I'm writing a support article for blackberry customers for backing up their data on their computer.
What files, folders, and or directories need to be backed up for a future restore if needed. In the event the customers hard drive fails, or something else... I want them to be able to fully restore their blackberry data that is saved on the computer.
The BlackBerry backup files are always saved as an *.ipd file. As long as that is saved, they are safe. A user may choose, upon backup, any location to save their backup, so advising someone to save a certain folder may be wise IF they don't save the backup file to THAT folder.
In the past, for instance, my Desktop Manager save my backups to c:/Program Files/Research In Motion/.
Another version of Desktop Manager on my laptop at home saves the file to /My Documents/.
I apologize for asking another question but please enlighten me.
I know that the ".ipd" file needs to be backed up, but isn't there just a entire folder that can be backed up. Look at the example below for what I'm looking to do.
example
You can make a backup of outlook which outputs a ".pst", or you can just regularly make copies the Outlook data file.
In outlook the *.pst file IS the Outlook data file. It is not a folder.
Did you read my response above about the folders? If you backup the "c:/Program Files/Research In Motion/" folder, your *.ipd file very well might not be there.
The ".pst" is a growing file that is always changing and is stored in one of multiple possible locations on your computer.
But you're telling me that the ".ipd" is not a growing file that is constantly changing? It is a file that has to be user generated and doesn't continuously update?
When you do a backup of the blackberry it always creates a new backup file. The usual default of the filename is "LoaderBackup (date file was created).ipd. By looking at the date you'll know which one is the latest backup file.
"LoaderBackup-(date).ipd" is not by default in the name of the file, only when the backup of the file is made during an OS upgrade is "loaderbackup" included. Otherwise, it is "Backup-(2008-08-19).ipd" where the date gets replaced with the current.
I think there is a fundamental that the OP is missing here. A user's backup information is made by the user, on his PC, by the Desktop Manager, at the user's whim. A backup being made of the user's phone info depends entirely on whether he connects, either by Bluetooth or USB cable to his PC and actually makes a backup. DM can be set to automatically backup the user's data on a schedule, but it still depends on the user connecting to his PC. If he never connects, there is no backup.
The DM default location for storing the backup file, (named with a date in the filename) is /Documents and Settings/<username>/Documents in WinXP and /Users/<username>/Documents on WinVista.
If you are trying to make a backup of the users backups, then grabbing the users Profile Folder when running your systems backup should grab the Blackberry backup files.
Does the BB backup programs that I have received OTA or installed via media desktop?
I do a back up on a regular schedule but i don't know if my programs are backup up. I don't want to pay for them again.
Blackberry data backup
