Database Users

BACKING UP CONTACTS

Is there any better way to backup contacts list rather then Microsoft Outlook?
I've seen a lot of different softwares around.
I just want some advice of an application that runs ok on 9100 and keeps my contacts safe.
By the way, the worst thing about using windows is that you KNOW that some day it will crash and you will have to format the device. It's dismissable.

I agree with you. I would love something that was able to export contacts to an XML file (and sms to a series of text files) just so I didn't have to pretty much relie on having access to a windows box.

Enjoy!!........... http://www.jeyo.com/companion.asp

As has been mentioned before, in the root directory of My Device there is a file named pim.vol. With Calendar/Contacts/Tasks not running copy this file to another location such as your storage card (don't move it!). Voila! There's your backup. No muss, no fuss.
Good luck!

Tref said:
As has been mentioned before, in the root directory of My Device there is a file named pim.vol. With Calendar/Contacts/Tasks not running copy this file to another location such as your storage card (don't move it!). Voila! There's your backup. No muss, no fuss.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was wondering how to back up my contacts too. Thanks for the info!

You're welcome, I was just passing on what I also learned here.
Another thing I do is to use outlook to save an exported copy of my contacts as a .pst file on my PC. I don't sync my pda with my PC but I do periodically allow a sync to take place during which I set up the connection to "replace what is on the PC with what is on the device". After doing so I export the contacts to the pst file, somewhere on my PC and then delete all contacts in Outlook (it's not my primary email app). By deleting them I don't have to worry about hackers getting into them, and I'm then prepared for the next time I want to sync them for the purpose of backing them up.
Then I save copies of both the pim.vol and .pst files to a storage card that I keep locked up.

So i just need to save the pim.vol . And if something happens and i need to format my device i only need to put the replace pim.vol and all my contacts tasks and calendar will be restored, its correct
thanks

i use Shozu ( www.shozu.com ) lets me upload my photos right to Flickr, and as a bonus backs up my contacts. woo hoo

shozu looks good, however the wizard doesn appear in the list of compatible phones? What is the way round this?

How do you use the PIM file as a backup? I recently hard reset and then tried to copy the PIM file from my storage card back into the memory of the 8125 and I kept getting an error message that stated that either the file was in use or memory was not sufficient.
any thoughts?

u can use this contacts backup tool from buzzdev.net

Hammered said:
How do you use the PIM file as a backup? I recently hard reset and then tried to copy the PIM file from my storage card back into the memory of the 8125 and I kept getting an error message that stated that either the file was in use or memory was not sufficient.
any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rename the pim.vol to pim.vo and copy and paste backed up pim.vol - it works :wink:

meschle said:
Rename the pim.vol to pim.vo and copy and paste backed up pim.vol - it works :wink:
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Click to collapse
Sir, Where do I find pim.vol, I don't understand how to go in root please help me.

save contacts onto sd card? how

hi people,
is there a way to save the contacts onto a sd card?

Tell us why you want to do that, probably we can get you a definate answer.
You can save contacts by means of backing up your phone, whch can be done with various software which can make an exe into your SD card. This exe can then be used to restore your phone (and contact)
Try Spb Backup, Sprite Backup
If you are trying to... ok, just tell us why you want to do that. I can go on and on and one.
In general, you can't store your contacts on your SD just like that.

at now my computer doesn't work and i am sitting in a internet cafe, so i can't sync my contacts with my PC. The other problem is, that i will send my prophet in the next days to repair the speaker in it.
have you got an idea how to seve the contacts??

Get Activesync and download SPB Backup and install on this internet cafe. Use SPB Backup to backup your stuff into your SD card, it ought to backup your contacts as well. Keep the SD card. Once you got your phone back, just execute the EXE file by SPB Backup, it will restore everything of your phone including theme, programs, settings, contacts, calendars.. etc.

You can also use the tool I'm gonna post below
It saves all your contacts to one file on your SD-Card.
Havn't tried to restore a backup file though..
BTW The file came from some PDAmobiz package.

hanmin the owner of the internetcafe doesnt allow me to install activesync or anything else.
mccune thank you very much. i'll give a try. thx again.

Don't bother with all that, I had the same problem in that I had to return my phone.
levenum, offered me the solution
"As for backing up contacts, there is a simple and painless way that doesn't require any installation.
In the built in file explorer select "show all files" option. Then in the root of the device you will see a file named 'pim.vol'. Just copy that to your SD."
If the phone says it can not copy as part of the file is locked, rename it first and then copy it, I don't why you can rename but not copy if it is locked, but it works.
When you transfer it back onto the phone it might not let you overwrite the original saying it is locked again. Just rename and then copy your file to the phone, you will need to soft reboot for the contacts to show.

serhataga said:
hanmin the owner of the internetcafe doesnt allow me to install activesync or anything else.
mccune thank you very much. i'll give a try. thx again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HAve you got a pendrive with BT? put it on the internet cafe and try to do everything with BT. Not! find a friend with Internet and download Jeyo Mobile, you can make with this tool a backup of your contacts to your sim or from your sim to your device.

the software that mccune has posted works fine. also the hint of NewSPV is great. ofcourse you can save your contacts to SIM but than you have by one contact if it has more than one number or adress more entries on the SIM of that person instead of one outlook contact.
thank you all for your replies.
problem's solved now

I must apologise, I thought that the software from mccune was the terrible one I had that demanded net framework 2.
I have just tried it and it is great. I have had a problem from day one with Outlook and Activesync, in that they would not sync and I kept getting 'Synchronzation Error'.
I just ran this bit of software, and it somehow just fixed my 'Synchronzation Error', all contacts loaded to Outlook.
Thanks

Since the file - pim.vol stores the Contacts database which is located at the Root Directory.. Copy it and Save it on your Storage Card using the BUILT IN FILE EXPLORER ( won't work on third party File Explorers like Resco and Total Commander etc.. )
Now you got a backup of your Contacts on your Storage Card, or for security purposes, you may copy them and save it on your PC..
To restore..
Just rename the current pim.vol on the device to any file name ( ex. pim.vol1 or pim.volx ) then copy the pim.vol you have just save to your Storage Card using again the BUILT IN FILE EXPLORER
Reboot device and it is restored. See no ActiveSync involved? :lol:
Goodluck.. and just to make sure, try this before sending your Prophet for repair but i am pretty sure it would work.

Pim
Since the file - pim.vol stores the Contacts database which is located at the Root Directory.. Copy it and Save it on your Storage Card using the BUILT IN FILE EXPLORER ( won't work on third party File Explorers like Resco and Total Commander etc.. )
Now you got a backup of your Contacts on your Storage Card, or for security purposes, you may copy them and save it on your PC..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was wondering if anyone was going to mention that. I do this every so often with my Wizard, works great no extra software needed.

NewSPV said:
In the built in file explorer select "show all files" option. Then in the root of the device you will see a file named 'pim.vol'. Just copy that to your SD."
If the phone says it can not copy as part of the file is locked, rename it first and then copy it, I don't why you can rename but not copy if it is locked, but it works.
When you transfer it back onto the phone it might not let you overwrite the original saying it is locked again. Just rename and then copy your file to the phone, you will need to soft reboot for the contacts to show.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This worked for me, but I have heard that it is not a reliable way to backup if you are going to reflash the device in between backing up and restoring. Can anyone confirm this? I hard reset to get back a blank phone, and then restored this file, and it worked, but I think I need to use a real backup method before reflashing the phone with a newer WM, since pim.vol might be an unrecognized format to the new WM.

I managed to backup the pim file then put it back into another device got the contacts on it cool. I renamed the original to pin but cannot delete it how can I delete it.

I'm sorry but the software that mccune posted doesn't run the setup on my windows! Can anyone help here!

the file works on windows mobile platform. it is not meant for windows.

Start Menu - now I've done something stupid!

It was bound to happen... I did something stupid today. I deleted the "Settings" item from \Windows\Start Menu\.
Can someone tell me the easiest way to re-create it?
I'm hoping not to restore from my most recent backup as I've made quite a few changes since then I'd rather not have to re-do. Thanks.

In my TyTN its only an empty folder called "Settings". But it's in ROM (can't be deleted) so I don't know how did you delete it?

I just clicked on it in File Explorer and hit delete! Don't know what I was thinking...
Anyway, I ended up doing a backup just now. Then I did a hard reset and copied the file to my Storage Card. Restored my most recent backup and copied the file from Storage to the proper place. Seem to be back in business.
I would think such a file would be in ROM too...

Try using a proper file explorer like GSFinder, go into start menu and make empty folder called Settings
V

Backing up contacts with "pim.vol" file

Hi.
I've got an i-mate JASJAM and stupidly managed to delete all of my contacts while upgrading to WM6. Having realised I could one day be this foolish I backed my contacts up about a year ago by copying the "pim.vol" file which I'd read somewhere is this phone's contact list.
Unfortunately I can't seem to copy this file from my computer back onto my phone as it won't let me replace my current pim.vol file as it say's there is a sharing violation. I've tried renaming the files etc, so my old contact list might be recognised but it doesn't seem to work.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Matt
Australia.

mattward74 said:
Hi.
I've got an i-mate JASJAM and stupidly managed to delete all of my contacts while upgrading to WM6. Having realised I could one day be this foolish I backed my contacts up about a year ago by copying the "pim.vol" file which I'd read somewhere is this phone's contact list.
Unfortunately I can't seem to copy this file from my computer back onto my phone as it won't let me replace my current pim.vol file as it say's there is a sharing violation. I've tried renaming the files etc, so my old contact list might be recognised but it doesn't seem to work.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Matt
Australia.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try to delete poutlook.lnk from the windows\startup folder
softreset
connect pda to your pc
rename pim.vol to pim2.vol
restore your pim.vol
immediately perform a soft reset

egoist6 said:
try to delete poutlook.lnk from the windows\startup folder
softreset
connect pda to your pc
rename pim.vol to pim2.vol
restore your pim.vol
immediately perform a soft reset
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This worked! Thanks!

Thanks alot m8!! you saved my life, this is usefull help!
Regards,
Newbie, but learning

I'm sorry interrupt, but I had and still have a problem with pim.vol. I accidentally deleted those contacts from happiness, I saved the pim to card, and now when I want to put back the original pim.vol every time the WM is creating a new empty pim.vol. I tried the version that gave success to Axelman8 but I would like to ask if you could help me with some suggestions.
P.S.: I have a HTC Tytan II with WM 6.1
I'm sorry for the language I use the Google translate, hope You understand me.
Regards

restoring old pim.vol?

Hi all,
I need to replace the pim.vol file on my Blackstone with an older copy. I tried a simple copy and rename procedure, but after rebooting my device, cprog.exe crashes and the device remains frozen until I change back to the original pim.vol ( via PC using Activesync).
Any ideas how I can replace my pim.vol without my phone freaking out?
Thanks in advance...

Bumping for the first and last time only... anyone?

danrop said:
Hi all,
I need to replace the pim.vol file on my Blackstone with an older copy. I tried a simple copy and rename procedure, but after rebooting my device, cprog.exe crashes and the device remains frozen until I change back to the original pim.vol ( via PC using Activesync).
Any ideas how I can replace my pim.vol without my phone freaking out?
Thanks in advance...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just simply replacing a file may not work due to which rom it came from. The replace new files with an older version may not be compatible and may also affect registry enties. Always better to use 3rd party apps for backup.
How did you originally backup your PIM data. Did you just copy a file over or did you use 3rd party apps like SPB Backup, Sprite etc?

Thanks for the reply, Fallen... the PIM file is from the same ROM as the one I'm trying to replace for (1.19 that ships with handsets with Orange UK).
I understand what you're saying about using back up software; in fact I had used PIMbackup, but I had stored the backup file generated by this program on the SD card on my phone only, and unfortunately my phone got lost/stolen - a possibility I hadn't taken into account. I've got a replacement handset now.
The pim.vol file I'm trying to replace with was simply copied from my phone's main folder to my PC a long time ago. Although I can view the pim.vol file as a text file and extract contact names and phone numbers amidst the rest of the ASCII junk in there, I was hoping there might be a way to replace it.
Could I get access to the phone internal storage memory without booting up the phone into Windows somehow and then replace the pim.vol file?

Rename the \pim.vol file, to something like pim2.vol, then copy your old replacement into the root of the device.

l3v5y said:
Rename the \pim.vol file, to something like pim2.vol, then copy your old replacement into the root of the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't mean to be rude, but if you read my original post, you'll know that I've tried that and it didn't work for me, hence this post.