Many a times, it happens that we loose our data due to reasons like hard resets due to flat battery (in pre-WM5 devices) or a need for forced hard resets arises due to some faulty installations or registry changes. In such cases, data is lost and every single thing needs to be installed again. Having a backup becomes more important since Microsoft Activesync 4.x doesn’t supports backup. But, this problem can be totally solved with the help of SPB Backup.
INTRODUCTION
SPB Backup is a software which lets you make a backup of every single application or file in your device. Then, if you have a backup file, all u need to do is restore the backup file.
INSTALLATION
The software can be normally installed, either through activesync or just by installing the cab file directly into your device. While installing it, you can either register it if you have the key or just run the trial version. As a part of installation, the software even creates a today plugin which displays the last date, scheduled backup information(if any) on which backup was performed.
CREATING A BACKUP
When you open SPB Backup, you are presented with a screen which provides you with the options for the type of backups that can be performed
FULL BACKUP
This option lets you make a full backup of your device, i.e it makes a restorable copy of all the data on the device, like PIM data, system data, e-mails, etc. When tapped on ‘next’, options for the name of the file and the location for its storage appears.
You can select the folder or location where you want to store the backup file (some external location like a storage card, which you always carry with you, is recommended). The options listed are some external storage device on your device like storage card and the ‘my documents’ folder.
By tapping on ‘custom’, you can browse to any folder or sub-folder where you want to store the file
Then, in the next step, it tells you the estimated file size and the storage space available on the location chosen by you.
Now, the last step before the backup process starts, is where the application gives a warning
CUSTOM BACKUP
This option is very helpful when you want to make a backup of a few of the data, and not all. When you tap on ‘next’, a list of various options comes up. You can make a backup of one or more items, like you can choose from the PIM data, emails, ‘my documents’ folder, system data or storage card.
SCHEDULED BACKUP
Scheduled backup is a very good option when you want to perform backup at regular time interval, say once a week. All you need to do is, just enable ‘scheduled backup’ and set the day and time on which you want the
backup to be performed. You can even select from options like ‘automatically reset after backup’ (a soft reset is a must after performing backup, to ensure backup is complete) , ‘turn off device after reboot’ and ‘backup
only on AC power’ (this option helps in saving precious battery when you are low on battery).
In the next step, you can even select the number of backup files you want to be stored. The rest of the backup file are deleted automatically.
SPB Backup provides the option of either compressing or encrypting the backup file
Goto tools>>advanced options. Then you can set your device to stop all processes when backup is being performed, or skip/delete old backup files. SPB Backup also creates log files of the backup being created.
RESTORING DATA
SPB Backup creates self-executing files. What does this means to you?
This means that one need not install any applicaiton to run the backup file made by SPB Backup. Just click on the file. Restoring the files, applications or folders from the backup files is as easy as counting 1-2-3. Just tap on the backup file stored on your device or external storage device.
You can shoose from full restore or the custom restore
‘Full restore’ restores every single file or application in the file on to your device. Before the restore process begins, you can even adjust the time
If you want to restore par of the data, say only the PIM Data and ‘my documents’ folder, you can choose the ‘custom restore’ option.
Even from the ‘my documents’ folder, or if you want to restore the data of your external storage device, you can choose the files or applications you wish to restore.
It creates a log file of the restoring process also.
—
Pros:
* Highly user friendly
*Scheduled backup supported
*Option to make full backup or backup only selected data
*Highly reliable
*Compression and encryption of backup file supported
Cons:
None :)
—
Final Thoughts:
An ultimate, fully-featured & reliable backup tool for Pocket PCs. An absolutely must have for all devices.
—
Product Category: Utility
Manufacturer: SPB software house
Link: http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com
Price: $19.95 USD
System Requirements: Pocket PC 2002, Windows Mobile 2003 or Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC