Cannot recover Desk top Data

Question

I have an IIIxe which quit working 2 weeks ago. Before I could get a new one my hard drive on my computer crashed. I have recovered the address files and down loaded Palm 4.01. I cannot get my newly loaded Palm desk top to read the recovered files. I have names and phone numbers that I desperatly need to recover.
Thanks,
Randy
Post relates to: Palm IIIxe

Answer 1

Are these files from the same version of Palm desktop that you are installing? They must be from the exact same version number or the files will not work.
You are going to need to rename the files. Are these files only named .bak or are there files with the .dat extension? The .bak file is a backup of the .dat file. The .dat file is the primary file that stores the data for Palm desktop. If you only have.bak files, rename those to .dat and then open Palm desktop to see if the data is restored.
Here is the procedure for recovering data.
You can recover the data from your user folder provided you have only sync'ed once with the PC when you discovered the data missing. When you sync to the PC there are files created for each PIM category in your user folder. For Example; datebook.dat or datebook (Depending on the version of Palm Desktop) and datebook.bak. Using 6.2 the file names are .mdb and mdb.bak. For 6.2, the files are located in the username folder in PalmOSdesktop in my documents.
The files are named .dat and .bak. When you sync, the current data is stored in .dat. The next time you sync the data in the .dat file is copied to the .bak file. You can rename the .dat to .old. then rename the .bak to .dat. If the data in the .bak file is intact, it will now be in palm desktop when you reopen Palm desktop. I have included a link to show you how to find the userfolder on the PC.
http://www.palm.com/cgi-bin/cso_kbURL.cgi?ID=26674
Here is another link regarding data loss;
http://www.palm.com/cgi-bin/cso_kbURL.cgi?ID=39503
The best way to backup your data is to use the export feature in Palm Desktop. Make a new folder on the PC desktop named Palm Desktop Backup data. Next, select the category you want to export. You will get a window that asks where you want to save the file, save in the folder created on the desktop. There is a button that allows you to select currently selected record or all, select all. If you don't select all, then only the record highlighted is exported. You will then need to name the file for export, I suggest the name of the category, eg: datebook (With current date). Do this for all critical data in each category. With the data exported to the folder on the PC desktop, you can save this data to a flash drive, external hard drive or a CD-RW. With this method you will have your data in a seperate place than Palm desktop and the device. If you "Lose" data again, you can import the data back into palm desktop.
Make sure that when you make changes in palm desktop or the device to export the data to the folder created for the backup.
Here is a link for other options for backing up your data;
http://www.palm.com/cgi-bin/cso_kbURL.cgi?ID=28751