Guest neil_ferguson Posted January 21, 2003 Report Posted January 21, 2003 It can be useful to backup the entire Inbox of the SPV, since only email messages are synchronised using ActiveSync. However, the 3 key files (IPSMmxip_lang.vol, IPSMmxip_initdb.vol & IPSMcemail.vol) containing all the Inbox messages are locked, and cannot be copied off the SPV using ActiveSync. Even using ALL-explorer on the phone, only cemail.vol can be copied. However, the files can be renamed (a trick carried over from other MS OSes), at least in ALL-Explorer (and sometimes, but not always, via ActiveSync). Hence, to backup your Inbox, follow these steps: 1. Rename IPSMmxip_lang.vol, IPSMmxip_initdb.vol & IPSMcemail.vol to something like IPSMmxip_lang.vol2, IPSMmxip_initdb.vol2 & IPSMcemail.vol2 using ALL-explorer. 2. Shutdown and restart your phone. New (empty) versions of the IPSMmxip_lang.vol, IPSMmxip_initdb.vol & IPSMcemail.vol files will be created. If you go into Inbox, it will be empty. 3. Connect your SPV to your PC using ActiveSync. You can now copy the IPSMmxip_lang.vol2, IPSMmxip_initdb.vol2 & IPSMcemail.vol2 files off the phone, as they are no longer locked. 4. You may want to backup IPSMWindowsmessagingIMAP4.fld as well if you use multiple mail folders - I don't know though, since I only use my Inbox. Now do whatever you want to your phone (including, I think, hard-resets, if you want to disable signing - though I haven't tried this yet). To restore your Inbox follow these steps: 1. Connect your phone to you PC using ActiveSync. Copy your backed up mxip_lang.vol2 mxip_initdb.vol2 & cemail.vol2 files to the IPSM folder. 2. Disconnect from ActiveSync 3. Using All-Explorer, rename Rename IPSMmxip_lang.vol,IPSMmxip_initdb.vol & IPSMcemail.vol to IPSMmxip_lang.vol3, IPSMmxip_initdb.vol3 & IPSMcemail.vol3. 4. Now rename IPSMmxip_lang.vol2, IPSMmxip_initdb.vol2 & IPSMcemail.vol2 to IPSMmxip_lang.vol, IPSMmxip_initdb.vol & IPSMcemail.vol using ALL-explorer. 5. Shutdown and restart your phone, and go into your Inbox. You should see all your old messages. 6. You can now delete the IPSMmxip_lang.vol3, IPSMmxip_initdb.vol3 & IPSMcemail.vol3 files. Of course, the usual caveats apply- while this worked for me, it may not for you. I accept no liability for any damage or lost data, so backup everything you can (e.g. emails) before trying it. As a side-effect, this technique also gives you access to the MS database files they use for Inbox messages. However, from a cursory examination of the files, they appear to use compression to store the messages, so extracting them into text files seems non-trivial. However, if anyone manages it, can they let me know how! Hope this is useful. Cheers, Neil
Guest zenabi Posted January 21, 2003 Report Posted January 21, 2003 Thanks Neil! one for the Tips & Tricks section.
Guest frankwilliams Posted January 21, 2003 Report Posted January 21, 2003 Sorry - not got the use of my cradle! this afternoon. does this type of activity work for your contacts?
Guest neil_ferguson Posted January 21, 2003 Report Posted January 21, 2003 Yes - those database files also store all contacts and appointments. Cheers, Neil Sorry - not got the use of my cradle! this afternoon. does this type of activity work for your contacts?
Guest DJHope Posted January 21, 2003 Report Posted January 21, 2003 What would be really impressive is something that can read those files ;)
Guest Monolithix [MVP] Posted January 21, 2003 Report Posted January 21, 2003 I tried this when i hard reset my phone. I managed to get the files off, but couldn't find a way to replace them. I found you could remove characters from the filename but not add them? Either way my logical hat must have not been on because i didnt think to do it like that ;)
Guest chewie Posted January 23, 2003 Report Posted January 23, 2003 Well its all gone horribly wrong for me. After renaming the files i rebooted the phone but activsync can't find the phone at all. All Exploere demo has run out so i cant change the filenames. I've lost my SMS and my Contacts, can't do an orange update restore as the phone wont connect using GPRS. So basically i went through this so i could save my SMS but it seems like i am gonna have to do a hard reset and loose all of them. Crazy bloody phone!
Guest madu Posted January 23, 2003 Report Posted January 23, 2003 You can view the files with a little app called DBView from M. - should be on their developers site. Availible for SP and PC in dbviewsp.zip i wish i could attach......
Guest amo Posted January 23, 2003 Report Posted January 23, 2003 Chewie, same thing has happened to me....Grrrrrrr. Ahh well, at least i have an excuse now for hard reset (other than Doom!)
Guest Saracen Posted January 23, 2003 Report Posted January 23, 2003 Exactly the same problem here. If you try to open the Contacts program, it doesn't, doesn't record missed calls. So, it seems, that ihas not actually made new files, and so is messing the phone's functions.
Guest madu Posted January 23, 2003 Report Posted January 23, 2003 why not make a copy of empty files and use them as dummy files. guess you would need to back them up just after a hard reset..
Guest pibrahim Posted January 30, 2003 Report Posted January 30, 2003 I've had exactly the same problem too, and think I'm about to lose everything on my phone too.. Can anybody else even vouch for the above method?!
Guest exodus842 Posted January 30, 2003 Report Posted January 30, 2003 Yeah i managed to use it to backup my messages the cemail.vol file, and it worked perfectly, have to use allexplorer to name and rename them though
Guest pibrahim Posted January 30, 2003 Report Posted January 30, 2003 Well it looks like mine and several other people's phones all refuse to connect via ActiveSync since the process, and of course we've all followed the instructions to the letter...hmm...
Guest exodus842 Posted January 30, 2003 Report Posted January 30, 2003 did u do all three files at once? because i tried it doing only one at a time, and i did do all three seperatley, but there isn't much point in doing the two that aren't cemail.vol, because as far as im aware one is contacts and calender, which get backed up by orange backup, and activesync anyway, and the other is call history, which prob isn't the most important thing to backup anyway.
Guest pibrahim Posted January 30, 2003 Report Posted January 30, 2003 Little update: I went to the boot menu, selected backup IPSM, reset, selected restore IPSM, and ActiveSync is once again working, meaning I should hopefully be able to finish this process... Word of warning though to anyone trying it, it seems a somewhat hit and miss process as shown by the varying degrees of success people have and haven't had!
Guest neil_ferguson Posted January 30, 2003 Report Posted January 30, 2003 Further notes on this: it is essential to have All-explorer on your phone installed on an SD card for this to work correctly - ActiveSync is fairly random in letting you rename .vol files (or .*** files to .vol, to be more precise). The reason I say the SD card, is that if you use this method to preserve your Inbox over a hard-reset (rather than the backup-IPSM method), then any copy of All-explorer in the phone memory will be wiped. It is a right pain that you have to re-register All-explorer after a hard reset as well! :x Thanks to DBview, I agree that cemail.vol appears to be the only file storing Inbox messages. Sorry for problems people have suffered due to loss of ActiveSync connectivity :oops: . Paradoxically, I nearly buggered my phone as a result of the alternative IPSM backup method - After making an apparently OK IPSM backup on my 8MB SD card, I tried to restore after applying the DK update. The restore took ~2 sec and had the same result as deleting the IPSM! However, thanks to having copied all the unlocked files in IPSM via ActiveSync (and Inbox databases using the above method), I was able to restore everything, and now have an unlocked, updated phone with all my original messages and software. Pity about the keyboard lock bug in the DK update though ;) Neil
Guest HelloDave Posted January 31, 2003 Report Posted January 31, 2003 Thanks for the tip neil - my SPV decided to hard reset itself while I was out, and it gave me a reason to restore my old messages which were on an MMC backup I made before I de-certed my phone a few weeeks ago, but I didn't know how to backup the messages then. You posted this thread a day after I did my first hard reset, damn you! :wink: It worked fine for me; I just saved cemail.vol after I loaded my old IPSM from the MMC and then restored it after a hard reset.
Guest actor21 Posted November 14, 2003 Report Posted November 14, 2003 It can be useful to backup the entire Inbox of the SPV, since only email messages are synchronised using ActiveSync. However, the 3 key files (IPSMmxip_lang.vol, IPSMmxip_initdb.vol & IPSMcemail.vol) containing all the Inbox messages are locked, and cannot be copied off the SPV using ActiveSync. Even using ALL-explorer on the phone, only cemail.vol can be copied. However, the files can be renamed (a trick carried over from other MS OSes), at least in ALL-Explorer (and sometimes, but not always, via ActiveSync). Hence, to backup your Inbox, follow these steps: 1. Rename IPSMmxip_lang.vol, IPSMmxip_initdb.vol & IPSMcemail.vol to something like IPSMmxip_lang.vol2, IPSMmxip_initdb.vol2 & IPSMcemail.vol2 using ALL-explorer. 2. Shutdown and restart your phone. New (empty) versions of the IPSMmxip_lang.vol, IPSMmxip_initdb.vol & IPSMcemail.vol files will be created. If you go into Inbox, it will be empty. 3. Connect your SPV to your PC using ActiveSync. You can now copy the IPSMmxip_lang.vol2, IPSMmxip_initdb.vol2 & IPSMcemail.vol2 files off the phone, as they are no longer locked. 4. You may want to backup IPSMWindowsmessagingIMAP4.fld as well if you use multiple mail folders - I don't know though, since I only use my Inbox. Now do whatever you want to your phone (including, I think, hard-resets, if you want to disable signing - though I haven't tried this yet). To restore your Inbox follow these steps: 1. Connect your phone to you PC using ActiveSync. Copy your backed up mxip_lang.vol2 mxip_initdb.vol2 & cemail.vol2 files to the IPSM folder. 2. Disconnect from ActiveSync 3. Using All-Explorer, rename Rename IPSMmxip_lang.vol,IPSMmxip_initdb.vol & IPSMcemail.vol to IPSMmxip_lang.vol3, IPSMmxip_initdb.vol3 & IPSMcemail.vol3. 4. Now rename IPSMmxip_lang.vol2, IPSMmxip_initdb.vol2 & IPSMcemail.vol2 to IPSMmxip_lang.vol, IPSMmxip_initdb.vol & IPSMcemail.vol using ALL-explorer. 5. Shutdown and restart your phone, and go into your Inbox. You should see all your old messages. 6. You can now delete the IPSMmxip_lang.vol3, IPSMmxip_initdb.vol3 & IPSMcemail.vol3 files. Of course, the usual caveats apply- while this worked for me, it may not for you. I accept no liability for any damage or lost data, so backup everything you can (e.g. emails) before trying it. As a side-effect, this technique also gives you access to the MS database files they use for Inbox messages. However, from a cursory examination of the files, they appear to use compression to store the messages, so extracting them into text files seems non-trivial. However, if anyone manages it, can they let me know how! Hope this is useful. Cheers, Neil Hi; I am from manila philippines..is there a way to rename and change the icon of "Deleted Items" folder? or can i hide and unhide them? what are the steps..please help me...thanks..
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