On January 22 of this year, Compaq released a
user-installable "ROM upgrade" for its iPAQ Pocket PC. The upgrade was supposed to fix many of the problems users were experiencing with this Pocket PC. Unfortunately, many iPAQ users had problems installing the upgrade and some could not get their iPAQs to work after the installation. Consequently, Compaq removed the upgrade from their Web site with a promise to re-release it after the problems had been fixed.
While the iPAQ is the only Pocket PC with Flash ROM, it is not the only one that can be upgraded. Casio recently released Update 1.01 for their E-125 and EM-500 series Pocket PCs (www.casio.com/downloads/Consumer_devices/UpdatePackVer101OVS.zip).
Unlike the iPAQ, the Casio Pocket PCs don't have Flash ROM.
Their "UpdatePack" installs its updated program files in internal RAM memory. The downside of this approach is that Casio's upgrade takes up precious internal storage space. While there have been no reported problems with this update, Casio users should back up their internal memory beforehand just in case.
While the process of upgrading each Pocket PC is slightly different, the risk of losing data remains constant. In addition to the dangers of system upgrades, you can lose all your internal data if you let both your
main and backup batteries run down completely. Another way to lose data is to assign a start-up password to your Pocket PC and then forget the password. You fix this with a hard-reset and lose all internally stored data and
user-installed programs. Data loss happens! Be prepared for it back up your Pocket PC.
Back up to a desktop PC or storage card
Every Pocket PC ships with ActiveSync, a desktop PC application that lets you synchronize Outlook data and back up your Pocket PC data to a desktop computer. In addition, HP, Casio and Compaq Pocket PCs ship with utilities that let you back up your files to a storage card. Both of these
options back up files from internal RAM memory only.
The scenarios for data loss that I describe above do not apply to storage cards. But storage cards can be lost or damaged. Because of this, it's a good idea to back them up also. If you have the storage card in
your Pocket PC, you can use the File Explorer in ActiveSync to copy the contents of the card to your desktop PC. But this can be a slow process, especially if you have a high-capacity storage card with a lot of files on it. A faster way is to get a card reader for your desktop PC and use it to copy files from the card to the desktop. I use SanDisk's USB CompactFlash reader. SanDisk also markets a similar reader for the MultiMedia Cards (MMC) used by the Casio EM-500.
Using ActiveSync to back up your Pocket PC
To back up your Pocket PC using ActiveSync, first connect the Pocket PC with a desktop computer. You can connect to the desktop using serial, USB, infrared, dial-up, or Ethernet connections. Ethernet provides the fastest way to back up a Pocket PC using ActiveSync, but you cannot restore a
Pocket PC using an Ethernet connection.
You are not required to establish a partnership with the desktop computer to do a backup or restore you can select the "Guest" option.
After you establish a connection, select Tools, Backup/Restore from the
ActiveSync menu. You are presented with a dialog box that gives you the
following options:
Full backup backs up everything stored internally on your Pocket PC.
Incremental backup backs up only the information that has
changed since the last backup was performed. This is the fastest option.
Back up to this file lets you change the location where the backup file is stored on your desktop computer. If your desktop PC is on a company network, you could change this location to a network drive and have your ActiveSync backup file backed up by the network. All of the backed up data from your Pocket PC is stored in a single backup file (Backup.stg). By default that file is saved in the \Program Files\Microsoft ActiveSync\Profiles\[name of your Pocket PC] folder on your desktop computer. To change the location, click the Change button, browse to the location where you want the file stored, enter a file name, and then click OK.
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