BackupBuddy 2 Public Beta Now Available

Posted By: Ryan Tuesday, May 18, 2004 11:39:10 AM

BackupBuddy 2 Beta for windows is now available for download. The new version introduces a unique process for backing up devices and storing all changes made to the device since the last backup in a database.

BackupBuddy 2.0 first announced at the PalmSource 2004 Developer Conference, is nearing completion. Blue Nomad has released their latest build as a free public beta trial open to everyone. Some of the new features include:

  • Stores backup copies of all the programs, settings, and data on your Palm Powered device on your PC.
  • Select specific backups as "Snapshots" to be maintained permanently, and choose an automatic Snapshot frequency.
  • Maintains a database of all file changes and deletions each time you back up.
  • Offers one-click restoration of your handheld's entire contents to any previous backup you have stored. This is a process that we call a "ZoomBack".
  • Ability to select all databases associated with a specific program for restoration.
  • Exclude specific files, file types, and card directories from being backed up.
  • Keeps archival copies of deleted programs and databases.
  • Maintain backups for multiple users on one PC.
  • Automatic Sync feature automatically HotSync's your handheld each day at a time you choose.

The BackupBuddy 2.0 beta is enabled until June 15th as a fully featured trial version. The developer is seeking feedback on the release. Keep in mind the software is a beta version and it is recommended you have an alternative backup available if using your personal device. The company says that upgrade pricing has yet to be determined, but all BackupBuddy for Windows users who registered after Jan. 1, 2004 are entitled to a complimentary upgrade. Other registered users will be entitled to a generous discount when BB2 is released.

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Interesting...

gfunkmagic @ 5/18/2004 12:21:06 PM #
This sounds like a combo of Bluesync and backup software. You can already use bluesync to backup the expansion card. Use this in combination with something like Backupman and you can have similar funtionality. However, it nice to see this all bundled into one seamless app...

I support http://Tapland.com/

--------------------
GNM

RE: Interesting...
mrborgs @ 5/18/2004 3:06:28 PM #
Not quite the same but another great program is Card Export 2 Softick. It allows your Palm to act like a card reader with Windows. It acts like another drive. Great program for I think $15. :)


RE: Interesting...
Alexis @ 5/18/2004 3:39:40 PM #
gf - BackupBuddy2 includes BackupBuddyVFS:Lite, which was the first program available for backing up to MMC/SD/MS. So, we think that BackupBuddy2 is the most complete backup solution available for PalmOS. ;-)

RE: Interesting...
Wollombi @ 5/18/2004 6:49:00 PM #
BB used to include the FULL version of BackupBuddyVFS, which would allow you to selectively backup certain files to the card.

Why did BlueNomad suddenly get cheap and only include the Lite version?

_________________
Sean

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

RE: Interesting...
Alexis @ 5/18/2004 7:35:20 PM #
Sean - the decision to include only the lite version was in part a marketing decision and in part a business decision, which may be more apparent after we relase 2.0. I'm sorry you feel that we're being cheap - but I must also add that we have *never ever* changed for an upgrade of anything. And in fact, we even gave our large installed base a totally free copy of BBVFS even when they had purchased BB 4 years ago. ;-)

RE: Interesting...
jasondv @ 5/18/2004 9:17:07 PM #
I can vouch for that. BB was my first software purchase for my Palm III 5 years ago. The upgrades kept coming, and they never charged for them. They also me a full version of BBVFS for free. They even sent me a beta of the OS 5 version when I needed it for a long trip.

Since moving to a Mac six months ago, though, I've been wishing that BB was available for OS X. I'd buy it the minute it's released...

RE: Interesting...
Alexis @ 5/18/2004 9:33:48 PM #
jason - thanks for the kind words. :-) BB2 has been written cross-platform (both the database & ui, which was done with wxWindows) so that we could do a Mac version (one of the problems with BB1.X was that it was never really written to be crossplatform). At this point, though, we may end up waiting for the new MarkSpace tools so that we can use GCC & XCode. We're watching it closely...believe it or not, we run a significant part of our operations on OS X & FreeBSD. So, we all want a Mac version too. ;-)

RE: Interesting...
jayman @ 5/19/2004 9:06:47 AM #
> BB used to include the FULL version of
> BackupBuddyVFS, which would allow you
> to selectively backup certain files to
> the card.

I have to agree with the above response to this - I registered BackupBuddy just after I bought the Palm III when it first came out. Over the years since then, I've been e-mailed notification of numerous upgrades (including the major change from a version which required a program on the Palm to the current version) and been given a free copy of the full version of BackupBuddyVFS (which was not in existence when I first registered BackupBuddy) - all without any upgrade fee.

I've only needed to e-mail support twice and on both occasions, the reply was quick and solved the issue which I had. Finally, of course, the program has saved me on several occasions from hours of tedious work restoring my Palm, e.g. when on holiday once when the battery drained overnight, I recharged and had fully restored everything from the SD card to exactly how it was within minutes.

BackupBuddy has been well worth whatever I paid 5+ years ago!

Two annoyances:

1 I use MessagEase (www.exideas.com) and there are two T3 DIA files which neither BackupBuddy nor BackupBuddyVFS appear to be able to backup. I've excluded them from the desktop backup but on BackupBuddyVFS, it says there's no way to set it to automatically backup all files except these two. Each time, I have to select all files and then manually unclick these two. Is this something which can be fixed for a later version ?

2 As others have written, the patent "error" looks funnny considering that the BlueNomad website and press release (still) mention it...

RE: Interesting...
Patrick @ 5/19/2004 2:19:40 PM #
Instead of complaining about Blue Nomad no longer providing something for free, I would have to thank them for providing a useful free app for the time that they did.

How can you complain about a company that did something for you (at least for a certain period of time) for free?? I don't call that cheap, I call it generous.

RE: Interesting...
bnystrom @ 5/19/2004 3:04:23 PM #
Alexis,

I have a question regarding the new version (by the way, been a long time user of BB1.x and recommend it often).

It appears that when you install BB2, it replaces the default Hotsync Manager backup conduit for all users (as it has always done). But, with BB2, you have a harder restriction that each hotsync user have a paid registration. Being a developer, I have many hotsync devices. Will I need to get a registration for each device now? BB1.x let you get away with a single license per desktop (although I'm not certain on the licensing restriction on bb1.x. I may have been abusing it). Or, is there a way to only use BB for some hotsync user accounts and not for the rest?

RE: Interesting...
Alexis @ 5/19/2004 5:50:42 PM #
Bryan-

Thanks for trying out the new version. Yes, technically with the old you were supposed to have separate licenses for each device, but we were pretty lenient with that because we understand that people often have multiple devices, including ourselves, and more so these days. With BB2, we will have something called a "family" license (we may rename that in the future). At any rate, this license will allow you to sync/backup as many devices as you want to a single desktop PC. We haven't really firmly decided on pricing, so *please* don't anyone hold me to this, but we were thinking around $39.95. Also note that it'll be much less than that for preexisting customers. Hope this helps. If you have any other suggestions, we're all ears. ;-)

RE: Interesting...
Alexis @ 5/19/2004 6:00:10 PM #
jayman-

MessageEase looks pretty cool actually...can you send in a bug report to beta@bluenomad.com and/or support@bluenomad.com with a detailed bug report for both desktop & BBVFS? (I just want to make sure that we see exactly what you do ;-). Thanks!



RE: Interesting...
optimist @ 5/20/2004 8:22:10 AM #
Alexis

I agree that BlueNomad has been kind regarding upgrades.

However, they have not been as kind regarding answering emails from customers. I emailed Blue Nomdad a few months ago regarding an issue with BB. No response from Blue Nomad so I kept chasing them up for a response. Months later and several emails later no response. Fortunately, a BB update solved the problem.

It is unfortunate that BB is such a great product, because I would jump ship ASAP due to the very poor support service.

Optimist

RE: Interesting...
bnystrom @ 5/20/2004 1:19:48 PM #
Alexis,

Thanks for the proposed "multi-device" license info. That would work great in my development enviornment.

> If you have any other suggestions, we're all ears. ;-)

...well, since you asked...bring back the progress bar in the dialog at sync time!

RE: Interesting...
Alexis @ 5/20/2004 1:47:49 PM #
Bryan-

Yes, well, you're not the first to ask for the progress bar. We'll bring it back - but we're trying to stay extremely disciplined about not adding stuff during the beta otherwise we'll never release it, and we've been working on it for a *long* time. ;-)

RE: Interesting...
Alexis @ 5/20/2004 1:53:02 PM #
optimist-

I'm very sorry to hear you've had a poor customer support experience, though I am a bit surprised since AFAIK most people are extremely happy with our customer support. Nonetheless, I understand that not everybody may feel that way. ;-) We just installed a new CRM system that I think should really help improve the customer support experience. Additionally, if you could send me some more info vis-a-vis your problems to sales@bluenomad.com I'd be more than happy to look into it and see what we can do to make sure it doesn't happen again in the future. And thanks for sticking with us - we/I do appreciate your patience and support.

Software patent alert!

Winter_ @ 5/18/2004 1:29:24 PM #
I've tried looking for info on that "patent-pending technology", but I have found nothing on the press releases nor BlueNomad's website.

Anyone knows anything?

I'd certainly investigate what exactly the patent tries to cover before buying. The product does not sound like anything too "advanced", so I don't feel the patent will be either. Let's hope this is not a new nasty roadblock for would-be developers...

RE: Software patent alert!
Alexis @ 5/18/2004 3:37:46 PM #
Winter - the "patent-pending" is/was a mistake that we'll correct. But just to be clear, we aren't currently pursuing or filing for any patents.

As far as it being advanced - I think it's incredibly advanced. FWIW. ;-)



RE: Software patent alert!
Ben S @ 5/18/2004 4:08:13 PM #
That's good... 'cos as we all know, software patents are EVIL. :-)

RE: Software patent alert!
Winter_ @ 5/18/2004 7:19:55 PM #
Wow, Alexis... then that has been quite a pretty widespread error. I think I've seen it on about 6 sites, at least 2 of them on BlueNomads' site. In fact it's on the homepage. If that is untrue, shouldn't it be corrected ASAP?


RE: Software patent alert!
Alexis @ 5/18/2004 7:34:04 PM #
Winter if you don't mind, could you send an email to us at sales@bluenomad.com where you see that?

Thanks. ;-)

RE: Software patent alert "error"
Winter_ @ 5/19/2004 8:56:34 AM #
Try this.

http://www.google.com/search?q=patent+backupbuddy+2+bluenomad

Note that the result does not include this PIC page.

However, why do you need that? Bluenomad's main homepage still is showing the "error". Not to mention the Press Release on the site.

This doesn't feel very right, does it?

RE: Software patent alert!
Blue Nomad @ 5/19/2004 2:19:35 PM #
Thanks for the link.. I have edited the home page and press release page.. those were both items from February and we missed them when
the description of BB2 was updated. I've also contacted PIC to edit the news item above to remove the patent-pending from the description of BB2.. I had copied and pasted the description from an earlier version of our manual. Sorry for the confusion!


Blue Nomad,LLC
www.bluenomad.com

RE: Software patent alert!
Strider_mt2k @ 5/19/2004 5:48:38 PM #
I feel safer.


Mac version?

dsm363 @ 5/18/2004 10:46:42 PM #
Is there ever going to be a Mac version? I bought Backup Buddy in 2000 and there has yet to be a single update to this product so it doesn't with with OS 5 and OS X.
RE: Mac version?
Alexis @ 5/19/2004 12:04:11 AM #
dsm - we certainly hope so. Please see my comments above. ;-)

Looks good!

Ambassador @ 5/19/2004 12:48:25 AM #
I d/l BB2 and it seem to work fine, I'm not sure I really want to hard reset to find out just how great it is :-\. I have been very satisfied with BB to date and yes BlueNomad has been very generous with upgrades and with BBVFS.

This new version is greatly enhanced with the ability to see each file and a better UI to control the syncing of each database.

I would like to see mirroring returned to this product as I have a conviction that someday my palm and my pc might conspire to destroy my data and I will need to have a mirrored copy of my most recent backup on removable media.

When I emailed support they assured me that this feature would soon be included. I hope before they release the non-beta version!

Serving Christ thru serving others,

Stuart

RE: Looks good!
Alexis @ 5/19/2004 1:31:59 AM #
Stuart-thanks for your comments. Right now we're pretty much feature frozen for 2.0 but we hope to reintroduce that feature for 2.1.

RE: Looks good!
Patrick @ 5/19/2004 2:28:53 PM #
> I'm not sure I really want to hard reset to find out just how great it is :-
What you quickly find out working in IT is that doing backups is easy -- everybody and his brother apparently does them. What's hard is a restore.


RE: Looks good!
Ambassador @ 5/19/2004 4:59:18 PM #
Due to BB1 never having failed me I will move forward under the assumption that BB2 will not either. I have had numerous hard resets for a variety of reasons and I have always been able to fully restore using BB1 or BBVFS depending on if I was home or away. Thanks BlueNomad for an excelent product!

Serving Christ thru serving others,

Stuart

RE: Looks good!
Alexis @ 5/19/2004 5:56:42 PM #
Patrick-

Your comments about restoring are very true - esp. on PalmOS devices - they're very tricky these days. If you do a ZoomBack restore, then BB2 will be the one actually restoring your device (not the Install conduit, which does it, by default on hard reset). We definitely do some things that the Install conduit doesn't to make both restoring and device migration easier. Don't know if that makes you feel any better, but there you have it. ;-)

BackupBuddy ROCKS!

Strider_mt2k @ 5/19/2004 6:18:52 AM #
Plain and simple.

BackupBuddy and especially BBVFS have saved my hide so many times that I should have bought it twice!

Glad to see a great thing getting greater!

Developer Interaction

a_nonamiss @ 5/19/2004 12:48:49 PM #
I'll tell you, it's very nice to see such interaction from the developer on this site. Although I am not yet a BlueNomad customer, it is refreshing to see no-nonsense responses to both praise and criticism from "the masses." There are some direct, pointed criticisms of the developer and some equally direct "no-BS" responses from the developer. Thank you for setting an example BlueNomad!

Arthur

Palm Pilot 1000 > Palm Pilot Professional > Palm III > Palm M100 > Sony Clié PEG-T415 > Palm T|T3

How about Migrate Buddy?

ssnider @ 5/19/2004 6:34:44 PM #
I have been an avid user of Install and Backup Buddy since my Palm IIIx. It would be cool if there was an addon to Backup Buddy that would assist in migrating to a new unit that would only migrate the non-OS files to the new handheld. But, alas with OS4, 5 & 6 and different versions of apps for those OS it is probably to hard to do now, but it would be so Cool. Worth 30 bucks by itself to me.

Scott

--------
I was bleeding edge when I bought my Palm IIIxe.......But I sold it [Palm IIIX->Palm IIIXe->Clie SJ20->Sony SJ33]

RE: How about Migrate Buddy?
Alexis @ 5/19/2004 6:39:50 PM #
ssnider-

Thanks for your suggestion. BB2 actually does have facilities for this, and does make a "best attempt". But unfortunately, it's basically impossible to do it 100% because there's no programatic way for us to know what is or is not an OS file (i.e. one that belongs on a Sony but not on a PalmOne unit). Short of enumerating all the files on all the devices, of course. What we really need is an attribute on a database that says for sure that it should never be migrated outside the same device or OS. Maybe PalmSource can add something like this in OS6 - it sure would make our jobs a lot easier. ;-)


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