Hey everybody...I already tried both but cannot determine which one is the best...any idea? =)
SPB Clone is an enterprise application designed to clone a pocket pc build across multiple pda's and you will need $300 to buy it.
spb currently have a spb backup version 1.0 currently in beta stages which I think backs up your data into a self extracting executable.
Sprite backup on the other hand is very good but the wm5 compatible version is currently in beta also.
I've always used Sprite but will be looking at what spb backup has to offer...
I use Sprite Backup too..very easy to configure. Only complaint is that for scheduled backups, it won't allow me to select specific folders from the SD card to backup...it's all or none.
Does sprite backup make an exact copy from the device too? Does it keep all settings, tweaks, gprs config,.... ??I d like to use a software which makes me able to make a self extracting copy EXACT copy (so when I install it, the device should be 100% the same as when I created the backup).
yes I believe Sprite Backup backups everything. All your registry settings, databases are fully backed up.
Yes, sprite Back-up is the best back up utility I have ever used...
it can back up every thing in your RAM... registry.. contacts.. files, SMS, e-mail.. etc
it doesn't take much time to restore a back up ( 2-3 min approx. ), and it stores the backed up file as .exe so it can run on the device even if sprite back up is not installed or registered...
I believe it is a must- have in any PPC
cheers
Thanks for your advices! I know what to keep now =)
I use Sprite Backup to do daily full backups (and automatically keep the last 3 backups) to the SD card and then use Rubber Stamp DataSync software on the desktop PC to sync the backups created by Sprite to the PC.
I also use Sunnysoft backup to do daily backups on important folders on the SD card. Both Sunnysoft and Sprite backups are then synced to the desktop via Rubber Stamp.
That way I have full working backups of the entire handheld plus SD card on a daily basis. I backup the entire SD card manually once a month.
Sprite gets my vote
Bought it last week, and already it has been put to use.
Faultless application, and worth every penny.
It's so much of a pain to lose data ...what makes it worst is that you have to reinstall everything from scratch which is time consuming ...
It's so much easier to use Sprite to do a backup when you are asleep and if something does go wrong, you only lose a day's worth of data.
My handheld crashed today because I deleted a wav file associated with the SafeMode so whenever I do a soft reset, the SafeMode hangs and thus I cannot proceed further. Very easy, did a hard reset, aligned the screen and did a soft reset. Then just execute the backup file from last night. It took me only 5 minutes to get everything working the same as it did at 7:00am this morning (that when Sprite does the auto backup)
my xBackup seems to keep me sane. 8)
Sorry to disturb you all - but in my opinion I never saw such a buggy application like Sprite Backup.
I used Version 5 and realized it would copy all ".vol" files before backup. These files store all your contact and calendar data and can be quite big. If you do not have enough free space on your device it will stop your backup. And keep the copy files on your device!
So you got a "pim.vol" for your calendar data and a "pim.volc" file as a copy. In my case I got a 6MB "pim.vol"-file and only 3.5MB left on the device. The backup would not finish but the files would remain!!
Well, now I tried version 6. Since I had a long discussion with the developer on version 5 I was sure they must have tested this to work. Wrong! I deelted SpB Backup and installed Sprite Backup to use a backup to a FTP server (which Spb would not offer...) Well, well. Again the backup failed (strangely enough I tested the FTP connection and it worked - but it would not work at backup time) Strangely enough I realized a lot of RAM missing on the device. Guess what? I found all these ".volc" files again. Copies of the original ".vol" files. Not deleted. Eating up a lot of space...!!!
OF course I deleted the Sprite Backup application via "Remove". And again: 600KB were still missing! I realized: It would NOT delete the folder "Sprite Backup" in "Application Data" on the device. 600KB of then useless software. A backup software that cannot even de-install itself correctly#?!# Any guestions??
Well, it did not end here: Since I use a german OS my storage card is named "Speicherkarte". Would you suggest that Sprite Backup would leave its logs at "Speicherkarte/Logs"? No, of course not. It would be on "Storage Card/Logs". Well, since my SD Cards location is "Speicherkarte" it would just generate the folder "Storage Card" and put the log files there. Great... NOT!
Whats the conclusion? Paid $10 for an upgrade. Very very disappointed about quality and reliability.
I can only recommend "Spb Backup" or probably every other backup application (e.g. SKTool) - but never ever again Sprite Backup. Big disappointment for 2 versions now.
I would love some feedback from the community since backup is crucial in my opinion...
I bought the same upgrade and have it set to do scheduled backups nightly to my storage card. I have not had a problem with it. I use the english version. I wonder if anyone that uses the english version and backs up to FTP is around for comment.
Yeah, Sprite Backup sucks. I don't think I ever got a viable backup created from it, either it would hang while doing the backup or what it backed up would not restore.
As you said, SPB backup is the thing to use.
yaa im having problems restoring with sprite
going back to SPB as i type
Well, well.
some more infos: The WM5->WM6 upgrade with Sprite Backup does not work. I tried it on the Herald (P4350) - and it worked 90% (without databases). But 90% is not enough. Some links do not work, some settings are corrupted beyond repair.
I forgot: De-installed Sprite Backup right now. Did a restart, well there it opened up again.. Cant believe, whats happening here...
I bought Sprite Backup 6. I can't get it installed on my PC. The pda install works fine, but no help from the Sprite people who told me, "Reinstall it"..
Duh.. It won't install in the first place. (This is why I used an AMEX.. Chargeback for goods undelivered)
By the way, can someone recommend a good PDA backup utility that backups up to the computer automatically?
I recently used SPB to do a "full backup" but it only took 5minutes and the resulting backup file was only 41.7MB...my internal memory has 160MB in use so was this a complete backup and does it usually be this quick? The compression level is set to normal.
I previously used Sprite backup but when I recently wanted to restore it and clicked on the self-restoring file it said "The file cannot be opened. Either it is not signed with a trusted certificate, or one of its components cannot be found. You might need to reinstall or restore this file"...?
I even tried opening it and my previous 2 backups via opening up sprite -> restore, however it did not find the backup files? Anyone else had this problem.
Lastly, is it best to backup my storage card at the time of the backup? Just that if I ever need to do a hard reset and then restore, won't my system need the files on my storage card to be as they were at the time of my backup? (I have many programs installed on there)
Thanks for your thoughts
Anyone?.....
sprite backup problem
hi what you can try is reinstall the sprite backup program via your pc
and after that try to open the self extracting sprite backup file.
i remember having the same problem and this did the trick for me
gr liang
P.s.
i never backup my storagecard ! with sprite back up on the same storagecard you seldom will lose the data on your storagecard.
you can make a back up on your pc which includes your storagecard but then your backup will be on your pc.
hi can sprite backup work between rom upgrades?
as in , i back up now.
i flash a new rom.
i restore...
will everything be the same as before? including contacts favorite people photos?
will the new rom work properly?? ( as in the old data will it affect the new rom? )
I dont know about flashing a rom but i have tried hard reset then restore from backup using sprite and it restored everything. install sprite back on storage card and also save the executable backup file to storage card. when you do a hard reset just goto file explorer then tap on the backup file. it should restore your phone back to before you performed a hard reset. what version of sprite backup do you have. I have 6.5.4.14
6.2.3 htc edition
I currently use SPB Backup for backing up all my PIM information (contacts & emails)
As I constantly upgrade or fash new roms this is very useful. The size of this file is usually around 2.5MB
I have also done full backups which are generally around 20MB for me.
However I never use full restore after I have upgraded or changed rom. I only use full restore if I have done a hard reset or reverted back to original rom I backed up.
The reason for this is that if you do a full restore, you are restoring registry entries from your previous rom which may conflict with your new rom.
For this reason, I don't personally take the chance and only use custom restore i.e. PIM info
I was using version 6.5.4.8 also tried 6.5.4.14 - same result.
I've changed to SPB backup now and that seems to backup ok...the proof in the pudding will be once I need to restore!
6.5.4.14 works fine for me. my backup file is around 32mb though
I always backup before installing anything just incase
OKay... perhaps someone can save me from having to reinstall from scratch - searching did not give me the answer.
Accidentally deleted all my contacts from the diamond after having had to reinstall my PC (and outlook)
I thought to myself, well, I've got SpriteBackup, right? (been running Sprite Backup regularly, excluding the Internal Storage but doing everything else.) - I'll do a restore.
It's a German O2 original ROM, I made no changes to it since the backup a few days ago. The only difference OUGHT to have been the missing contacts.
Executed the backup from Internal Storage, it ran without error, and immediately after the final soft reset I get the message that a few programs (changescreen, s2u, ...) can't be started because either a component is missing or the certificate is invalid (paraphrased German error msg)
It turns out NO Program I've installed myself will launch. Not even those I merely copied over and that normally run without an installer.
I tried factory defaults and running the restore again, with the same results -NONE of my programs work anymore and it doesn't matter if I installed them in the Programs or on Internal Storage
Has anyone else had this problem? Is there a way to fix it without a complete reinstall (which I would absolutely hate to have to do)?
Thanks in advance,
Verrath
Solved.
I needed to run the restore from the application rather than calling the .exe, and set the restore options to "replace" rather than "merge", which seems to be the default.
Ah! I had the same problem.
The new Sprite backup has added functionality to make upgrading of ROM easier (great news for those ROM-flashers here!) so instead of overwriting all your system files with old ones it'll do a 'merge'.
You can do a hard-reset, then run the .exe file and choose to do a "Level 1" and "Merge". This should fix your problem.
If it doesn't, then you'll have to run the Sprite Backup application (Which I presume is stored on your Internal memory), Go to "Settings" -> "Restore", and choose "Replace" instead of "Merge". Now go back to main menu, choose restore, choose the backup file and it should work this time.
After speaking with a friend about a biweekly hard reset "schedule," I've decided to research the eversopopular application from SPB Software, which is their backup application, SPB Backup.
I've heard many good things about it, in terms of reliability, consistency, and the easy to use interface.
Now, having said all of that... are there programs that allow for a COMPLETE SYSTEM BACKUP & RESTORE? As in... all of the modifications, applications, registry, etc. I have now are SAVED, BACKED UP, and capable of being restored onto my device without consequence.
Is SPB Backup the ideal program for this? Please, feel free to offer your suggestions below... thank you in advance.
I have used SPB Backup on my HTC Kaiser and it did a complete phone backup minus the stuff in Rom. In other words, if I did a complete backup & did a hard reset, it would restore the phone back exactly to the state it was(MINUS what was on the SD card). So if you installed anything on the SD card, you would want to do a separate manual backup of your card. I restored numerous backups onto the Kaiser & it ALWAYS restored accurately and completely.
I have been using SPB Backup to backup my HD2, but have yet to do a complete restore from a hard reset (haven't had to). Maybe someone else can verify that it is 100% restoring fine....... Hope this info helps.
By the way, on Twitter, you stated that you found a "handy" application that allows you to automatically switch between interfaces such as: SPBMS, Titanium, and HTC Sense...... what's the name of it?.... TIA.
BIOYAM said:
I have used SPB Backup on my HTC Kaiser and it did a complete phone backup minus the stuff in Rom. In other words, if I did a complete backup & did a hard reset, it would restore the phone back exactly to the state it was(MINUS what was on the SD card). So if you installed anything on the SD card, you would want to do a separate manual backup of your card. I restored numerous backups onto the Kaiser & it ALWAYS restored accurately and completely.
I have been using SPB Backup to backup my HD2, but have yet to do a complete restore from a hard reset (haven't had to). Maybe someone else can verify that it is 100% restoring fine....... Hope this info helps.
By the way, on Twitter, you stated that you found a "handy" application that allows you to automatically switch between interfaces such as: SPBMS, Titanium, and HTC Sense...... what's the name of it?.... TIA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the reply.
I'll look a little further into this.
As for that application for switching between interfaces... I came across that on PPCGeeks from a guy named, "Darkness" who also created most of the disabling .CAB files for Titanium and Sense.
His interface switcher works really well. I downloaded the one specifically designed for Titanium and Sense. NOT THE SPB MOBILE SHELL VERSION!
And one more thing... all of the .CAB files I have installed, I installed them to my device, not my storage card. So, if those files are on my device... would those be backed up within the files that SPB Backup compresses?
Reignzone said:
........ As for that application for switching between interfaces... I came across that on PPCGeeks from a guy named, "Darkness" who also created most of the disabling .CAB files for Titanium and Sense.
His interface switcher works really well. I downloaded the one specifically designed for Titanium and Sense. NOT THE SPB MOBILE SHELL VERSION!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this info .... I'll check it out.
Reignzone said:
And one more thing... all of the .CAB files I have installed, I installed them to my device, not my storage card. So, if those files are on my device... would those be backed up within the files that SPB Backup compresses?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those .cab files would definitely be captured in the backup.
It hasn't had a completely good press but I use Sprite Backup on my HD2. I suppose it's habit after I first used it on my hx4700.
It will restore my HD2 to its backed up state, settings, programs, registry and tweaks. It will back up storage cards if you want it too. It has a mode that allows restoration of suitable data to another device too. It can back up to a network.
I schedule it to run daily and use it at other times as needed. When I restore, I usually hard reset first. Setting Sprite to 'delete all files' during a restoration does much the same. I set it to replace settings. The registry can be replaced or merged; it seems that this makes no difference.
The program has yet to let me down do I haven't felt the need to try SPB Backup.
You might also try the backup feature in SKTools. I find it works well and the software has additional uses.
BIOYAM said:
Thanks for this info .... I'll check it out.
Those .cab files would definitely be captured in the backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you again for your feedback.
I'm definitely feeling a little bit better about entrusting this software with my precious files.
DrATty said:
It hasn't had a completely good press but I use Sprite Backup on my HD2. I suppose it's habit after I first used it on my hx4700.
It will restore my HD2 to its backed up state, settings, programs, registry and tweaks. It will back up storage cards if you want it too. It has a mode that allows restoration of suitable data to another device too. It can back up to a network.
I schedule it to run daily and use it at other times as needed. When I restore, I usually hard reset first. Setting Sprite to 'delete all files' during a restoration does much the same. I set it to replace settings. The registry can be replaced or merged; it seems that this makes no difference.
The program has yet to let me down do I haven't felt the need to try SPB Backup.
You might also try the backup feature in SKTools. I find it works well and the software has additional uses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And thank you kind sir for your reply as well.
All the opinions and facts here certainly make me feel more comfortable with this process, as I am YET to actually perform a backup... not once. So, I figure it's better late than never, right?
I'll look into SKTools and certainly do some research about the Sprite software for Windows Mobile, because I'm familiar with their work for Android. On the Android platform, it did the job quite well.
Thanks again. All of this was reassuring.
I use SPB backup all the time on my HD2.. i have it scheduled to make a complete backup + SD card every second night..
It works very well and have tried to restore several times (just to test) without any problems!
However if you flash a new rom i would not advice you to do a complete backup, but instead make a partially backup of documents, contacts, email and so on..
It even keeps your email signature and settings when doing the parcial backup, so i also use it everytime i flash a new rom, together with either xda UC or auto install from sd card..
Hope it helps, and i can say for sure that this software works perfect with both EU and US roms..
Happy backup
never put your money in one place..means never trust 1 app for your backup specially you got a rahter-die-than-lose-your-files files
not so often i meet my bad luck to restore my files from such spb restore app but lucky me i had 2 similar backup from 3 backup apps maybe u will make it 2 apps thinking about space left
and always save at least 2 backup files with the same app but different time, kind'a storage eater right??but this useful when u got error from another file
hope this useful for u
maverick_endit81 said:
never put your money in one place..means never trust 1 app for your backup specially you got a rahter-die-than-lose-your-files files
not so often i meet my bad luck to restore my files from such spb restore app but lucky me i had 2 similar backup from 3 backup apps maybe u will make it 2 apps thinking about space left
and always save at least 2 backup files with the same app but different time, kind'a storage eater right??but this useful when u got error from another file
hope this useful for u
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...And check the restoration process before you need to use it in anger. Finding that there is something wrong with your backup files when you need to use them in anger is... frustrating.
I mentioned Sprite's ability to restore data to a new device. This includes devices where the ROM has been replaced. I haven't tried it and obviously, not everything can be transferred. The migration features might be useful in your situation though.
Microsoft's myPhone is worth a mention. It can be used to backup your PIM data and documents, photographs and music. I haven't tried using it to restore anything yet though. My PIM data is saved in Outlook and that is backed up to hard disks and in the Cloud via iDrive, DropBox, Humyo and Live MESH. It's probably the one thing I can least afford to lose.
I would appreciate if anyone told me if the SPB Backup utility backs up the SPB Mobile Shell layout as well (the way the icons are arranged and other stuff like that). That would REALLY help me save some precious time ...
SPB Backup - Great App
I bought this application a couple of days ago and I do a backup before I install some questionable apps or just in case I don't like the way it changed other things on my HD2. But I decided to go with the ROM from Sergio and everything seemed fine until I missed some calls and I just didn't like the changes on IE so this morning I decided to try my backup restore. I flashed back to the stock ROM and then ran my backup EXE file. It asked if I wanted to change the time to the current time (Sprite Backup doesn't have this option and restores to the backup time so you have to manually change it) so I moved forward. The backup was just the way I left it. I am glad I purchased this software. Just my 2 cents.
anrabi4 said:
I would appreciate if anyone told me if the SPB Backup utility backs up the SPB Mobile Shell layout as well (the way the icons are arranged and other stuff like that). That would REALLY help me save some precious time ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprite Backup can; it depends on the settings used. I think I'm right in saying that both Sprite and SPB Backup will restore a device to exactly the same state it was at when the backup was made. The only exceptions are where files on a storage card that were used by an application in internal memory have been changed or deleted since the backup was made. Files on removable storage can be added to backups in Sprite to avoid this happening.
dgreening said:
...It asked if I wanted to change the time to the current time (Sprite Backup doesn't have this option and restores to the backup time so you have to manually change it) so I moved forward...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprite Backup leaves the time alone. I used to hard reset (or delete all files and replace settings) and restore the backup. My HD2 sets the time itself either just after the reset or just after the restoration is complete so I find I don't need to do anything. It hasn't caused any problems that I am aware of so far.
dgreening said:
I bought this application a couple of days ago and I do a backup before I install some questionable apps or just in case I don't like the way it changed other things on my HD2. But I decided to go with the ROM from Sergio and everything seemed fine until I missed some calls and I just didn't like the changes on IE so this morning I decided to try my backup restore. I flashed back to the stock ROM and then ran my backup EXE file. It asked if I wanted to change the time to the current time (Sprite Backup doesn't have this option and restores to the backup time so you have to manually change it) so I moved forward. The backup was just the way I left it. I am glad I purchased this software. Just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed.
I caved in last night and purchased the SPB Software program as well.
I backed up my system last night... surprisingly though, it was much "smaller" than I had originally expected it to be. Something around 80MB, at least that's what the application "calculated" it was going to be. I suppose that could be in compressed form though...
Anyway, it seems to have done the job well. And I certainly love that I was able to create a backup copy on my SD Card, along with my desktop PC.
I also have SK Tools... so I think having a couple if not MORE than a few system restore and backup utilities is a good thing.
low-dogg said:
I use SPB backup all the time on my HD2.. i have it scheduled to make a complete backup + SD card every second night..
It works very well and have tried to restore several times (just to test) without any problems!
However if you flash a new rom i would not advice you to do a complete backup, but instead make a partially backup of documents, contacts, email and so on..
It even keeps your email signature and settings when doing the parcial backup, so i also use it everytime i flash a new rom, together with either xda UC or auto install from sd card..
Hope it helps, and i can say for sure that this software works perfect with both EU and US roms..
Happy backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I'm looking in the partial possibilities for restoring with the SPB, I can find in the "customize restore" those:
PIM DATA (CONTACTS, TASKS, APPOINTMENTS,...)
EMAILS
TEXT MESSAGES
MY DOCUMENTS
SYSTEM DATA (including: CUSTOMIZE... RESTORE FILES, RESTORE DATABASES and RESTORE REGISTRY)
If I flash a new rom, which exactly possibilities I have to choose?
SPB Backup works perfectly for me. Scheduled backup every night, restore complete system after hard reset, etc.
Don't forget the precious desktop companion SPBBackupUnpack: extract files, registry keys ... and more.
harrygol said:
When I'm looking in the partial possibilities for restoring with the SPB, I can find in the "customize restore" those:
PIM DATA (CONTACTS, TASKS, APPOINTMENTS,...)
EMAILS
TEXT MESSAGES
MY DOCUMENTS
SYSTEM DATA (including: CUSTOMIZE... RESTORE FILES, RESTORE DATABASES and RESTORE REGISTRY)
If I flash a new rom, which exactly possibilities I have to choose?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have restored PIM data, system databases, documents, mail and text messages between devices with Sprite Backup and it has worked perfectly. That includes the same device with different ROMs and even entirely different devices. Restoring the registry and software is sometimes problematic but SPB Backup has a ROM upgrade mode to help here.
I'd check out the support forum for your particular solution to see what works. Restoring the wrong items used to cause trouble and could create quite a mess. I haven't heard of anything in particular since the new restore modes were introduced.
Call me old fashioned, but, backup/restore tools always make me feel uneasy.
I know that there are many for whom they run "faultlessly" and for certain problems they really do offer solutions, however, the one situation that I have a concern about is the backup/restore across a ROM change, be it either a simple stock upgrade or a cooked ROM flash.
You would be throwing a set of data at a virgin phone that had been collected from a setup that had presumably either failed or been superceded!
In either event I would want to know that any potentially destabalising ellements had been eliminated and not "carried over" to, what should be, a fresh setup.
I can remember horrific problems caused by advice to use backup/restore on many other phones and they were all identified as having been situations in which the use was applied across a ROM change.
And lets be clear about this, we have enough trouble with badly coded software as it is. You only have to run down the new daily posts in these forums to see how difficult it is for many to achieve a stable/useable phone and that situation quite often occurs right out of the box!
For my part I must admit that I have become particularly fond of MyPhone.
It has always done the job for me, although I only use it for basic PIM restore after a new ROM flash, which I seem to be doing every couple of days at the moment. However, I do also allow it to retain a copy of my photos and music, but, I've never restored from it as the file sizes and subsequent time taken are too great.
I have identically synced (from within my laptop file manager, but, I have had need to do it directly phone to phone!) MSD cards of the same size in two seperate phones one being the HD2 and the other being a Nokia E71. These cards hold music, photos, documents, downloads, a section for reinstall apps and my current and previous ROM and radio images. This means that the cards are interchangeable and I keep an image of them on a USB stick. My apps are never installed to mem card.
My final piece of backup is by way of my trusty Ameo which holds one more complete data and app set.
So if any two pieces of equipment fail I can still recover the situation and notice that I give only passing mention to a PC or laptop.
I access MyPhone through my mobile broadband WiFi router which is constantly on and is powered through a UPS which gives about three days backup use.
With all this I have got a task 29, new ROM flash, reinstall of apps and settings down to about 35 mins.
It just came to me that we do lavish a lot of attention our our little pals!
Don't we?
Too much? LOL.
SPB BACKUP FAILED FOR ME ON HTC Touch PRO 2
I was used to restore my Touch 3g and my Qtek S200 with SPB backup and at all times successfully. So, I updated to last SPB backup software version (of course I bought that software). On Saturday I did something erroneous on my TP2 and needed to hard reset. After that, I tried to restore my full backups, one after other from newer to older and a total of 15. All of them restored apparently well, but HTC sense did not start-up any longer in any of the cases. I had to manually re-install all the stuff back and I just restore the emails and PIM from the backup. The PIM database did not longer sync with my Outlook. I had to recreate the partnership. After that, all my notifications were duplicated... a complete mess. I cannot understand what went wrong, because the backup and restore log files where always showing no error. I am using the stock ROM (WM6.5 + HTC sense 2.5) and all my software is either legal or GPL. Nothing special on my device apart of all my beloved data.
So that is my experience with SPB backup that was always good, has turned to be negative. Of course, now I am afraid to try again.
Anybody has experience the same?
Any idea?
Thanks folks.