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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!!!
Hey all,
I have a question.
I have been playing with my 8125 a lot lately and am constantly resetting my device. What I want to know is I have one main machine that I do all my application installs via active sync that way when I hard reset my device I just have to go to add remove programs in active sync and re-check all the programs I want to put back on my phone.
Here is what I want.
I don’t want to have to tell the phone where to install the applications (I want it to default to storage card without any prompts.) and.. I don’t want any confirmation prompts ie: security unsigned, approve this application to be installed, this application was installed properly… etc.. I want to streamline the process so I can just tick the check boxes for my apps, let them download and that’s it. Currently after refreshing I have to spend quite a bit of time clicking “ok” … storage card…. Ok… storage card… ok… I think you get it.
Thanks much!
I've seen a lot of different reg keys out there that may accomplis this. Is there a way to disable the notifications and pre-set the install path peramaters?
sledwrecker said:
I've seen a lot of different reg keys out there that may accomplis this. Is there a way to disable the notifications and pre-set the install path peramaters?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can do this with WinCE Cab manager
If you really reset your device that often why don't you use SPB BACKUP? A reinstallation of all your apps wouldn't be necessary - just load your backup and you're ready to go!
Ya I did think of that but here is my issue.
the reason I am constantly hard reseting is because I am changing and playing with roms pretty much on a daily basis. I've been cooking my own roms trying to come up with what works best for me and what is closest to RTM. Thus why I am always re-installing apps.
So if I use SPB backup (which I have) it saves system settings and such right? So if I am switching roms all the time will it break my device?
Thanks guys! I'm new to the forum here I just got my first PPC phone a couple weeks ago but I've been an avid windows mobile (smartphone) user for years and have worked on WM platforms as beta tester.
Gotta love this stuff!!!
sledwrecker said:
So if I use SPB backup (which I have) it saves system settings and such right? So if I am switching roms all the time will it break my device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you are exactly right, and so many people seem to miss this... Spb Backup, Sprite Backup, etc are full backups that backup and restore the registry and all. If you restore this from one rom to a different rom you are likely to break something (may not be obvious at first, but you have a very good chance of things being broken inside the registry that you will trip up on at some point).
So yeah, the only way around this (without building your own extended rom and such) is to create a folder (or set of folders) on your SD card with all the cabs, files, and settings that you need for when your flash a new rom. Then run through that to set things up. You can also use ActiveSync to reinstall apps (just check them all and it will put them all back on) but you have to remember which ones (if any) require a reset of your device as that can cause probs with the others that are installing (if all done together).
Yep,
but at least you can import contacts, email and pim data that way quite easy!
Since you continiously flash your device: there will be no other solution but reinstalling your applications again and again. You might want to look around for a CAB extractor and then create your own CABs with all the progs you would like to have in one large CAB ???
One such CAB Installer Creator is: WinCE CAB Manager
Take a closer look at MolskiBiz_DevPack and you will find a utility to extract CAB files. It will be a bit work to add all the registry values to the Installer you're going to create but finally you might save a lot of time since you only run 1 installation instead of xxx ...
This is good, I have been playing with wince cab and it is a solution.
Now I'm going to work on making my extended roms.. will this work? I did a full recover of my apps through active sync just an hour or two ago and it reported total size of all cabs as just over 112megs. That means I'd be flashing a MONSTER rom and would it even be possible?
2gig mini SD card.
thanks
I tried before to add some apps (cab installers) to a personalized extended rom but it never worked the way I wanted it to. You might have seen that you always have to give some inputs when ever you install programs, sometimes you get ask if you really want to install the app, sometimes you need to choose a location. So, if you add CAB installers UNCHANGED to the extended ROM it just won't install because during extended rom installation you have no way of providing that information.
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.
So i've searched the forum for how to backup my phone as i want to install the official 1.6 rom which i got from the HTC site yesterday.
Now, after reading tons of threads i must say i'm still confused. I'm surprised there is not a simple stickied guide for noobs on how to simply backup your phone, upgrade and restore.
I was good at this malarky on symbian but this is like starting over gain, i'm clueless. I know the apps SPB, Sprite & pimbackup as well as microsoft my phone are all options for backing up but i need to get this staright in my nooby nut before i start it. So...
What i want:
1). a programme that will back up my contacts and most importantly my SETTINGS, no one seems to mention backing up the settings
2). then, should i hard reset before the upgrade? hard reset after? both? not at all?
3). I'm not bothered about registry tweaks i can redo the ones i want and i've got all my cabs on my pc ready to re-install.
Sorry if i'm being thick but i want to get this right, i don't want to lose all my settings and have to go through the entire phone to make it mine again..
If the above 3 questions can be simply answered i would be eternaly grateful
The reason backup.restire isn't really mentioned much is that restoring settings after can be a little hit and miss. I hear spb backup can restore settings after a new rom, but also there are several threads where people say the phone fails to boot after the restore and they must hard reset.
The reason is that flashing a new rom is like completely wiping and reinstalling your pc operating system. Its a whole new system, so if you restore for example some registry settings, there is no guarantee that something in the new rom isn't changed from the old one.
Personally, i just re do everything manually. (Flashed a new rom not 30 minutes ago actually, and all i have left to set up is the email accounts. Takes no more than 20 minutes all in to get ot back to how i had it before)
You should hard reset after you flash a new rom. No point doing it before. Do teh flash, let it set itself up, then hard reset, let it set itself up again, start using.
You have cabs and reg tweaks saved, (as do i) so i'd say bite the bullet and do the settings manually.
Hell Jonbaker,
Appreciate you have taken some time to search which is what a lot of new users DON'T do so lets help you out here.
I suggest you do this:
Go to the SPB Mobile website, download a trial version of SPB Backup. When you run it the software backs up the following:
- PIM Data including text messages
- Email
- Documents and files
- System files and settings.
Once you have done this, ie made the backup onto a dedicated sub directory on the SD card on your device, do the following: as a further backup, make a copy of the SPB backup file and transfer it to your PC. This way if anything goes wrong you have 2 copies of this valuable file in 2 different locations.
Next upgrade your ROM from the HTC site, which seems to be your preferred option.
Once the ROM is installed and the phone boots back up ok AND you are happy that there are no problems with the ROM then do the following:
- Use file explorer to navigate to the sub directory on your SD card where you kept the original SPB backup file from before.
- Tap on the file and it will eventually load up. Note that it is a self executable file but it sometimes takes a little while to load up
- This bit is important: once the file is loaded up, walk carefully through the screens until you see the options for Full Restore or Customized Restore
- Choose Cutomized Restore. If you don't you WILL screw up your new installation
- At the next screen you will see that ALL the options are already ticked. Untick System Data . This bit is very important. Leave all other options ticked
- Walk through the rest of the screens then let the software do its thing
- Once done the device will reboot itself and all your data, PIM, emails, etc will have been restored.
Job Done.
By the way, you will have to restore your software packages manually but at least your PIM data is already restored automatically. Afraid there is no other way out if you are changing ROMS.
If you get stuck come back and we can see what we can do. If you take your time and think logically you will be fine.
Cheers
WB
PS: Whatever you do, DO NOT DELETE the SPB Backup file as you may need it again at a later date. Also get into the habit of making regular automated backups which this software allows you to do.
I backup every day, 7 days a week, for peace of mind.
WB
samsamuel said:
You have cabs and reg tweaks saved, (as do i) so i'd say bite the bullet and do the settings manually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mmmm, pain in the arse, i've had this phone a week and i've spent hours and hours learning it and getting it how i want it and now i learn of the new rom and i got to start from scratch again.
After coming from the N96 where an over the air upgrade could be done and not losing a single file or setting without backing up, this is taking a huge step back for me. However, that was the only advantage i could tell you that the n96 has over this phone!
I might try the spb backup, if it fails on my settings i can hard reset no loss yeah?
Thanks for the info again mate, very helpful member
wacky.banana said:
Hell Jonbaker,
Appreciate you have taken some time to search which is what a lot of new users DON'T do so lets help you out here.
I suggest you do this:
Go to the SPB Mobile website, download a trial version of SPB Backup. When you run it the software backs up the following:
- PIM Data including text messages
- Email
- Documents and files
- System files and settings.
Once you have done this, ie made the backup onto a dedicated sub directory on the SD card on your device, do the following: as a further backup, make a copy of the SPB backup file and transfer it to your PC. This way if anything goes wrong you have 2 copies of this valuable file in 2 different locations.
Next upgrade your ROM from the HTC site, which seems to be your preferred option.
Once the ROM is installed and the phone boots back up ok AND you are happy that there are no problems with the ROM then do the following:
- Use file explorer to navigate to the sub directory on your SD card where you kept the original SPB backup file from before.
- Tap on the file and it will eventually load up. Note that it is a self executable file but it sometimes takes a little while to load up
- This bit is important: once the file is loaded up, walk carefully through the screens until you see the options for Full Restore or Customized Restore
- Choose Cutomized Restore. If you don't you WILL screw up your new installation
- At the next screen you will see that ALL the options are already ticked. Untick System Data . This bit is very important. Leave all other options ticked
- Walk through the rest of the screens then let the software do its thing
- Once done the device will reboot itself and all your data, PIM, emails, etc will have been restored.
Job Done.
By the way, you will have to restore your software packages manually but at least your PIM data is already restored automatically. Afraid there is no other way out if you are changing ROMS.
If you get stuck come back and we can see what we can do. If you take your time and think logically you will be fine.
Cheers
WB
PS: Whatever you do, DO NOT DELETE the SPB Backup file as you may need it again at a later date. Also get into the habit of making regular automated backups which this software allows you to do.
I backup every day, 7 days a week, for peace of mind.
WB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent advice, i will try this, i appreciatte you taking the time to write all that out in detail. I shall follow the steps you gave and report back with how i got on
one last thing, at what point should i hard reset? i'm guessing straight after i'm happy the rom has been installed correctly. Then restore?
wacky.banana said:
... - This bit is important: once the file is loaded up, walk carefully through the screens until you see the options for Full Restore or Customized Restore
- Choose Cutomized Restore. If you don't you WILL screw up your new installation
- At the next screen you will see that ALL the options are already ticked. Untick System Data . This bit is very important. Leave all other options ticked
...
By the way, you will have to restore your software packages manually but at least your PIM data is already restored automatically. Afraid there is no other way out if you are changing ROMS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great post WB.
However... your statement i quoted above is not 100% correct. Its sort of dependant upon what ROM you are upgrading to and whether a system restore using SPB Backup will cause problems or not. The only way to tell is to actually try it out!
For info here... i have used SPB Backup for years. Recently though i used SPB Backup to backup my entire system,... applications, registry etc (not PIM data as i use MS Exchange to simply sync).
I then upgraded my ROM from 1.43 stock to 1.66 stock and restored using my backup file.... everything was back... all of my apps and registry tweaks were present and working with no hiccups AT ALL. The restored system was complete and included system integrated stuff like SPB Mobile Shell, S2u2 and even my manila home screen edits and tweaks.
It was then a simple matter of synching with exchange to get my contacts back.
When you run the restore on your newly flashed device... definately do a custom restore and if you are doing system data also, SPB Backup should prompt you with the fact that it has recognised your ROM has changed. You should then run the restore in ROM upgrade mode.
hmmm, system data.. would that mean registry tweaks and installed apps? does that also include settings or is that covered else where in the restore?
jonbaker76 said:
hmmm, system data.. would that mean registry tweaks and installed apps? does that also include settings or is that covered else where in the restore?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
system data is indeed ALL of your apps and registry tweaks.
WB's post will only backup and restore your PIM data.
What i am saying is that you can indeed backup and restore EVERYTHING!
If i were you i would do two backups... one for just your PIM data,... and the other one for PIM AND system data.
Then when you do a full restore with ALL of your apps, settings, registry tweaks (system data) and get any issues... at least you have your PIM data backed up seperately.
@ Audio Oblivion,
I know where you are coming from; however I wanted to ensure that the OP had a 100% safe route back to a new working system hence me posting the intructions the way I did.
No offence to the OP but I gather at the moment that the simpler things are for him the better the end result!
To the OP, take my route (honest, I'm not precious about it) and you will be fine.
WB
ok cool, i have 2 last questions:
1). where do i install spb, i take it on the storage card as it would get removed from the phone memory.
2). What backup setting takes care of the actual phone SETTINGS is that in PIM or system data?
oh and this: one last thing, at what point should i hard reset? i'm guessing straight after i'm happy the rom has been installed correctly. Then restore?
wacky.banana said:
@ Audio Oblivion,
I know where you are coming from; however I wanted to ensure that the OP had a 100% safe route back to a new working system hence me posting the intructions the way I did.
No offence to the OP but I gather at the moment that the simpler things are for him the better the end result!
To the OP, take my route (honest, I'm not precious about it) and you will be fine.
WB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep... im sure he appreciates it and you are 100% correct your method is safe.
Im just expanding his horizons a little ...
I've flashed about 20 times, and each time SPB restored reliably. Worst case scenario if it doesn't work: reinstall everything by hand. Shouldn't take too long.
Suggestion: keep a folder on your SD card of all cabs you'd want reinstalled. Handy regardless of outcome.
ok cool, i have 3 last questions:
1). where do i install spb, i take it on the storage card as it would get removed from the phone memory.
2). What backup setting takes care of the actual phone SETTINGS is that in PIM or system data?
3). At what point should i hard reset? i'm guessing straight after i'm happy the rom has been installed correctly. Then restore?
I'm ready to roll, just need to know the above , many thanks
UncleBeer said:
I've flashed about 20 times, and each time SPB restored reliably. Worst case scenario if it doesn't work: reinstall everything by hand. Shouldn't take too long.
Suggestion: keep a folder on your SD card of all cabs you'd want reinstalled. Handy regardless of outcome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3 rules for anyone with a winmo device:
1. Keep a folder with all of your cabs, reg entries, tweak files etc on your sd card.
2. Backup PIM data (i use MS exchange.. you can use PIM Backup, SPB Backup... whatever...)
3. When you have all of your core apps installed and the phone is completely setup... Do a system data backup (i use SPB Backup).
You can now wipe your device and restore completely within minutes at any given time.
jonbaker76 said:
ok cool, i have 3 last questions:
1). where do i install spb, i take it on the storage card as it would get removed from the phone memory.
2). What backup setting takes care of the actual phone SETTINGS is that in PIM or system data?
3). At what point should i hard reset? i'm guessing straight after i'm happy the rom has been installed correctly. Then restore?
I'm ready to roll, just need to know the above , many thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) card. Pretty sure you don't have a choice.
2) as I said, I do a complete backup and a complete restore, so in my case, the question is moot.
3) right after the new ROM boots completely.
jonbaker76 said:
ok cool, i have 3 last questions:
1). where do i install spb, i take it on the storage card as it would get removed from the phone memory.
2). What backup setting takes care of the actual phone SETTINGS is that in PIM or system data?
3). At what point should i hard reset? i'm guessing straight after i'm happy the rom has been installed correctly. Then restore?
I'm ready to roll, just need to know the above , many thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Install SPB Backup wherever you like... i install all of my apps on SD unless there is a specific reason to install them on device memory (functionality issues etc). The Backup file that SPB creates is a self extracting exe file so you dont need to actually install SPB backup to run it.
2. Depends exactly which settings you are referring to but if you want what i think then the answer is system data.
3. After the rom has installed correctly and you have run through the initial device setup. Hard reset the device and run through device setup once more.
Just to clarify here:
PIM data is contacts, emails, texts and their associated accounts.
System data is EVERYTHING ELSE!
Just thought i might mention in this backup thread that there are certain apps that dont need re-installing on fresh device builds (after rom flash or wipe) if they have already been installed to removal media such as SD cards.
SPB Backup is one of them, Tom Tom is another... there are loads actually... most of my apps dont need re-installing.
The basic rule is... if you can install it to your SD card.... after a rom flash/wipe try to run it straight from the program files folder on your sd card without running the install first. If it works... simply copy a shortcut for it into the windows start menu.
Yeah the settings i'm referring to Audio Oblivion are like ringtones, backlight options etc, so that is system data.
I'm good to go now, big thanks to all that have helped me in this thread
I'm sure other WM noobs will find this thread useful if found
Let us know how you get on. Think logically and DON'T panic.
Worse comes to the worse you can always repeat your steps provided you keep hold of that SPB Backup file like your life depended on it.
WB
Hello,
I am currently using an xda touch diamond that I have been configuring and
maintaining etc. with much devotion over the last ~two years... For that reason, I understandably fear flashing. However, I am running into the hardly-any-space-on-internal-storage-left-problem, and subsequently have been heavily searching for solutions that might enable the deletion of individual rom-files. I think I read twenty times, no, it's not possible. So my question is: Would it be possible to clone the complete device without any data/config loss whatsoever into a file (simililar to what sprite backup does), and in advance of flashing/whatever you will call the complete restore process actually DELETE certain files that used to be undeletable on the device itself.
Thanks for answering this....
Matthias
me1235 said:
Hello,
I am currently using an xda touch diamond that I have been configuring and
maintaining etc. with much devotion over the last ~two years... For that reason, I understandably fear flashing. However, I am running into the hardly-any-space-on-internal-storage-left-problem, and subsequently have been heavily searching for solutions that might enable the deletion of individual rom-files. I think I read twenty times, no, it's not possible. So my question is: Would it be possible to clone the complete device without any data/config loss whatsoever into a file (simililar to what sprite backup does), and in advance of flashing/whatever you will call the complete restore process actually DELETE certain files that used to be undeletable on the device itself.
Thanks for answering this....
Matthias
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You yourself are describing a 'playful' method of building a new ROM!
This is what ROM cooks do when a ROM is made. They remove or edit - files or folders that are inbuilt and add their custom folders to it and 'cook' it. So in a sense the answer is 'YES' you can remove what you don't like in your ROM. But NO you can't do it by your suggested method. You can cook a ROM yourself or ask a cook on forum to do you a favour and delete unwanted files from your ROM and you can flash custom ROM with better space on it - Flashing is not that bad to be honest! I have done it on my WinMo - uncountable times! More than the number of times you might have changed your wallpaper!
So just make sure you read instructions on how to do it. Back up all your data on storage card and contacts too! - there you are ready to go!
After first flash of new ROM you won't take more than 2 hours making your phone as it is! (and you get faster with each flash!)
yes, drupad2drupad is right,
what I would add, I know what you mean, been facing the same decision. Spend year customizing and didn't want to loose it, on the other hand phone become slow and full. Well if there was a simple solution to this, this forum would be 95% smaller. there isn't any universal solution.
you will loose something. some settings, (registry or config files), some customizing. etc.
by using different backup programs or by setting them differently, you can trigger how much to backup, and how much to revert. BUT if you backup everything, (all registry and all files) after flashing you are right where you was. no big change.
what I do is I copy all int.memory to SD card, export all registry, backup only messages (contacts and calendar are in file pim.vol, if you end all programs and disable today plugins, you should be able to copy there and back this too, not loosing nothing by backup converting)
then flashing new rom, restore messages, copy pim.vol back and then slowly, restoring setting for each program I care to do so.
it's either a file in \program files or in \windows or a part of registry. there you open your big exported reg file, search for a name of program and cut,paste to empty reg file and import.
I made a backup script to do this automatically, but it's not possible to make it universal, it will backup only those programs it's set to backup.
back to you question about deleting rom files. you can, after a fashion, but deleting such will only add info to ignore this rom file. which means, rom file stays, but is not visible. thought, you can clean your int memory. removing temp and accumulated useless files, moving programs you use rarely to SD, but this is very time consuming and advance thing to do.
thanks
first of all, thanks to the two of you for such devoted answers! thanks a lot , really.
My guess is it will take me (I'm quite obsessive) 6-10 hours -- research etc. to make sure everything will definitely go fine and finally restore everything to the prior state. Never having messed around with flashing etc., I think it's too much effort to gain some lousy 20 mb.
I still really appreciate your answers. It's a shame there is no universal method to do this is a few steps, with some utility, for everyone...
So I was wondering, what do you think, on a system like the touch diamond, running windows mobile 6.1, with I think ~100 mb internal storage, how many mb should in your opinion at any point in time be free space, to ensure things are running smooth? (And, I suppose/hope flash memory deterioration due to little space left is not that much of an issue...)
Else I'd go as far as "donating" some chrismas bucks to some kindred spirit in guiding me through the process, I just don't have the nerve to do this, for 10 mb... never again will I buy a device that has too small internal storage!
thanks to everyone...
matthias
(edit) ps.: I find it funny that the files in rom can store data (like the 16 MB mxip initdb.vol which is said to carry contacs I believe) - for the novice, like myself, it's kind of difficult to understand why files can be written to, but not decreased in size to free up memory somehow - or do they have a "size limit" / "fixed size"?) but anyway, you need not comment on this.
There is a way that you can reduce your file storage size quite easily....
Thanks to AnDim, see here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=377514.
Do the following steps:
1. Use a back-up tool such as Resco Backup and make a back-up on your storage card.
2. Use Total Commander and copy all of the files in your Windows directory that are NOT part of the ROM. You can do this quite easily by chosing the "Hide files in Rom" part. Then copy and save these files on your desktop.
3. Use AnDim's HTC ROM Image Editor. Open your original rom with this (I hope you have it).
4. Add the files you copied from your desktop to the rom you opened with AnDim's tool.
5. Delete any duplicate files that were in the original rom from the ones you just copied.
6. Save the new rom and flash it.
7. Use Resco Back-up to restore your original rom.
8. Use Total Commander to delete the files created by Resco Back-Up in your Windows folder that you had previously added to the rom.
After all of this, you will find you have much more storage space and a quicker rom because all of the files you added that overwrote a rom file will no longer have duplicate files and also rom files take up less storage space.
Good luck!
hi mitsi,
thanks for that post, highly appreciated! this looks like a solution to the problem I described -- After doing some time-consuming cleanup, I now have some ~10 MB free, so I think I'll wait for this to decrease down to let's say 5MB in the future, and then follow your steps -- which seem to be advanced, but feasible. This is really a great hint. Hope others who run into the same problem will find this thread helpful too. I'm really impressed with quality and helpfulness in this forum, outstanding. Will have to go out and help others where I can now to compensate for my bad conscience
Grüße nach Berlin aus dem Schwarzwald!
M.
I recommend using SPB backup.
I used that program to do what you wanted to do ever since I used Axim x5 (currently TP2).
I have it set up so it automatically make a backup every week on Sunday, so just in case if something goes wrong (bad cab or driver) I can have most of important changes and not LOSE a thing.
So, good luck : )