Database Users

Moving 'My Documents' to Storage after BS mod

Happy New year to all
I've been following with this site for quite sometime until i decide to switch from HP 6365 to o2 Mini/Magician.
I've successfully mod my Mini to BS with TMob 1.13 rom & 1.13 Radio. I'm just wondering if there's any possibilities to hack the default My Documents which resides in RAM to Storage. After all I still have 17MB free Storage after BS even having all my apps install in it.
I've tried few apps with registry editor but can't find anything that relates to My Documents location. What i mean is like Windows XP where you can change the default My Doc's from \Doc..& Settings..\User...etc to the folder that you want . eg: D:\My Documents
This will actually save a little time to backup the My Documents contents in the event you get a corrupted or format your C:\ in Windows Xp or Hard Reset in the case of PPC. Simply do a restore & I have the last state that i wanted or backup.
My intention is to configure my PPC with alll the customize apps, settings & etc and do a backup. In the event i need to do a Hard Reset, i'll just need to restore my OS from backup without the needs to backup or lose anything especially the My Documents. Like i said, restore & i have the last state of OS & cofig of the last state that i wanted to.
Been searching this forum but the search functions doesn't find me any results that relate to this. Anyone have such a wild idea?
Here's my apps in storage.
SPB Pocket Plus 3
Sprite Backup 3
PocketX Photo Contact Pro 4
Cab Installer
Vcard Receiver
Flexwallet 2006
Resco Explorer
Sk Tools
Tweaks2K
Ampda Camera

kanryu said:
I'm just wondering if there's any possibilities to hack the default My Documents which resides in RAM to Storage. After all I still have 17MB free Storage after BS even having all my apps install in it.
[...]
My intention is to configure my PPC with alll the customize apps, settings & etc and do a backup. In the event i need to do a Hard Reset, i'll just need to restore my OS from backup without the needs to backup or lose anything especially the My Documents. Like i said, restore & i have the last state of OS & cofig of the last state that i wanted to.
Been searching this forum but the search functions doesn't find me any results that relate to this. Anyone have such a wild idea?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wild Idea: Leave your "My Documents" folder where it is. Use Sprite Backup to do regular (scheduled, automatically running) backups of your device and save this backup to storage as an compressed exe. That way, after a hard reset you only have to launch File Explorer, start the backup file, restore, reset, takes less than 2 minutes. Depending on how many programs are stored in RAM (non-BS) and how many/how large documents are on your device it should work flawlessly.

Thanks for the info & kind attentions. I do practice a good backup.
I'm just looking at the hack/mod as a "bonus" if it is possible.
Cheers!

kanryu: since you suggested it, try to test this out.
I suggest you do this before installing any other app, because My Documents is a system setting used in many installations and they may get confused.
HKLM > Explorer > Shell Folders > My Documents
The storage card isn't always available at boot up, so again, it might cause problems. Storage might be a better idea then storage card. But this can already be configured in the options menu in Notes, at least.
V

Perhaps you can move all of the stuff to the storage ( not the card) and then put a shortcut from main memory to the storage card directory?

with some registry modifications as well. Some software only default the storage of data to \My Documents folder so merely moving everything to Storage and creating a shortcut won't do.

O2mini_noob: which registry mods did you use?
Have you guys tried the registry keys above?
V

I have tried this hack long time ago, wishing I counld change BT dir, but it did not work.. Storage Card & Storage, both failed...
Code:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Explorer\Shell Folders]
"Templates"="\\Storage\\My Documents\\Templates"
"Windows"="\\Windows"
"StartUp"="\\Windows\\StartUp"
"Recent"="\\Windows\\Recent"
"Programs"="\\Windows\\Programs"
"Program Files"="\\Program Files"
"My Documents"="\\My Documents"
"Fonts"="\\Windows\\Fonts"
"Favorites"="\\Windows\\Favorites"
"Desktop"="\\Windows\\Desktop"
"Application Data"="\\Application Data"
as you can see.. only templates works ( since it's not related to the OS it self )... I tried changing Fonts dir as well, did not work either
I guess this has to do with the OS it self... so it is impossible to change it..

sorry Vijay, I was merely adding to stevedebi's quote of moving the entire \My Documents to storage. Obviously you have to do some registry changes to make it happen but wouldn't be as easy as that.

To OP.
I *think* I have a similar problem to you.
Basically I want to sync my files to/from my PC/PDA but the ram on my blueangel is way to small where as my 1 gig SD ram has vastly more than I need.
Now, i have managed to relocate my Sync briefcase on the PC to d:\briefcase. All well and good, this now trys to sync to the Pda's volatile ram way to much data .... so, im half way there.
Now, how can I tell the sync software or PDA's OS to sync to a folder on the SD RAM card?
I know I can put the SDcard into my PC but this is not what I want to achieve, i want it to be seemless and done in the craddle much like contacts etc are done.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance!

vijay555 said:
kanryu: since you suggested it, try to test this out.
I suggest you do this before installing any other app, because My Documents is a system setting used in many installations and they may get confused.
HKLM > Explorer > Shell Folders > My Documents
The storage card isn't always available at boot up, so again, it might cause problems. Storage might be a better idea then storage card. But this can already be configured in the options menu in Notes, at least.
V
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried this before. Everything under this tree has been rename to \storage\my documents But after a soft reset, some of the key will revert back to default. ???
Seems like only those template folder are moveable. I'm started to suspect \My Documents are not fully handled by registry.
I'm wondering how clean the system can be if you need a 3rd party software to edit the registry such as Resco, PHM & etc. I know it's best to do it with a clean system but.... unless there's a way to edit the registry out of the PPC, or there's a standalone executeable software, which I have yet to found.
I'll see what can be figured out next. Hopefully this idea is not a 'fat hope' :?

Don't you guys try to create another "My Documents" folder in the BS and link to it a shortcut (from today)?
I have put to c-launch a link to /storage card/my documents and all is well!!!

How to restore apps/ActiveSync/etc. after ROM upgrade?

I can't seem to figure out how people restore their apps, data, ActiveSync, etc. after updating their ROMs. It seems like people on this site replace their ROMs a few times a year at least, and with all the cleverness required to follow all the ROM issues, surely you can't all be manually re-installing every single app every time, etc. Are there some tools I don't know about that are useful for backing up/restoring files before/after ROM burn? Every backup program I see says you must not use it to restore after ROM update (which I understand, since you don't want to restore old versions of many key files). But surely someone could create a backup/restore app which knows which things should NOT be restored.
Thanks!

I do rom upgrades quite frequently, now I can have my device back with my settings and programs installed in around 10 minutes, here's what I did:
1)Install registry workshop on your desktop computer, this program allows you to remotely browse / export the registry on the PocketPC and compare current regitry settings on PocketPC with a previously dumped registry file.
2) Install RegDiff on your desktop computer, it allows you to generate .reg files out of two exported registry dumps done by registry workshop.
3) Spend a few hours going setting-by-setting and exporting the registry after changing each setting, compare and generate .reg file for that. Keep in mind that sometimes you need to power off the device for a while or soft reset for the registry setting to be permanently stored.
4) Once you have all the .reg files for your settings combine them in a single .reg file
5) Use WinCE Cab Manager to combine the cabs of all the programs you install, set the registry settings, and put shorcuts to all applications into the right places. This is the most "time consuming" part of the process.
Finally I end up with 2 big cab files:
- First one is around 9Mb which I install on pocketpc memory, this includes all today screen plugins, plus Net CF 2.1 and some registry settings (mostly WM5 settings and preferences from the today plugins)
- Second one is around 25Mb which i install on storage card, this includes all the other 3rd party apps I like and registry settings for those apps.
What I do after hard reset or rom upgrade: Install the two cab files, setup mail accounts and mms manually and use directpush to sync all my contacts and calendar items again.
The process of exporting all the registry settings is a PITA, but it is worth spending the time if you're going to switch roms frequently.

Look for an app called Sprite Backup.

pkx said:
Look for an app called Sprite Backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, Sprite is the easiest. Be warned, however, that it isn't able to restore PIM databases over the AKU3 upgrade. See my Backup Bible, where I;ve explained this all.

Wow, thanks. That's a lot of work to get things set up! Clearly worth it if you can re-install everything in 10 minutes, though.
I started to investigate your recommendations, installed Cab Manager, and see how you use that.
How do you get the cabs if the install isn't directly via cab? In other words, if the install is initiated via ActiveSync, then are the necessary cabs always found under the Program Files\ActiveSync directory?
As for Sprite Backup, it looks great, and maybe that would be enough for me for now. I wasn't clear (I did search through and skim the Backup Bible and the WM5 backup software comparisons but couldn't find exactly where it talked about the issue regarding AKU3) is the PIM issue a known bug? Or some limitation/problem related to new security or something?
Quincy

quinxy said:
How do you get the cabs if the install isn't directly via cab? In other words, if the install is initiated via ActiveSync, then are the necessary cabs always found under the Program Files\ActiveSync directory?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it's installed via activesync you can find them there, but generally what I do is extract the cab files from the exe using orange in Linux, don't know if there's a windows equivalent.

pof,
Don't know if you ever ActiveSync since you use Linux, but is there a way to NOT break your ActiveSync by upgrading your ROM? I thought I tried once, years ago, to set the device name back to the original name and ActiveSync still didn't recognize it as the old partnership.
quincy

quinxy said:
pof,
Don't know if you ever ActiveSync since you use Linux, but is there a way to NOT break your ActiveSync by upgrading your ROM? I thought I tried once, years ago, to set the device name back to the original name and ActiveSync still didn't recognize it as the old partnership.
quincy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it doesn't recognize it, just delete the old partnership and recreate / reconfigure it . It's just some seconds.

registry settings list

Is there a complete list of what reg settings are?
We need to set various default settings when users start our app.
eg volume, display brightness, gprs always etc etc.
any help appreciated .
cheers
stevew

doubt there is a compleat list
as ms are free to add and remove
regs with each version of wm
also there are many many many regs
most of which users and developers for that
matter should and have no reason to change
easy way would be to make the list of the things
you need changing and find the regs (if any exist)
and make your own of cause i could be wrong (but me being wrong i'm afraid is the harbringer of great challanges for mankind )

Simple.
1. Use a backup software to backup your current status of your phone.
2. Do a hard reset.
3. Use some registry copy software to copy all registries out onto your SD. This Registries will be your reference or default.
4. Every install of a new software registries changes. Copy the registries out again and you can make a comparison with text editors.
5. After going through all your installs, you will get all your different registries (default after reset, default of each apps install, etc).
6. After which you can do another hard reset and restore your backup. And you can also copy the registries for analysis.

HTC ROM UPGRADE - Missing contacts & apps

hmmm I installed the EU Rom upgrade, having removed storage card amd take a copy of PIM.VOL. Upgrade completed, I can see apps on my storage card but my phone can't see them in the list of programmes, so I can't add them to programme font page or start menu... My phone also doesn't seem to see the pim.vol so I can't reload all my contacts (no they weren't all on my pc - I can sync with that fine but not all my contacts were on pc)
CAN ANYONE HELP PLEASE - I can't be the first - or last - with this..!?
thankyou
Mark

Try TotalCommander to copy the file + backup your contacts with PIMBackup2.8 in future. As for the apps, you need to re-install them, so you can safely delete the apps on the storage card saved under Program Files

Thanks, going through various cab files etc and re-installing, TomTom next! Copying pim.vol hasn't worked, I have some Mob no's on my sim and can see them but bizarrely when I try to add to favourite contacts, all I see are a few email addresses, not the (few) mob no's I have on the phone. Looks like I will have to re-source these , what a chore... I though that copying the pim.vol would save me this task (am sure I read it in these august forums!)
all the best, Mark
ps any other tips on how to fully restore what contacts I have, so I can add them again to favourite contacts, are appreciated.

You may want to look into Sprite Backup. It's very nice for restoring system state after moving to a new rom. After flashing a new rom I have all applications / contacts / emails / texts / etc back on my phone within 10 minutes. I don't have to install anything. It's quite nice, especially with all the flashing and testing I do.

[IDEA][DEV NEEDED] Simple app to back up contacts in TF3D 2.1/2.5 ROMS.

I was playing around earlier today and noticed that a convenient way to backup your contacts in a ROM that has TF3D 2.1 or 2.5 is to copy your pim.vol from the root of main memory to the root of the storage card.
What I did was I copied the file to my storage card, flashed a ROM, then copied the file back to the root of main memory and then performed a soft-reset. ALL of my contacts and also my TF3D favorites were all backed up and successfully restored after I rebooted the phone.
What would I like to see? A program that performs the following 3 simple tasks:
1. Copy "pim.vol" from the root of main memory to the root of the storage card. (BACKUP)
2. Copy the "pim.vol" from the root of the storage card back to the root of main memory, overwriting the existing one. (RESTORE)
3. Soft reset after successfully completing step 2.
The program doesn't have to be pretty, just functional. It would be really nice for it to be finger friendly and to have skin support as well but that is not important.
If anyone thinks they can churn out a program like this you'd be doing a great justice to the whole community. ALOT of TF3D 2.1/2.5 users would be very grateful seeing as how current back up options(other than ActiveSync) do not work right anymore with the newer versions of TF3D.

I would also like to see something like this I know I could use 2 different programs to possibly accomplish this but I would like to see one program that backs to my storage card and works in the new versions of TFLO. I was using PimBackup but then 2.1 wouldnt work with it and then I would have to enter my favorites a Back up of both with one program would be awesome.

I can write a mortscript to do that. However, I think it might be in SASHIMI or whatever it is called.
Check it out...install once to storage card and has lots of features...even multi cab installs like UC.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=543605
dwizzy130

also backup / restore appointments, tasks, call logs......
is it possibile ?

I just think it would be nice to have a complete on-ppc backup and restore option for ROMs sporting the new manila 2.1 and or 2.5. Currently there is none.

Did you try this?
It doesn't do the entire PIM.VOL but it does restore a lot of the TF3D2 contact info including ringtones if I'm not mistaken.

If you still want a simple program which will do exactly as you wanted in the first thread, I will gladly make it.
Just please PM me and I will make it

Well, here you go.
It should do exactly as you said in the first post.
Sadly it hasn't got skin support, but it is very finger friendly (its just 3 big buttons)
Please tell me off if it goes wrong, or congratulate me if it works :3
Just a quick PM to let me know if it works would be nice.
Cris
Also, shameless plug:
check out the windows mobile app review site:
"Best Windows Mobile Apps"
Link in my signature: