Tuesday, February 7, 2006
Sprite Backup 5.0 Released
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "SOFTWARE" @ 04:00 PM
http://www.spritesoftware.com
One of the best selling pieces of software for the Pocket PC has been Sprite Software's Sprite Backup. It even comes on several models by default, like some of the iPAQ line. With the shift to ROM based storage and some changes to the database, existing versions of Sprite Backup simply don't work with Windows Mobile 5 devices. That changes today! Sprite Backup 5.0 is now available.
Starting the backup (click for full size image)
New features or enhancements include:
• Reliable backup and restore of Exchange synchronized mail messages. Earlier versions could back up Outlook synchronized messages, but those from Exchange would cause problems after the restore, preventing server sync.
• Performance improvements. In running a very quick test of the backup process, my JasJar was backed up, just over 29MB of data, in under 2 minutes! This included encrypting and compressing the data. It took nearly 5 minutes for the same amount of data on my old PDA2K.
• Automatic restore after a hard reset. This could be very valuable in the field. Just configure your employees' device to auto-restore should a hard reset happen. Of course, you should weigh the security concerns surrounding that for your particular organization.
• Autobackup to your PC on the first ActiveSync connection of the day.
Pricing is $29.95 for the Pocket PC version. If you are a previous owner, you need to buy the full version, then apply for a $14.95 rebate at the Sprite Software Customer Relationship Management site. Because 5.0 is so different from 3.x it wasn't possible to make an "upgrade" installer available. See below for a few more screen shots.
Backup is finished (click for full size image)
There are now 2 soft resets involved in backing up, one when it starts and one when it finishes. This screen pops up after the backup is finished.
Backup report (click for full size image)
You can view a quick summary of the backup job. You can see that it is wicked fast in finishing the job.
One of the best selling pieces of software for the Pocket PC has been Sprite Software's Sprite Backup. It even comes on several models by default, like some of the iPAQ line. With the shift to ROM based storage and some changes to the database, existing versions of Sprite Backup simply don't work with Windows Mobile 5 devices. That changes today! Sprite Backup 5.0 is now available.
Starting the backup (click for full size image)
New features or enhancements include:
• Reliable backup and restore of Exchange synchronized mail messages. Earlier versions could back up Outlook synchronized messages, but those from Exchange would cause problems after the restore, preventing server sync.
• Performance improvements. In running a very quick test of the backup process, my JasJar was backed up, just over 29MB of data, in under 2 minutes! This included encrypting and compressing the data. It took nearly 5 minutes for the same amount of data on my old PDA2K.
• Automatic restore after a hard reset. This could be very valuable in the field. Just configure your employees' device to auto-restore should a hard reset happen. Of course, you should weigh the security concerns surrounding that for your particular organization.
• Autobackup to your PC on the first ActiveSync connection of the day.
Pricing is $29.95 for the Pocket PC version. If you are a previous owner, you need to buy the full version, then apply for a $14.95 rebate at the Sprite Software Customer Relationship Management site. Because 5.0 is so different from 3.x it wasn't possible to make an "upgrade" installer available. See below for a few more screen shots.
Backup is finished (click for full size image)
There are now 2 soft resets involved in backing up, one when it starts and one when it finishes. This screen pops up after the backup is finished.
Backup report (click for full size image)
You can view a quick summary of the backup job. You can see that it is wicked fast in finishing the job.
