried sprite backup and SPB to restore across rom upgrades but never had much success - you always find that there are some things which don't work right. Also you end up overwriting things in the registry which are part of the new rom and have problems.
I have quite a few apps installed, but the only surefire way to get it right is to start fresh when you flash.
My technique is:
- Flash the new rom
- Set up the owner information and bluetooth deviceid etc.. (you need to do this for apps which have registrations based on the owner). I also set up things like ringtones now before installing anything - no reason other than personal preference.
- Connect to activesync to sync contacts/appointments
- Use either sprite or pimbackup for SMS etc..
- Set up email accounts
- Install all old apps (cabs stored on internal storage. I also put things which install through activesync on internal storage so I've got them to hand for reinstalling).
- Set up all apps how I like them.
- Set up the today screen, and TF3D programs/weather etc..
- All done!
It usually takes about an hour. It's a pretty dull process but it works and it's definitely the best way to do it.
There are apps like sashimi which automates the install process, but I find the installing from cabs part usually only takes around 5 minutes anyway - its the configuring which takes longer.

StarMonkee said:
Nice review
Regarding the post flashing technique, I've tried sprite backup and SPB to restore across rom upgrades but never had much success - you always find that there are some things which don't work right. Also you end up overwriting things in the registry which are part of the new rom and have problems.
It usually takes about an hour. It's a pretty dull process but it works and it's definitely the best way to do it.
There are apps like sashimi which automates the install process, but I find the installing from cabs part usually only takes around 5 minutes anyway - its the configuring which takes longer.
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Hi Star,
yeah, sounds very much like the basics haven't changed.. It's still a little long winded but hey, it stops you getting bored !!
Comment noted about over-writing items in the registry and it affecting ROM optimisations.. It's something I hadn't thought about..
ewans said:
A couple of things to help you based on your posts so far - I've recently installed Swift's 7.5 lite ROM and so far it seems excellent - very quick and doesn't contain loads of software I'll never use. I use the 12mb pp version which works fine for me, but to be honest I've not tried the 0 or 16 versions.
I'm also on the 05 radio, and T-Mobile like you, and to be honest haven't tried anything later because it seems to work fine. If it ain't broke...
I tend to keep all my common cab files on the internal storage, you can install from there and by default they aren't deleted. No need to copy to the windows folder. I've reset so many times I can get back to a full working system within about an hour these days! The advanced config tools out there means there is little need to hack about in the registry these days, and ROM's like the excellent Swift ones often have many of the reg optimisations already set.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Ewans,
OK, I've just updated to the 7.5 ROM so I'll check that out over the next 24hrs or so.. I've gone for the 12MB PP as to assess what difference it makes from the recommended 16MB PP Version.
You know, I might keep with the 08 Radio for a week or so and change to the 05 radio to see what differences I see..
Once I can pass on some observations, I will..

Dutty's ROM 2.0 Full, customized manilla abit (removed curtains, removed some tabs, add tabs [call history/comm manager], wallpaper)
Seems to be faster & more stable than Panosha's when i tested that but i haven't moved since as i got alot of apps installed and no decent way to backup the registry keys for them at the moment.

App Idea/ Possibility Refried ROMs

An app i'd REALLY like to see, i think all if its possible...
flash a rom cooked or uncooked, then install all your apps, customize everything, set your settings and themes, get it working peak and tailored... then Have an app that would back up the rom, your apps, your settings everything and boil it down to a new ROM.
advantages:
not having to reinstall all your commercial apps with serials and customizations.
not having to refind hotfixes,themes ect or finding cooked rom with them.
once reflashed back to the phone all your personal customizations would be set in ROM and even after even a hard reset its all there.
Anyone working on such an app? Anything like this? I've searched, no luck.
Can we discuss the feasibility of such an app?

I thought there was a program in the kitchen that let you do just that. "Dump" your ROM, then make it a flashable .nbh file.
Am I mistaken? I thought I did this once before with my kiaser.
The program reads from the phone, and rips Part00, Part01, Part02, .. and then you have to extract those to create the .nbh file
EDIT: EDIT: http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Hermes_HowtoDumpRom For the Hermes, I am sure it is very similar, if not the same

That does dump the ROM yes. but only the rom, none of the after modifications, none of the settings, none of the installed apps. the thing is it usually takes me near a week to get everything back on my phone and setting readjusted in event of a hard reset. I travel and should i have to hard reset on the road PI8, my GPS everything is gone until i get a good several days to dock at home an reinstall everything. i could cook my own personal rom i suppose but the learning curve seems steep as far as cooking. Thats why i think something that dumped your current rom, but then went a step further and integrated your current setup, apps, settings, skins, ect. to turn out a customized "Recooked" rom. It doesn't seem to me to be a technological leap but coding such a this is beyond me. Since it came from the phone it would go back to it seems to me it would be easier than regular cooking in that you wouldn't have to allow for diverse setup situations.

Don't you use UC? it comes in almost all custom ROM's
Or there's a myriad of backup apps available that basically do that, try searching some time.
A WHOLE week to set up your device

Save People list in TF3D?

Anybody found a way to save the People list in TF3D so I do not need to re-add everytime I hard reset.

excellent question. I've wonder for quite some time for that same answer. Perhaps if you do a backup with Sprite back up might do. Since I left the tilt (kaiser) for the fuze (rafael) haven't ever used sprite back up. I know every back up used to take somewhat like 30-40 Mb... now the question is to locate a cab for it and test it if it backs up those contacts.

Forever022 said:
excellent question. I've wonder for quite some time for that same answer. Perhaps if you do a backup with Sprite back up might do. Since I left the tilt (kaiser) for the fuze (rafael) haven't ever used sprite back up. I know every back up used to take somewhat like 30-40 Mb... now the question is to locate a cab for it and test it if it backs up those contacts.
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Click to collapse
I don't use backup apps.. I would need a scheduled full backup everyday to have the latest restore, coz I wouldn't know when a app would hang my WM.
Besdes, backups are not effective against firmware upgrades. In fact, its not advisable.
I use Sashimi for applications and settings restore. I would like to know if there is a file to backup for that portion. I know I can't find it in registry.

PIM.vol holds your contact info as well as TF3D faves. Copy it to storage card and copy back after flash. This DOES NOT contain messages. So you would still need to backup messages with pim backup(or similar app) unless you can somehow copy cemail.vol. I havent been able to do it on Fuze, but there is a script arpound here that will help copy it(since it is in use by system from boot).

+1 on the PIM vol comment.
Furthermore give SPB Backup a shot (it's NOT free). I use SPB Backup since my Tilt/Kaiser times and even under the latest TF3D2 after a restore all contacts under the people tab including the assigned images were flawless restored.

And it is possible to restore backup on phone where you cange your ROM?
I think that you have got old ROM so you make a backup and then you change ROM in phone and restore backup.
Is any problem with this?

would overwriting the pim.vol create duplicates following a rom upgrade and then syncing with contacts on an exchange server?

AdamiX said:
And it is possible to restore backup on phone where you cange your ROM?
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Click to collapse
DON'T do it even the most sophisticated backup / restore software WILL overwrite settings tweaks and worst case features of the new ROM, especially the little tweaks and tricks the chefs put into them.
Use PIM backup and start reading about UC or Sashimi and what other tricks can be performed to recover quickly after a ROM flash.
@JPHCCFC
would overwriting the pim.vol create duplicates following a rom upgrade and then syncing with contacts on an exchange server?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.
Can happen and may not happen. If you have everything synced with Outlook make a PIM backup just for security reasongs (in case the new ROM may not sync). Flash, install all your apps and tweaks sync with outlook (in that particular order). This WILL take care of contacts, not more not less. OTHER email programs you may use (google, hotmail) will NOT come back with this method.