Backing up...and up and up!

[JDTagish]

I have had too much time on my hands the last few weeks, recovering from knee surgery...
My computer has been acting up lately, so in preparation for a hard drive reformating, I have been looking in to hard drive imaging software so that I can restore from an image that has my "essential" software already installed and their activations & registrations done, the way I do for my PPC.
Then it occured to me that I have files all over my computer for my PPC, and I wanted to get everything together, because once I reformat, I will have lost everything I have done this year. So I spent the last couple of evenings putting together a complete backup of all PPC related items onto discs.
First, I located the actual installation files for every piece of software I have installed, or own for the PPC and for PC applications relating to the PPC., including some obscure things that I have stumbled across here and there like a .LIT converter tool that converts from .LIT to pretty much any text format, which is really cool, since I hate MS Reader!
I created a folder on my desktop called PPC Files, and have sub folders in it for the different types of applications, like today plug-ins, themes, games, photo viewers, utilities, and whatnot, and placed the installation files in the appropriate sub folder.
I also went into the Activesync folder on my PC and copied as many CAB files as I could as well, and created a CABs sub folder as well, which I now carry on a separate small SD card with my travel kit, and should the worst ever happen while away from my PC, I should be able to recover most of the programs without a PC.
I have maintained an excel spreadsheet for awhile now that has pages that match to each piece of software and sub folder. The spreadsheet has the name of the software, the version number, VGA compatibility, required user name, registration code, and if it is installed, the installation location AND the download location I got the file from. (Most are easy, like Handango or Pocket Gear, but some are less easily gotten, like older BetaPlayer versions and some freeware.)
This has been invaluable to me, because I realized that I have acquired over 50 programs and not all of them are installed at the moment, but tracking down the download location and registration codes after a crash would be next to impossible, if I could even remember what they all were in the first place.
So, having all the installation files in one place and having the spreadsheet to match that has all the registration codes and the download locations (which I shouldn't need since I have the installation files, but still handy to have!) in one place and then burned onto disc as a backup seemed like a big project to start with, but will make maintaining the "system" and future backups a snap.
I also had done a complete hard reset on my PPC last month, and reinstalled all of my essential software (as a guest user) and entered all of the registration codes to go along with them, and then using Sprite Backup, created a 100% clean backup image, which I have stored in several locations, including the SD card I carry in my device and on the CABs SD card in the emergency kit. This makes a hard reset easier to do and restore from if there has been some corruption of the device. Of course this doesn't do much for any data, so I still do regular backups as well.
So, I decided to share this "system" with you guys just in case anyone is looking at getting a new computer, a new device or would like to back themselves up before the "worst" should happen.

[Brad Isaac]

Great tip JD hope you don't mind I sent it to the front page.
It's funny, last night I was fiddling with a setting in Pocket Controller and it hosed my device. The setting from the front screen whenre you can choose "Video Acceleration". I chose to "test" that setting and on soft reset, my today screen never came back.. So I was left with one option...
Sprite backup is indeed good for having a timely backup. (Mine does it every night at 4am). So I didn't lose anything at all.
Hope your knee gets better soon.

[JDTagish]

Thanks Brad...and I don't mind anyone thinking that something I write is worth encouraging others to read, or at least locating it in a spot where they are more likely to.
I hope the knee gets better soon too...going on 3 months now, and I'm really over it!