When Data is Lost During a HotSync
Even during a successfull HotSync data can be lost. There are numerous reasons. In order for computers to synchronize information for any application there are specific checks and additional information that is stored so that the programs can determine the status of every individual record in a database.
When a record (ie: account, cross-connection, BFP, hydrant, etc.) is deleted, modified or added to the desktop database there is a comparison that occurs during the synchronization process to determine if the program should delete, modify or add that record to the handheld. There are many, many scenarios that can occur and the synchronization conduit is responsible for ensuring that data is not lost.
On the rare occasion that data IS lost, there are steps that can be taken to attempt to recover that missing data.
Using the PDB Backup file to recover the missing data
- During every HotSync the data on the handheld is backed up on the desktop computer. The location of the backup data varies from handheld to handheld. First, start by opening "My Computer" and navigating to the "C:\Program Files" folder. Look for the "Palm" or "palmOne" folder and open it. Inside the Palm folder you will have to look for the folder that corresponds to the handheld name that lost the data. Once you have located that folder, open it and then open the "HanDBase3" folder, and then the "backup" folder. Below is an example of the full path to the HanDBase3 backup folder:
C:\Program Files\palmOne\TXM\HanDBase3\backup
- Inside the backup folder contains the previous 10 backups for the handheld and desktop PDB files. PDB stands for "Palm DataBase". In order to view the data contained within those files the HanDBase Desktop application will need to be installed. If you do not have a copy of HanDBase Desktop, please open a trouble ticket and we will be happy to assist you with the data recovery.
- With HanDBase Desktop installed, open the PDB file with the date that would be closest to the last time you remember the handheld having the lost data.
- When you have located the missing data you will need to convert the PDB file into an MS Access MDB file. In order to recover the data, Microsoft Access will need to be installed.
- Refer to the support article located here "Converting a PDB file to a MDB database file" to convert a PDB file into an MS Access database file.
- Once you have the information recovered to a MDB database file, you can open the database with Microsoft Access and copy and paste the missing records into another MDB file (ie: FAST, UtiliTrak, etc.).
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