All Backup & Sprite Backup Compared

[Guest Pagemakers]

Has anybody got a true comparison between All Backup & Sprite Backup?

I have Sprite backup and it is very good, but I was just wondering how All Backup compared?

[Guest Pagemakers]

Just downloaded the trial and 1st impressions - All Backup does not have the options that Sprite does.

[Guest abatis]

I was beta testing All-B. Once I tried Sprite I decided All-B was not going to be in the same league. Sprite gives it all back to you. A very nice program from the people that wrote Ghost (Now Norton Ghost).

[Guest drblow]

I was beta testing All-Backup, and came across an issue that after a hard reset, it did restore everything, but no programs appaerared in the remove programs list, so once you had backed up, there was no effective way to remove programs. I never heard anything back from them about fixing this issue. Anybody know?

[Guest Disco Stu]

That's a problem with Sprite, too.

[Guest Rob.P]

For those of you that were Beta testing All-B haven't you heard anything, after the last update of teh beta software it all went quiet for me haven't heard from them since.

[Guest drblow]

Well, I got an email from them yestaerday with a full version of the app attatched ( :) cheers All-Locations!), but after reporting a few bugs to them ages ago, I never heard any more reports about how the testing had gone.

I used it early on aftre doing a hard reset, and discovered the problem with things not being in the remove programs list. I reported it to them & had a few emails from one of their guys, but they never did tell me whether that issue had been resolved. I haven't had a chance to use the full version yet, so dunno if it's still there. Was a pretty major drawback in my book - whats the sense in having a backup that once you use it, you have to reinstall all your apps if you want to remove any to free up memory space?

[Guest Pagemakers]

That's a problem with Sprite, too.

I hope you are wrong Stu. I've got a new phone coming this evening and I must say if I have to re-install everything, I will just reject the phone and stick with my old one.

Paul

[Guest Disco Stu]

Sorry Paul, I may have got that wrong, but after a hard reset and Sprite restore, my AppMgr folder was empty again.

I asked them about this while the software was in beta but didn't get a proper reply.

Might it have something to do with the "Clean Up" option before restoring ?

Would it be possible, as a work-around, to copy the folder to PC using ActiveSync and paste the contents back after Sprite restore ?

I don't see why it wouldn't backup and restore this folder along with everything else. You will also get the warning messages when you start any unsigned apps etc for the first time.

Perhaps someone more tech-literate could help me out here :?

[Guest Pagemakers]

Hmm. This is from Sprite's forums:

"If you don't mind losing everything since the last backup select "Clean phone before restore" when restoring. This will allow Sprite Backup to update the necessary system files to keep track of installed/uninstalled programs. If you have not uninstalled any applications this step will not be necessary."

Not 100% sure what this guy means. I will give them a call now. After all they are only in Australia!

[Guest Disco Stu]

Yeah, that is a bit confusing :?

I always do the clean-up before restoring, usually because the intention is to get back to that stage.

Will look forward to you reporting their response. :)

[Guest Pagemakers]

I'm being brave and doing some real-life testing. Give me an hour and I'll report my findings.

I will do a normal restore, clean phone restore and hard reset restore.

I've got nothing to loose cos I'm swapping my phone for a new one this evening.

[Guest Pagemakers]

Well what a day!

Did the first restore without selecting "clean phone". It restored the phone but yes all "remove programs" were missing. I added a few test things in my calendar after the backup and before the restore, but they were missing after the restore ( I thought they would have still been there since I did not select clean phone....but hey...

2nd I did another restore with the clean phone option. That was bad. Phone restored with only half the menus at the top. Still no programs in the remove list.

Then the courier arrived with my new e200. What a pile of crap. It's got 3 pixels out and only arrived with version 1.xx of the OS!!

So after unlocking the phone and applying the latest update I continued with another restore, this time on a brand new phone.

This time the restore restored everything including all the programs in the remove list :) For some reason however, it did not restore my Calender and my profile kept seeing it as guest.

Just performing yet another restore and I'll update you when that's complete.

Shame though, cos with the out pixels this phone can go back tomorrow too!

[Guest Disco Stu]

So what was different about the restore onto the new E200 that got Sprite to restore the Add / Remove programs list ? :?

Thanks for the investigations anyway, Paul :)

[Guest Pagemakers]

Ok I can confirm that Sprite Backup will restore all your data and programs 100% on a brand new phone. Everything works including the remove programs list. All of the security settings work fine on the restored phone.

I am using V1.0 of the program on an unlocked e200.

The only thing I had to do was delete my ActiveSync partnership and re-sync the phone.

Just remember the restore can take about an hour and your phone will appear to have locked up. WAIT and be patient. The "done" screen will eventually appear.

Use the "clean phone before restore" version.

[Guest Richie M]

One thing i did noticed with Sprite backup when i used it a while ago on my Tanager, was that if messages in my Sent Items that had been read before the backup, when they are restored the message body is empty :)

[Guest Pagemakers]

Nope restored fine here.