Resco Backup Review
Some Treo owners rely purely on hotsyncs for backing up their device. This approach is better than nothing. However, if you are anything like me, you hotsync at random intervals. Sometimes you hotsync your Treo twice in one day, and then go weeks or months before doing so again. This means that your backed up data can be quite old.
The other problem with this approach is that a hotsync does not backup all the data on your Treo. If you perform a hotsync, then hard reset your Treo followed by a restore using hotsync, you may find various third party programs have reverted to trial status (requiring you to enter registration codes again), and that settings and bits of data were missing. The first time this happened to me, I spent hours combing through old emails looking for registration codes to unlock the software that had reverted to trial mode.
After this experience I decided I needed a backup program that would completely backup my Treo and restore all my settings: not just most of them. There are many backup programs out there; I tried free and commercial ones and found Resco Backup to be the best option for me. If you want a backup solution that you install, setup, and forget about, then this is a great program to try. It literally takes a minute to set-up through its straight forward option screens.
Once you have settings that you are happy with, you can leave the program to it and forget about backing up your data. The program will automatically backup your Treo as frequently as you want without your having to do anything. I currently have Resco backing up my Treo every morning with the seven most recent backups kept, this means that I always have a complete backup of the last seven days on my SD card. Whenever the Treo performs a backup it simply replaces the oldest backup on the SD card, preventing the SD card from getting full of old backups.
This is not to say that this a simple or shallow program. If you have the time and inclination to play with the settings, it can do some pretty clever things. Many backup programs struggle with Treos that use non-volatile file storage (NFVS), such as the Treo 650. Background programs running on the Treo can cause a reset when a backup is attempted, but Resco allows you to select applications to ‘lock’ allowing a problem free backup.
You can perform full or partial backups, even causing the program to backup only those programs that have changed since your last backup. This makes for a much quicker backup and smaller backup files. If space on your SD card is at a premium, you can alter the amount of compression and make the backup archives take up less space.
I do have one fundamental problem with software that backs up your Treo to the SD card, and this applies to Resco Backup as well as any similar software. It can make you very blasé about the safety of the data on your Treo, living safely with the knowledge that if anything happens you can restore your Treo with minimum effort. However, the SD card that your backups are on is probably the same SD card that lives in your Treo 24/7, meaning if you lose your Treo you also lose all your backup data. For this reason I make sure that I periodically copy the backup folder from my SD card onto a PC for safe keeping. If this is a major issue for you, then an alternative would be backupbuddy.net which allows you to backup your Treo over the data connection to a secure server.
Overall, I believe Resco Backup to be the best software of its type. If you want an easy to use application that will completely backup your Treo to the SD card, then I suggest you try the free 14 day trial version or buy it from the mytreo.net/store (for just $14.95). Our members seem to like this program as much as I do as it has been downloaded nearly 5,000 times and rated 9 out of 10 possible stars.
Related Links
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Great review, and as far as the line “I believe Resco Backup to be the best software of its type” - I couldn’t agree more. Honestly, the value of this tool was immediate to me when a problem with my 650 meant I had to return it for a replacement. After receiving the replacement, I put my SD card in the new Treo, opened Resco, performed a restore, and… there it was; all my stuff.
It’s also invaluable to use a backup tool if you want a stable Treo. I suggest the following:
Set up two backup sets with Resco - the default set, and a ’stable’ set. The default set should back up everything on a scheduled basis (I have mine back up everything at 3am - minus some transient files that I don’t care to backup, like the google maps cache and blazer cache) - This should get you out of most hairy moments very well.
The stable set, however, I’ve set up as a manual backup job. When I feel I’ve got a stable set of applications working on my treo, I make a new backup (keeping the old ones too) and I know I can ALWAYS get to a base install of just the apps I know are stable… consider it analogous to Windows XP’s “restore points”.
A highly recommended product!
I don’t think Resco is the best software of its type. I suppose you go with your own likes or dislikes but, I personally prefer the BackupBuddyVFS program as it does all that and more. I think it would be better to compare other backup programs with Resco than to say Resco is the best. How is it better? What does it do better than BackupBuddyVFS or BackupMan? As far as I can tell BackupBuddyVFS supports scheduled backups, zip compression, encryption, app locking, continuous backups, automatic backups, automatic management of saved backup sets etc. It also supports backing up different devices to one memory card - something that Resco doesn’t support. This sounds better than Resco to me.
BBVFS has also been around a lot longer than Resco and has related desktop software to perform full backups when you hotsync. I got the desktop BackupBuddy for Windows Pro and BackupBuddyVFS together in a bundle deal and my data is safe no matter what. I guess if I lose my Palm and my hard drive on my PC crashes I could be in trouble. I better get a copy of BackupBuddy.net going too ;) I may sound paranoid, but once you lose over 500 contacts, hundreds of memos and other stuff, you tend to make sure things like that won’t happen again. Backup software is a must-have on the sometimes unstable Treo so cover your bases. I recommend checking out the package deals of BackupBuddy. Don’t forget if you lose your memory card or Treo, you are wasting your time if you only have something like Resco. Memory card backup is great, but in my opinion you really need to have a solid desktop backup too.
[quote]I tried free and commercial ones and found Resco Backup to be the best option for me.[/quote]
I use NVBackup (free) and wonder what Resco does that NV doesn’t. NV installed and has been backing up (although I haven’t restored) and it has been pretty easy so far. Before I go out and spend money on something that I think I already have, I would like to know what else it can do. Thanks!
i was in Maryland, MD on a business trip and all of a sudden my Treo 700p locked up and everytime I rebooted it was in a loop. I’ve looked around for a backup/restore apps and Resco backup rocks! on resco website they are currently having a sale. only $10.46 and its a real deal!
There are several things Resco does that the others don’t
1. Profiles to set up specific sets of selected files
2. Backup certain files when you exit a particular app (i.e., making changes in you calendar)
3. Clear DB cache after backup
4. Turn of device after backup
5. Backup every…’xx’ min, hours or days (instead of at certain time only)
6. Unlimited number of set of the same backup (doesn’t auto overwrite)
7. Backup before and/or after Hotsync
Among others
There are several things Resco does that the others don’t
1. Profiles to set up specific sets of selected files
2. Backup certain files when you exit a particular app (i.e., making changes in you calendar)
3. Clear DB cache after backup
4. Turn of device after backup
5. Backup every…’xx’ min, hours or days (instead of at certain time only)
6. Unlimited number of set of the same backup (doesn’t auto overwrite)
7. Backup before and/or after Hotsync
Among others
Re: mcapehart’s comments.
You are incorrect stating that others don’t have those features. BackupBuddyVFS Pro is one that has features like that:
profiles to backup specific sets = Yes
locking of selected db’s in memory = Yes
backup certain files when you exit an app = Yes
unlimited backups as much as you can store on your memory card = Yes
also it has Power off backup, backup after hotsync etc, allow device to power off screen during backup, and a lot of other custom settings.
BBVFS Pro can’t really be compared to Resco the same way some other applications might be since it has basically all the same features and options.
I use Resco Backup and there’s a particular feature I really appreciate.
Currently I do an update backup every night for 5 days of the week and a full back up twice a week.
But, every so often, say around 2 in the afternoon, I’ll enter some information in a calendar or memo pad entry that I do not want to lose.
I can go into Resco, and ask it to compare the internal database with the backup version on the SD card. With a single click, Resco will tell me which internal databases are “newer” than the SD card backup version, and highlight them. Then, with one more click, I can quickly back up all data that is new since the backup from the previous night.
Granted, this does not protect me should I lose the PDA altogether. But most of us only lose a PDA once or twice. For all the other days in between that stretch out to months and perhaps years, the main fear is some kind of glitch or crash that causes a loss of data.
Still, wireless backup must be pretty cool, but unfortunately the cost goes up on your data plan.
Encryption, data redundancy, there are a number of related issues that should be addressed by the Palm OS itself. In the meantime, a mishmash of laissez faire solutions is the responsibility of each user who has information to protect.
Resco is pretty good, and to date it’s still my choice.