Hack43.Make Upgrades Less Painful


Hack 43. Make Upgrades Less Painful

Upgrading your PC or switching to a new Palm is fairly easy, but there are some things you need to keep in mind when you migrate your data.

Before you migrate to a new PC or Palm, make sure you've got everything synced up. On your current Palm, you need to check all of your applications to make sure that all the data you want to save is set to synchronize. The built-in applications automatically sync all of their data, but some third-party applications allow you to select which data to sync. For example, ShadowPlan lets you select whether or not to sync for each list, and Balance-Log [Hack #12] lets you select how long to keep data.

After you have checked the sync preferences, go ahead and do a HotSync to bring both your Palm device and your PC up to date.

7.3.1. New Palm Device

If you are switching to a new Palm device, then make sure it has been fully charged. Run through the basic setupdate, time, time zone, digitizer, and HotSync name. Use the same HotSync name that you used for your old device. Many applications use a registration scheme which is tied to the HotSync usernameeven changing the capitalization of the name can cause these applications to think they aren't registered.

Install the desktop software that came with your Palm device. This will insure that your Palm device and your desktop are current with each other. Install the new desktop software into the same location as your old desktop software. If you are upgrading to a Treo, then you may be given an option when installing the desktop software to remove known incompatible applications. If you are planning on installing all of your existing third-party applications at once, then you should turn this option on. If you are going to install the third-party applications one at a time (or not reinstall them at all), then this option doesn't matter.

If you want to install all of your existing third-party applications, go ahead and perform a HotSync to bring over your data. You may need to reinstall some of your applications manually, especially applications that had their own installers. You may also have to remove some applicationssometimes old applications that you deleted will reappear when you sync to a new Palm device.

If you don't want to automatically reinstall your existing third-party applications, then you need to rename the C:\Program Files\Palm Handheld\ <HotSync ID>\Backup folder to something else, like Backup.old, before doing a HotSync with your new device.

When you have all of your applications installed, do one last HotSync to bring over the data from any applications that you had to manually install. Check to make sure that your data was successfully transferred to your new Palm device. If anything didn't make it, you might find it easier to beam the missing items from your old device to the new.

If your Palm device is crashing after upgrading, then the cause is likely third-party applications. To fix the problem, you need to do a hard reset (to clear memory) and install your third-party applications one at a time until you figure out which one is causing the problems. Rename the folder C:\Program Files\Palm Handheld\<HotSync ID>\Backup, which stores third-party applications. Rename it to something else and then install programs one at a time from there. When you find the application that crashes, delete it from your Palm device and from the C:\Program Files\Palm Handheld\<HotSync ID>\Backup folder. Whenever you install an application, it is automatically copied to the Backup folder. You may also want to do another hard reset on your Palm device to clear out any accumulated junk.

Performing a Hard Reset

To perform a hard reset, you need to locate the reset button on your Palm device. This is usually on the back of the device. Look for a hole in the case with the word Reset next to it. You will need something to poke the reset button withlook at your stylus. If you are using the standard stylus that came with your device, then there are a couple of options. The stylus itself may fit inside the hole. If not, then see if either end of the stylus unscrews. If so, then you may be able to use that to press the reset button.

Pressing the reset button by itself performs a soft reset. In a soft reset, the Palm device is restarted, but your data and programs are left alone.

A hard reset will remove all of the programs and data on your Palm device, leaving you with just the built-in applications (and no data for them). To perform a hard reset, hold the power button down while pressing the reset button. Hold the power button down until the Palm Computing screen appears. You will be given a chance to confirm that you really want to remove all of your data.


Another choice is to use a new username for your new Palm device. Copy over the built-in data by exporting the data from the Palm desktop software and then importing the data under your new username. Then, install just the third-party applications that you want to use on your new device. The only problem with this approach is that any applications you've purchased that are registered under your original HotSync name won't be registered anymore.

7.3.2. New PC

After you HotSync to your old PC, you are ready to get set up on the new PC. Install the desktop software on your new PC, and then do a HotSync. If any of the third-party applications on your Palm device have conduits, then you will need to install the desktop components on your new PC. Applications that came with their own installers (as opposed to .prc and .pdb files) likely have conduits. You will need to copy the installers to the new PC and run them. You need to HotSync again to run the conduits. If the applications have desktop versions, then you can check the desktop versions to make sure the data was transferred.

Conduits are programs that run on your PC to transfer data between your PC and your Palm device. Conduits sometimes just transfer existing Palm databases, but conduits can also be written to convert between desktop and Palm formats. For example, many document readers for PDAs come with conduits that convert popular desktop formats (e.g., Microsoft Word format).


You may want to copy a couple of folders from your old PC to your new one. Your old PC will have a folder similar to C:\Program Files\Palm Handheld.(Palm might be replaced with Sony or the manufacturer of your PDA.) Under that folder will be another folder named from your HotSync name. There are two useful folders under there, Backup and Archive. These folders contain data and applications that have been installed on your PDA. You can copy these folders to your new PC so that you can easily install older applications if you need to.

7.3.3. New PDA Step by Step

Here are the detailed instructions for upgrading to a new Palm device, so follow along:

  1. Check sync preferences for third-party applications on your old PDA.

  2. HotSync your old PDA.

  3. Fully charge your new PDA (or install batteries).

  4. Run through basic PDA set up (date, time, HotSync name).

  5. Install new desktop software into the same location as the existing software. If you are bringing over all the third-party applications at once, then you can set the option to ignore known incompatible applications.

  6. If you are going to bring over third-party applications one at a time, rename the C:\Program Files\Palm Handheld\<HotSync ID>\Backup folder to something else.

  7. HotSync your new PDA to bring over data and some applications.

  8. Check to see if any applications did not get installedif so, install them using custom installers (if the programs came with custom installers) or using the Palm desktop Install button.

  9. Perform a HotSync to bring over the new applications.

  10. Perform a HotSync again to bring over any data for the new applications.

  11. Remove any applications that were installed that you no longer need.

  12. Check that all of your data was transferred to the new PDAif not, beam the missing data over from your old PDA.

  13. Change the username on your old Palm device to avoid confusion or accidental corruption of your data.

7.3.4. New PC Step by Step

Here are the detailed instructions for upgrading to a new PC. If you are doing both at the same time, start by upgrading the Palm device first, then your PC.

  1. Check sync preferences for third-party applications on PDA.

  2. Perform a HotSync to your old PC.

  3. Install Palm desktop software on your new PC.

  4. Perform a HotSync to new PC.

  5. Copy custom installers and third-party desktop applications to your new PC.

  6. Run custom installers on your new PC to set up conduits.

  7. Perform a HotSync again to run conduits.

  8. Check desktop applications to see if data was transferred from the Palm device.

  9. Look for C:\Program Files\Palm Handheld (or <Manufacturer> Handheld) on your old PC. Under that folder will be a folder named for your HotSync name. Copy the Backup and Archive folders from there to the corresponding location on your new PC.

These steps should help remove problems caused by upgrading. Generally, upgrading is fairly painless, but once in a while you run into a problematic third-party program that should be removed or upgraded.




Palm and Treo Hacks
Palm and Treo Hacks: Tips & Tools for Mastering Your Handheld
ISBN: 059610054X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 115

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