Database Users

Backup AND RESTORE SMS messages?

Hello,
I've searched the board several times since months and haven't found a solution to my problem yet.
My problem is as follows:
I have my Wizard (O2 Germany, so Xda mini S) since february (in fact it is the third one, O2 support changed it two times because the stylus didn't lock anymore after few weeks of use... have to change it again...).
And few months ago, I tried Sprite Backup, what I am using since then. Although it worked well, one thing is annoying: sometimes after hard reset and restore of only my mail database (cemail.vol, the only thing I really need to be backed up), the Messaging app doesn't show mail accounts anymore, but when I try to create new ones with the same names, it says, that the accounts already exist. So I created new accounts with different names, as many other users did, how I could read here. They co-exist and take memory.
Interesting thing: the Spb Diary messaging program can see the old accounts, and so it is also possible to delete the messages, that are still there in the old accounts. It can take a long time and many clicks (taps), because you can delete only one message at once, but it is better than nothing. One problem persists: Spb Diary can't delete the accounts themselves.
Therefore I am searching for a way to extract only my SMS messages (eMail is not important, I have it all on PC), start with an empty mail database (hard reset) and restore only the SMS messages into that new database.
The only program I have found so far, that really looked well for the first moment, is Jeyo Mobile Extender (or Companion). It backups the SMS Messages to PC, but not all of them. Messages in subfolders are ignored (I have subfolders for delivery notifications, call missed notifications and so on). And the restore doesn't work as expected. The date of the messages gets messed up, long messages (>160 charactes) get cut, and even the sender/receiver of the messages can get flipped.
But it must be possible to write a program, that fits my needs, I think (by the way: what is going on with the developers of WM2005? Backing up messages from mobile device to desktop is ESSENTIAL!!! Why isn't such a feature included?).
And because I am sure that I am not the only one with this problems hoping for a solution, I could imagine that someone already has written such a tool.
So, please, if anyone knows a tool or a different solution (editing mail database, removing everything except SMS messages...), PLEASE, help me!
Thank you very much in advance!

Yeaa im also really looking for a soultion to this, i Recently got a Windows Mobile device and i really wanna just be able to transfer my Series 60 Messages in Text format now.. to my Pocket PC's Messaging.

I can't believe nobody has made an app to backup and restore SMS's despite the growing number of people who need just sucha an app.
Except for Kai's, I don't think there is anything out there that does the job.
I hope SPB includes an option in the future to backup specific accounts only, because it is by far the best messaging backup app I have used till date.

leepriestenator said:
I can't believe nobody has made an app to backup and restore SMS's despite the growing number of people who need just sucha an app.
Except for Kai's, I don't think there is anything out there that does the job.
I hope SPB includes an option in the future to backup specific accounts only, because it is by far the best messaging backup app I have used till date.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jeyo has. works fine

jeyo is crappy piece of ****. better than nothing, but doesn't back up all messages, no self-created subfolders, no dupe-check, shows error message on ppc on every connect...
you will find out, when it is most important to you, believe me!

Contacts Storage

Hi,
Does anyone know where the contacts are stored on the XDA Exec? I would like to store over 12,000 contacts but I find it fills my memory up and the XDA runs extremely slow. I have had to delete them all.
Just so you know, I don't have 12,000 friends, I work for a large company and it would be nice to sync my Works contacts on to my PDA.
If only I can get Contacts to store them on my Storage Card and run from there.
Cheers
Lee

Contacts & Calendar Items are stored in the PIM.vol
Don't you read man?

cant find pim.vol
I tried lookin for pim.vol in windows folder on my exec but couldnt find. I selected the option of show all files still I cant see. Please help... I need to give my phone for repair before which i want to backup my contacts...
thnx a lot

I would use a synchronization woth outlook (you can then keep your datathere when your machine is in repair). Alternatively, use a back-up program like sprite or SPB backup.

PIM.vol is in root on your phone, not in \windows.
But do a backup before sending the phone anywhere, activesync, and do use Sprite or SPB Backup.
V

Go for Sprite so you can restore even after a ROM upgrade Best to do a full backup and restore to avoid any issues

AKU3.2 allows you to be able to leave all your 12,000 contacts lying on your company's server, after which you can remotely access your contact list from within the contact application
This is extremely fast and works close enough as searching for the contacts within your own phone's database.
The only requirement is Exchange Server 2003 Service pack2 from your company's end.

bluebotle said:
Hi,
Does anyone know where the contacts are stored on the XDA Exec? I would like to store over 12,000 contacts but I find it fills my memory up and the XDA runs extremely slow. I have had to delete them all.
Just so you know, I don't have 12,000 friends, I work for a large company and it would be nice to sync my Works contacts on to my PDA.
If only I can get Contacts to store them on my Storage Card and run from there.
Cheers
Lee
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's an idea for your large contact database- why not export to an excel spreadsheet and this way you have the info for reference and you can save the spreadsheet on your memory card.

Possible to import messages from old phone?

Hey,
is it possible to import sms/text-messages from my old nokia phone to the Touch HD? I've managed to import the contacts from the old phone to outlook, but can't find a way to do the same with the text messages.
I would be greatful for any help!
Regards,
Bacardi Man

I used a program called EASY HELPER on my xda2i to transfer text and contacts between two similar handsets. Worked ok, ALTHOUGH text only backs up INBOX. sent, drafts etc... are populated but by empty files you have to just delete anyway.
If easy helper is supported in 6.1 then it might work for you, don't forget to search for other 3rd party sms backup and restore programs which could be equally helpful.
....IB a n e

Well on the Nokia side you could give the new NCC 2.0 beta http://www.nokia.com/A41013626 a try, but I think even 1.0 in the latest current Phone Suite could export SMS. My N95 is currently with Nokia, so I cannot test it for you (Export function w/o phone is greyed out). Re-Importing a common export file format back into WinMobile should not be a great deal.

I have exporter all Contacts and messages from my Nokia phone using Nokia PC suite. All this data now is stored in one single *.nbu file.
So you mean there is a program, which can extract the messages from this file and transfer them to an WM6.1 based PDA?

Can PC Suite only export nbu file format? Doubt any other program can read that. No option there to choose csv or text format at least?

Bacardi Man said:
Hey,
is it possible to import sms/text-messages from my old nokia phone to the Touch HD? I've managed to import the contacts from the old phone to outlook, but can't find a way to do the same with the text messages.
I would be greatful for any help!
Regards,
Bacardi Man
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, let me think about it:
you may be able to send your text messages from the nokia phone vie bluetooth to your HD (if your Nokia supports sending more messages than one at a time, that would be the easyest way )
every phone and it software stores text messages in a different format and way. so normaly, its not possible to load those on another phone. some programs can store and save those messages as text files. but on the other hand, you would not be able to get those text files on your HD stored as real sms again. so the best thing would be bluetooth. just send those messages over and ypur HD will get them and know that its an sms (did the same with my contacts, just sended them via bluetooth )

My colleague says NCC can in fact export to csv format. From that format it should be possible to import into WinMobile. If only I would remember if this WM5 software HTC SMSBackup in this old post of mine http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=1053322&postcount=2 can import csv? If you wanna give it a try, install for WinMobile 6.x as a cab is different now:
1. Change the ".zip" extension to ".rar"
2. extract 00CAB300.001
3. rename to "00CAB300.001.exe"
4. copy to phone and use

simple answer: use pimbackup - i moved everything from my trinity. you can find it by searching on XDA, it is simply perfect.

pzucchel said:
simple answer: use pimbackup - i moved everything from my trinity. you can find it by searching on XDA, it is simply perfect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it also work for SE devices such as the W800i?

Monsieur zucchel, the topic here is syncing Nokia to WinMobile No simple answer yet

Lucas0511 said:
Monsieur zucchel, the topic here is syncing Nokia to WinMobile No simple answer yet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Lucas, my apologies. i thought it was a windows mobile device....

Bienvenue, PIMBackup is indeed a fine WinMobile solution.

But is there also a solution to port contacts from sony Ericcson devices to the HD?
Asking that cos I own a W800i.

Well, one nice feature of SE phones is the capability to copy all phone contacts to SIM card. Then you put the SIM in your other phone, and voila. Just a quick fix, a better way would be to export contacts to a export data file like .csv, and then import that one into WinMobile with the free PIMBackup http://www.dotfred.net/ Give the free http://www.fjsoft.at/en/ MyPhoneExplorer a try, it was always my favourite SE contacts and SMS sync software.

Really good news as I am already using MyPhoneExplorer.
Will give it a try on monday when the HD should arrive.
The problem with the SIM Card is that there is only a storage capacitiy for 150 numbers (not even contacts) so this option wont work for me.

The option of using bluetooth sounds really interesting. But how can I send a sms via Bluetooth. In the options menue of the messages menue there is no possibility to do that, altough both phones support bluetooth.

Since I still can't find an option to send my sms via bluetooth from one phone to the other, I tried exporting them into .csv format, which worked fine.
Now I have the problem that both, your program Lucas, and PPCPIMBackup don't recognize this format.
Any suggestions?

Studied the PIMBackup since I dont use it. Its backups are stored in a .pib file, which actually is just a .zip file which you can decompress. It will reveal a number of .csv files, for the different types of data in your Touch HD. I would then assume that you can copy the contacts from your Nokia .csv file into the PIMBackup .csv with contacts, using Excel which can read and write .csv. Do the same for SMS. Unfortunately not a one-click solution, but transfering PIM data over operating systems is still a pain - when it comes to SMS. Contacts of course can be transfered via Outlook, or a online account which both of your devices can access.
If you like to explore further, I think Jeyo Mobile Extender was a software that allowed you to put all your SMS into Outlook as messages, from where you could copy them. But I never got it to run fully under Outlook 2007, and development has stopped.
Good luck!

@lucas:
Your solution would be great, but in fact the pib-file does not contain many csv-files, instead it contains one single pbm-file, which can't be decompressed.

Well then, I am close to giving up . Did you use a .pib file that you filled with some life, i.e. at least one item (contact, sms) for each PIM menu item on your WinMobile device? An empty .pib file out of the box would certainly contain no csv's. If there is still only a pbm file after decompress then the PIMBackup programmer has not updated his manual.
Other than that, maybe someone else would like to step in... Time for a Bacardi I'd say...

Backup

Since Microsoft has shut down my phone and I want to hard reset my phone because all the thumbnails in my Internet tab is gone. And even I can not find any answer here I want to know how do I backup my contacts,text messages and calendar appointments.. I want to backup my contacts with picture too is possible...

You can use spb backup or pim backup as a free alternative.
Sent from my HTC HD2

SPB is good for mail,sms,mms & ok for contacts (contact photos & ringtones can be a issue).
To get contact photos backed up I would recommend using iMobile contacts backup (backs up all images & individual contact ringtones perfectly & also handles unicode so my contacts in Thai & Chinese characters are displayed correctly.
Pimbackup will not do all you need but the 2 above will, used SPB over 5yrs & iMobile for about 2yrs, we set up our company staffs WM phone base details with it.

[Q] How to Backup and Restore SMS and MMS

Now that myPhone has closed, is there a way to backup and restore my SMS and MMS messages? SkyDrive is no help at all. I have all other data and my email safely backed up.
I have found an application called 'PPCPIMBackup' which was designed for WM5. Does anyone have any experience with this? I also have Sprite Backup and the backup utility in SKTools. I have a licence for SPB Backup.
My messages are critically important to me and the threaded version on my HD2 is extremely helpful. If I can't restore them after a reset, I'm in trouble. Unfortunately, that's just what I need to do. I can't afford to make a mess of this and so I haven't experimented with what I have yet.
Any help will be appreciated. If anyone has backed up their SMS, reset their HD2 and restored their messages successfully, I like to hear from them before I go further. I have read what I have found here but have found no mention of a successful outcome.
I have only had my HD2 for just over a year and Microsoft and HTC seem to be determined to turn it into a brick. If anyone is looking at Phone 7 devices I'd say 'beware'. Will Microsoft drop support for your phone?

I can recommend pimbackup. I use it after flashing ROM's. Works fine.
Edit: I have only used it on SMS msg's. No MMS experience.

I used spb backup and it also works fine.
Sent from my HTC HD2

Thank you for your replies.
My SMS are most important. I can live without my MMS.
Does SPB backup allow restoration of SMS alone after a full reset?

yes i think it does. sorry it's over 1 year now that i used wm on my hd2. but you can just make a backup and go to the restore menu before you reset your device. then you can see and be sure that you can restore only your messages.
but as far as i remember this is possible. i think you even can chose only to backup messages and not everything.

SPB will backup all sms mms 100% perfectly using the mail backup function.
This backs up email too & can not be sellected individually.
Have used SPB for over 5 years & have not lost any messages or PIM in that time.
Free PimBackup app is not that good, no MMS support & only inbox sms is stored (outbox is not, would make threaded sms a bit one sided)
If ultra important I would use both SPB & Sprite for backup.
Another good software for sms & contact backup is iMobile sms-contact backup (has PC app viewers which can be handy & supports unicode characters correctly)

Thank you all. I'm going to make backups with everything suggested.
Your comments have cheered me now that I know I stand a good chance of success. I thought I was stuck after the demise of myPhone.
I would press the 'thanks' button if only I could find it.

You can use any one of these to backup and restore your SMS: -
1. PPC PIM Backup
2. iMobile Backup Suite
3. SK Tools
4. SPB Backup
5. 91 PC Suite for WM
I use PPC PIM Backup regularly and have used it to restore my SMS & Contacts without any problems.
iMobile Backup Suite too is very reliable and simple to use. It gives you "export to text" option too.
91 PC Suite for WM has export to CSV/XML options which too are easy to use for backup/restore.