We've just been alerted to an unsettling trend in
Palm Pre land, where strings of replacement devices are a bit too common for comfort: some users have been losing their Palm Profile backup, or a large majority of it, once they pair up their new device. The big issue is that since this problem is rather sporadic, Palm doesn't seem to have a good way to deal with it yet -- the trend in the forums seems to be a complaint sent to Palm, followed up by word of an inability to restore data from Palm a few weeks later. Lucky for these hapless Pre replacers, a particularly repeat offender (working on his seventh Pre) has posted instructions for making sure this sort of data loss doesn't happen to you. His theory is that it has something to do with a refurbished device loaded with an old firmware trying to sync with the newer-firmware-styled backup your dead device made with Palm's servers, and messing stuff up in the process. He recommends walking out of the store before Sprint tries to trip you up, and upgrading and wiping the phone before reactivating it and syncing. Sounds foolproof enough, right? Let's hope.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Have you had any problems with restoring a Palm Pre profile?| Haven't had to replace my Pre | 1369 (13.3%) |
|---|
| Replaced my Pre and synced up just fine | 681 (6.6%) |
|---|
| Yeah, I lost data to a Palm Profile "restore" | 574 (5.6%) |
|---|
| I'm a genius and figured out a foolproof restore method already | 289 (2.8%) |
|---|
| I don't have a Pre | 7405 (71.8%) |
|---|
posted November 21st 2009 3:44PM
It's unvierified that you're first.
You should probably check that first.
I have been through 4 Palm Pres, and on this 5th one, I lost all of my contacts. I've spent hours on the phone with Palm and Sprint and they have essentially told me that my contacts are gone. I lost tons of contacts.
What does this teach us about maintaining our own backups and not buying first run products?
This isn't exactly confined to just Palm. Data backups for mobiles are notoriously unreliable, as I've found to my cost several times :-(
It's a good idea to periodically back up all your contacts in Thunderbird / Outlook / which-ever-other-email-client-you-use. Then if restoring the data directly doesn't work, you still have your backup.
Yeah, Outlook works pretty well.
Android's automatic and unavoidable cloud backups are as reliable as Gmail.
So far so good, as far as I know Google has never lost anyones data.
Never lost anyone's data? I think you're being a little optimistic ...
Besides, as you say, Android is different ... the cloud backups are unavoidable, and with them come a completely different set of issues.
How can you possibly lose your contacts? If you maintained a your Google Contacts then it just syncs them to the phone.
He must have input them on the phone manually, which TBH I don't understand. I use Google Contacts so that I am not tied to Palm, and so that I can access them anywhere.
Never had a problem with my Palm Profile BTW.
How could you have ever had a problem with Palm Profile if you are using Google for your contacts?
All the more reason Palm should release backup software for WebOS. It doesn't make any sense that we can't back up our data on our home machine with Palm provided software.
this happened to me, i had a bad string of refurb pre's. i had 3 fail in days of replacement for various reasons. then the lady at sprint attempted to restore my profile, and wiped everything...i was so mad, i almost left sprint. i wouldnt mind as much if palm had a simple way of backing up contacts to outlook, rather then using the cloud and gmail. i dont use gmail, or exchange. so i was s.o.l. palm said. i had sprint give me a hero, and i hated it went back to my pre, this one seems to be working well. lets hope it stays that way
That happened to me!
this happened to me just the other day. my power button broke, and the folks in the downtown NYC sprint store were good enough to replace it with a brand new unit. all my apps and settings successfully transferred over to the new device, but only 2 of my 126 phone numbers! i spent three hours in the sprint store (at least an hour after it was technically closed) trying to have them get my numbers back...but they couldn't. they said the pre is the only phone that they can only transfer contacts ONTO rather than OFF OF via physical wire...otherwise it would have been a non-issue. by 9pm they gave me a number for palm's sprint support team and for the next 2 days i spoke with three dfferent people, none of whom had any way to help (basically, the only tool they have is to do a 'partial erase' to wipe the data and re-synch). there are 3 levels of palm support...and level 1 and level 2 could do nothing and i got a vm telling me level 3 is working on the problem. in the end, i brought my old phone (a RAZR2 v9) and had them do another transfer. definitely NOT what i expected from something considered a FEATURE by palm.
This whole thing is disturbing just in its frequency. I was really hoping to get a Pre when it goes to Verizon, but if they don't improve the quality there's no way I'm getting one.
I really wouldn't put any store on the results of an Engadget self-selecting poll.
So update your firmware before applying the backup and everything works fine?
Nope, other people have posted their experiences with this...it doesn't work. Palm really messed up bad somewhere and they still haven't corrected the issue.
maybe the pre was using a guest account
get google it stores all contacts
and get google voice while ur at it ( to txt over wifi)
this happened to me but its not a big deal if you sync your stuff to google or exchange since they always have your information and you just put in your log in and get all of the info back....the backup feature always retained the log in information for google and exchange but they never actually backed up that data since its not on there service, the people that for screwed here are the ones that backup with palm putting your contacts and calendar onto google....this even makes it easier if you move one day to an android device or to the islab.
Isn't the real story here the fact that some Pre owners have had their devices replaced multiple times. What is causing this? Build quality, software?
Hey guys, I am a store manager for Sprint. The reason your data is being wiped when you replace your old Pre is due to the firmware version on the two devices differ. Here is the way:
This procedure will provide a method of updating the replacement webOS phone to the latest version of software before signing in to restore your Palm profile. Follow the steps below:
1. Ensure that the replacement phone is activated by your wireless service provider with voice and data provisioning.
2. Power on the replacement phone by pressing and holding the power key. After the phone boots, select “Create New Profile.”
3. Create a fake/”dummy” Palm profile using the following format (where x should be any random character) for your email address: xxxxxx@updatewebos.com . Create a password of your choosing to associate with this fake email address.
4. After the phone finishes the setup process, you will be brought to card view. If available and if your phone supports it, open the connections menu, and try to connect to Wi-Fi. If you cannot, ensure that you see Ev in the upper right hand corner of your screen. The data connection will be used to download a software update.
5. Ensure that your battery is charged above 30%. If it is charged below 30%, please charge your phone until it reaches 30% or replace the battery.
6. Go to Launcher > Updates
7. If an Update is available, download and install the update. If no update is available, continue to step 7
8. Go to Launcher > Device Info
9. Confirm that software version is webOS 1.3.1 or higher. If the software version is not 1.3.1 or higher, use webOS doctor (visit http://palm.com/rom), or check for an Update again in the Updates app.
10. Go to Device Info > Resets
11. Tap Full Erase twice
12. Your phone is now updated to the latest version of webOS, and ready to accept a new Palm profile.
a. Ensure the phone has a strong Ev data connection
b. Select “Sign In To My Profile.”
c. Enter your personal Palm profile email address and password (not the “dummy” profile setup in step 2). Your Palm profile will now restore on to the replacement phone using the latest version of WebOS.
DONE! No data loss! Let me know if there's anything else we can do!
Not so fast. I was in the sprint-less store yesterday for hours and plan to go back to day at 12:01 when they unlock the door. They want me to rekey all my contacts, tasks(100's btw) calendar. None to mention my mail. It's a crock of S. and what kind of mckiver solution is u'rs. i didn't even understand the whole dummy(aka sprint) user profile thing. At least you tried to give a solution. And if it was fool proof why isn't that solution known to all sprint stores? Communication break down?
Also, my old phone was os 1.2.1 i believe and NEW one out of the box was 1.2.1 as well. We did go thru the upgrade to 1.3.1. on the New one. Should the old one have been upgraded to 1.3.1. b4 we started this exersize? And, can u wrap u'r brain around this? Is my NEW phone with the bad contact information, calender, tasks... going to now update Sprint in the sky overlay my good information that the old phone supposedly had there. Point being. There may be a timing element to this debacle.
I have worked at a Sprint store for 4 years. I had to replace a customer's palm pre because the touchscreen quit working. Before I exchanged her out with a recon, my tech came over to me and gave me a printout of the exact instructions listed in this blog. It took forever to download and install the update. The customer was being very patient and I told her that the process may take a long time, but I want to make sure that she has the latest software and that we get her contacts restored. Well, after waiting an hour for the update to download, verify, install, and then sign in with dummy profile, hard reset the phone, and sign back in with her original palm profile, the contacts did not restore. We then did another full erase. Still, no contacts. They are gone. So, this process does not always work. I did it EXACTLY how it was laid out. I wish I would have just exchanged it without the update like normal. Now I'll probablt get a bad survey! :(
I've had no problems with re-syncing after I had to replace my Pre (my fault on why it needed to be replaced, Sprint was kind enough to swap it out.) Backing up with Gmail/Outlook is a great idea with any phone, not just this one - it's always a good idea to keep your data safe somewhere else. My co-worker, who also broke his Pre (flew out of his pocket while he was on an amusement park ride...) paid for the insurance to get a new one and it also synced fine. I don't think this is a truly widespread problem, but hopefully it gets fixed ASAP.
Wtf, I want my username back. Why did I have to make a new one?
Replaced my Pre last week due to a faulty power button and same thing happened to me - no contacts except for the 2 standard sprint customer service numbers. Thankfully Gmail saved the day.
I just can't understand why people with over 300 contacts wouldn't take a second to backup their data...
I doubt that the pre's exhange/replacement frequency is much different than most phones.
I am surprised at how few palm pre's are out there. Palm needs to make a landscape qwerty slider now!
It might end up being as popular as the Samsung Moment!
Desperate times............
Had one Palm Pre since the first or second week they came out. Slowly some hardware things became inconvenient, including parts of the touchscreen. Went to the Sprint store, got a refurb, DATA LOSS, and that refurb had a faulty hinge, am on my third Pre now. Palm tells me they are looking for my data, we'll see! A. Yeah I have Exchange, Google and all that, but there were some contacts that dated back through a Centro, a half dozen Treo's and other Palms back to the Palm III series! Bring back HotSync (yes I know its in Classic)!!!
I lost Tasks and Memos when I did full restore (webOS doctor) about 2 weeks ago. I don't use the Palm Profile for contacts or calendar. I just thought that Tasks and Memos weren't backed up until I read the post on this issue on PreCentral. They were speculating it was due to data corruption.
Wow, this just re-inforces my faith in Microsoft's MyPhone backup system for Windows Mobile phones. never failed me the numerous Win Mobile devices i've swapped out since i've been using it.
My Treo Pro just upped and died on me yesterday and Sprint is sending me a new unit and Microsoft Myphone backs up my phone automatically daily, so i whip out my 3yr old Treo 700Wx to hold me over till i get my replacement Treo Pro. Installed MyPhone back on old 3 yr Treo 700Wx and everything came flowing back into my phone..contacts, calendar, sms, photos, vids, music, notes...awesome!
Hey, is that cloud computing over there wearing BAD IDEA jeans?
Even the polls are italic
?oot tfel ot thgir esu dluohs tegdagne ebyaM
No wonder Palm has been hacking in support for iTunes and not writing their own program, their coders can't code worth crap.
They must of hired the Apple coder who set up the Snow Leopard Guest Account.
I lost all my contacts after I updated my firmware to 1.3.1. No exchange necessary.
I HATE MY PALM PRE - It crashes constantly...if I talk on it for more than 3 minutes it hangs up...forget trying to use it other than in the speaker mode if your going to use it for any length of time. The Apps all seem to work...which is great...I have a phone so that I can talk on it...HELLO!!!
hello?
I'm the opposite. The phone works great and never crashes on me but the lack of graphic acceleration makes apps a little sluggish. Can't wait for a software update to enable GPU acceleration. Compared with my iTouch I like the interface on the Pre better but it's just not as smooth at the moment without the GPU optimization.
I didn't even need to replace my pre to lose my contacts. My pre was very laggy after updating to 1.3.1 so after a few days of frustration, I decided to use Palm's webos doctor to bring it back to a default, pristine state. (just doing a phone based reinstall was not good enough)
After logging back into my palm profile, all of my contacts were gone from when I originally transfered them from my previous phone by the sprint store.
Luckily, I still had my phone, a sanyo m1. I exported all of my contacts to my pc through bluetooth, and now have them in my google contacts list. I recommend everyone do the same.
To Pre users who are exchanging their phones because of "battery" problems:
Mine was shutting off sporadically and I did a lot of research. What I found was a plethora of shim, replacement battery, etc. solutions.
My solution was easy. I carefully and correctly re-inserted the battery. There are two tabs on the top of the battery. You put the battery in at an angle, top first, making sure that the tabs are fully inserted. Then, you lower the bottom of the battery in and snap it into place. Since I've done this, no manner of ill handling causes it to shut off.
Seems to me that fewer replacement phones equals less backup/restore issues. In case you're interested, this phone is one of the best gadgets I've ever owned and I've owned quite a few! Unfortunately, press like this will ruin it for all of us who love this quality product AND Palm.
Just swapped mine through ASS-urion when the screen got cracked. No problems syncing but all my data is really on Google and Exchange so I don't really care about any Palm profile. I actually made a new one for the new device because I wanted to start from scratch and not pull down anything from the old profile such as installed apps.