My Palm IIIxe crashed and I can't find my data...

Question

I have a Palm IIIxe (yes, it's old) but it works or worked for me.  I don't use it too often, maybe twice a month.  When I tried to use it I noticed nothing happened when I turned it on.  Dead Batteries.  When I replaced the batteries I had no data.  No problem, I'll just sync it to my computer (windows XP).  After I went through the motions of sync.  I got lots of errors and there was still no data on my handheld.  I tried to open the Palm on my desktop, but got "Error:  Failed to open Address Data Base".  All I could do is click OK and the palm SW closed and sent an error report to Microsoft....  What do I do now, I have no access to my data.  I still have the Desktop software v3.1 that came with the device and the handbook.  I am temped to uninstall the SW and reinstall, but I don't want to loose all my data.  Can anyone help???
Post relates to: Palm IIIxe

Answer 1

check the username assigned to the device.
open hotsync icon in the device and check the upper right hand corner.
remember that username.
warning: this process is very critical to your part as you no longer have information/data in your device.
you can opt to disregard this however, if you can perfectly execute this one there is a possibility that you can still recover your data.
you can also reopen the palm desktop software.
saving your username folder/data:
1. right click palm desktop icon and choose properties
2. click on find target button to open the palm folder
3. locate the username folder (similar or same to what you assigned to the device)
4. once you are able to identify the username folder, right click on that folder
5. choose copy and paste it to your desktop (you are now have a backup of your data in the desktop)
6. after copying is done, right click again the username folder and rename it to username-old
7. close everything in the PC
8. verify the username you copied in the desktop if it is there
9. attempt to open the palm desktop software
once the palm desktop is open then you are able to eliminate the corrupted files.
you can then check the contents of the username folder you saved in the desktop if the files in each folder have significant file sizes.
this is for you to make sure that you have significant data to import.
importing files from the saved username to the palm desktop:
1. open palm desktop
2. click or choose datebook
3. click file and choose import
4. in the look in drop down menu, locate the username folder you save in the desktop and open it
5. locate the datebook folder and open it
6. usually you will not see any files on it so in the filename field, type *.* to reveal all the files
7. locate the file datebook.dat or sometimes if the file extensions are not shown it will just show datebook
8. highlight that file and choose import
9. importation will then follow
10. check the files that you have imported
repeat the steps given on the other conduits like addresbook, todo list and memopad.
importing
Post relates to: Treo 680 (Unlocked GSM)