[plainman007]

I would like to understand the basic difference between Backup & Restore Versus Outlook Data Sync.

From my previous experience with palm i seem to notice that Syncing the BB only sychronizes personal data namely the four main categories Contacts, Calender, Notes, Tasks (whereas in palm a sync would mean a complete back up of the phone including installed applications etc). Am i right about this. The BB during a sync only sends all your personal data to and fro which gets in sync with Outlook. No other handheld settings, apps installed etc are synced or backed up during this operation. If im wrong please do correct me.

Now secondly, the BB has a seperate Backup & Restore function. This backups up what excatly ? Because i see it backing up even the contacts, calender, notes, tasks. Plus i think its also backing up the pda settings etc. Does it also backup apps installed and their same settings passwords etc ? If so, im suprised that i did a restore of my BB using a backup which was before i installed a said app. But after the restore was over the BB rebooted and the said app is still installed. I thought my BB would go back to the exact condition as it was when i took that backup.

Would someone throw light in brief on this matter ?

Thanks in advance.

[fratts]

The outlook sync only syncs your contacts, messages, calendar, tasks, etc from your Blackberry to Outlook.

While the back up and restore backups all the above, and also including all your applications to an ipd file, which if your Blackberry were ever lost or stolen you can restore this file to the new Blackberry and have all the info that was on your old device to your new device.

Essentially the backup and restore function in DM is like taking a snapshot of your device and storing it to a file that can be restored to any other Blackberry.

[Trimix]

Wirelessly posted (L'neuf trois)

Fratts provided a great answer.

What Palm does in one process, BlackBerry does it in two.

[arieltf]

I thought Backup didn't backup your third party apps and you had to go through the convoluted process stated in the BlackBerry FAQ: How do I backup my Third Party Applications on my BB?

Does the latest version of Desktop Manager now back up the third party apps?

--Ariel

[plainman007]

Yes i knew this trimix which is why i posted as my understanding, But i wanted to know if any differences were there in the mothods i explained. Thats why ive asked just to correct my explanation if i was wrong. It seems my understanding and explanations were right. i myself stated that the OUTLOOK sync backs up PIM data alone. Whereas Backup and restore restores everything. But what Fratts didnt explain , and happens to be the main reason im asking this is that , how come when i did a restore, new applications which i had installed didnt get erased. If its actually a digital snapshot (kind of like a norton ghost image) then how come newly installed apps survived ?

Secondly, the theory that if i lost my blackberry , i can get a new device and just restore all my apps and settings is untrue. Even with my newbie understanding. How can everything just be restored and work. Firstly it will have to be the same model series handset. Next and more important many apps will be tied down to the previous handsets IMIE number. How will they just work on the new handset ??. Unless he means only INFO, as in DATA, And not 3rd party apps restoring, let alone working properly on the new handset.

It was this confusion thats led me to post this. Im still wondering how i restored an image which i had saved and didnt have X application. And ***** as it sounds, after the restore, X application was still on the handset.

[MidnightDraven]

Yes, you can restore a backup made from a 9000 to a 8100 for example.
It doesnt include the apps themselves, but any other data. Profiles, address book, emails, sms's, options for smart dialling, call logs, etc etc.
If there is an option that exists on a previous model and doesn't exist on the model to restore to, it will match it best it can, or leave it.

Some paid for apps are linked by PIN no. of the model, and if restored to a different BB, can often refuse to work. However, usually an email off to the developer about a PIN change, transfer the paid license.

[plainman007]

But id like to know how i restored a backup to get back to a clean start but it didnt remove an application which i just installed and wasnt a part of that backup ???

[jsconyers]

A restore will not remove a 3rd party application if that's what you're asking.

When you create a backup, it will backup your data (calendar, contacts, email. etc) and settings. It will not backup third party applications and their settings.

When you restore, it will over right the data currently on the device with what the backup file has. It will not remove any applications added since the backup was created.

[plainman007]

JS > OK now thats the pefect answer that makes sense. I mean some were saying it backs up "everything". Like a snapshot. Similar to the anology of snapshots taken by norton ghost etc, I assumed everything on the handheld gets backed up.