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A few weeks after purchasing my Palm, I was scheduled to go on a week-long business trip.  To keep myself busy while waiting in the airport and in flight, I decided to download several game apps for my Palm.  After a few hours into my flight, the game app I was running caused my Palm to lock up, forcing me to do a "hard reset".  Consequently, all my installed apps, datebook, address, to do, and memo databases were wiped clean!  Although I had a hotsynced backup on my PC at home, I had lost everything for this trip!

My immediate thought was, why isn't there a way for me to restore all my data and apps using a PC and backup floppy disk?  Well, someone has already done that with the utility called PenguinBackup V2.0.

PenguinBackup V2.0 (freeware)

A thoughful person decided to create a backup utility just for me! (at least I would like to think so).  I won't go into detail on how to install and use this utility, but I will give you a few high points on how it works and how useful it is.  Please see the PenguinBackup web site for more detail.

Basically, you use a single 3.5" floppy disk with a minimal Linux operating system loaded onto it.  In addition, this floppy disk contains a program for backing up and restoring data from and to your Palm.  You use a 2nd floppy disk to store your Palm apps and data.  Don't worry, you don't need to know a thing about Linux to use this simple backup utility.

To create a floppy backup of your Palm apps and data
 

1. Use a PC computer with the hotsync cradle attached to one if it's COM port.  The computer must have a minimum 4 MB of memory (?).
2. Put your Palm into the hotsync cradle.
3. Put the 1st backup floppy disk (with the Linux OS) into the floppy drive and turn on the computer.  The computer will then boot up using the minimal Linux OS.
4. Begin the PenguinBackup program and identify which COM port the hotsync cradle is connected to (see the PenguinBackup instructions).
5. Follow the instructions for making the backup onto a 2nd floppy disk.
6. Done!


To restore Palm apps and data from a floppy backup
 

1. Use any PC computer which has a 3.5" floppy disk drive and minimum 4 MB of memory.
2. Connect your hotsync cradle to any COM port on the computer (you can use the mouse COM port if necessary).
3. Put your Palm into the hotsync cradle.
4. 1st backup floppy disk (with the Linux OS) into the floppy drive and turn on the computer.  The computer will then boot up using the minimal Linux OS.
5. Begin the PenguinBackup program and identify which COM port the hotsync cradle is connected to (see the PenguinBackup instructions).
6. Follow the instructions for restoring data from the 2nd floppy disk.
7. Done!


As you can see, this method would have worked great for me when I had my hard reset during my business trip!  The only requirement, is that you use a PC computer with a 3.5" floppy drive and minimum 4 MB of memory.  Since you are rebooting the computer and using a Linux OS, it doesn't matter if the computer normally uses Windows 95/98/NT.  You can always find a Kinkos Copy Center in town which have computers available for hourly rental.  Instead of taking along my hotsync cradle, I bought a hotsync cable which works just as well.

Note:The above method works fine if your data and apps on your Palm device total to less than 1.44 Mb.  If you have a fully loaded Palm Vx with 4 or 8 Mb of data files, then the Penguin backup method won't work (because it isn't set up to span the data across multiple floppy disks).
 


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