Hotsync…To some it is a glorious process filled with love and happiness and pink flowers. Others cringe at hearing the word, thinking of the slow transfer speeds and various hotsync oddnesses, and blood comes out of their eyes when they are forced to do it. For that second group a nice backup utility is a must have, since we all know the pains of a hard reset with an old backup on the PC.
There are many backup titles out on the market, and today we’ll look at Resco Backup. If you have never heard of the company before, be sure to check out their products! Resco creates a variety of other quality Palm OS titles that scored rave reviews on TamsPalm(Resco Explorer, Resco PhotoView, Resco Neews)!
This review is based on a preview release of the just-released version 2.01, which adds a number of new features including:
- Basic interface for novice users
- New options in Restore
- Easy predefined projects (Images, Contacts, phone, preferences)
- More possibilities in the scheduler
When you fire it up you have the choice between two interfaces: advanced mode (the default mode), and the new Basic Mode, which is designed for ease of use. Below are advanced mode (Left) and Basic Mode (Right)
The restore interface has also received a nice facelift. One of the cooler features is a new per app restoration, useful for rolling back to an old version in case of a bad installation. The main restore screen allows you to choose how you would like to restore (all databases, per app, or by choosing exactly which databases to restore)
There are also new scheduling options. A nice one is the option to backup on power-off. You could use this to keep your preferences up to date or save important documents just by turning off your device for a moment.
Another new feature is the option to create Template backups. These are predefined projects that can allow a new user to easily set up new projects.
Resco Backup was designed with the new NVFS devices in mind. It has many options to keep your device from crashing. During the backup or restore it is likely that your DbCache can become fragmented. This absolutely kills your device’s performance, but Resco Backup can keep this fragmentation to a minimum and can completely clear your DbCache. However, this can lead to other icky problems when apps that were coded before NVFS’s release was put into use get cleared from the cache. RB solves this by allowing you to lock apps that could cause trouble into the DbCache.
The backup and restore themselves are hard to beat. They have superior speed, and great compression rates to boot. A detailed review of the speed is coming soon…
So, to wrap it up, Resco Backup is no longer an app just for freaks anymore: now it can easily picked up by someone new to the Palm and easily used. And it’s a must have at just $15!
The TamsShop runs a promotion on popular Resco titles. Use the discount code RESCO4ME to get 20% off Explorer, PhotoView, Neews and Backup for the next week or so…
Related posts:
Here’s an unrelated question – what do you use for your Palm screen captures? The several tools I’ve tried haven’t worked well for me.
And now, a related question and a comment:
1) “RB solves this by allowing you to lock apps that could cause trouble into the DbCache.” How do you decide which titles need to be locked and which do not?
2) Although Resco’s upgrade policy is usually a 50% discount for major versions, their staff informed me that the upgrade from 1.x to 2.01 was a free one. The effectiveness of their apps coupled with their strong customer service are what keep me loyal to their product line.
First comment:
I use screendumpDa by Alex Pruss: http://www.1src.com/freeware/fileinfo.php?id=1558
Second:
Also, you can use Resco Lock (free) to find out what applications are registered for notifications. These must be locked into the cache.
1) I set the defaults
2) The folks at Resco are very nice!