Birdiesync has pretty much lost everything. Thanks.

If BirdieSync 1.x constantly replaces your girlfriend's phone number with your mother's one, this forum is for you...
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Slidey
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2008 9:14 am

Birdiesync has pretty much lost everything. Thanks.

Post by Slidey »

Birdiesync has pretty much lost all my contacts, appointments, tasks

what a sh*t piece of software - to think I only registered it yesterday - whats the deal on getting a refund?

So it was in sync with my work pc yesterday. I tried to sync it with my vista laptop when i got home, and installed the version on the site - unfortunately this was a different version (1.6.5.0) so i had to reinstall. so far so good. unfortunately (but potentially my fault - the vista device manager is a bit shite) it deleted all my stuff on my phone. But no probs - I still have all my info on my work pc right?

so today i come to sync my phone to my pc. now my pc has the wrong version (1.6.4.0), and they're not backwards, sideways or forwards compatible in any way whatsoever. I install the new software onto my pc, and starts a sync. I have the drop down that says 'replace item on device' set, so that it'll sync to my phone. but what does it do? IT SYNCS THE PHONE TO MY PC

at this point i dont really care if its birdiesync or activesync thats the problem - i never had the problem with straight activesync, even with pcs and laptops in varying vista or xp configurations

so really its just a great big thanks for all the hard work - at least they're synced to eachother now! not that i can phone anyone, go to any meetings or remember to complete certain tasks

Teutobod
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Jul 28, 2007 6:11 pm

Re: Birdiesync has pretty much lost everything. Thanks.

Post by Teutobod »

Hi,

I sync my PDA for a while with Birdiesync and TB at home and office. Everytime I update BirdieSync I follow the Instructions in this forum and in the help. I never had any problems.

So, before flaming against Birdy and his really good piece of software, look at your own place for mistakes. If you update software (not especially BirdieSync) without any thougths about to do it in the right way this is just your problem. You still think about updating your OS to a new Version for a while, why don't for updating BS an read the related docs?


T

nixx
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2008 2:30 am

Re: Birdiesync has pretty much lost everything. Thanks.

Post by nixx »

Before you start flaming, throwing insults in this tone and blaming others for your own ignorance, you should try to understand how synchronizing in general works.

You admit that it was probably your own fault that Vista deleted all your data on the phone, so I 'll leave that for now. Now, when you got back to your work PC, it was to be expected that it would sync your phone to your PC (thus wiping all your data on your work PC too), because your phone was most recently updated (through your Vista sync process).

You see, synchronizing works like this : The data on each side (PC and phone) has a "last updated" timestamp. When the two sides are connected, the timestamps are compared, and the data that counts as valid is the data that has been changed since the last synchronization. When you sync'ed to Vista, your phone was, as far as software goes, "updated". So when you got back to your work PC, ActiveSync "saw" that your device was the one most recently updated, so it "updated" your PC with the new (in your case, empty) data.

The "replace item on device" preference that you talk about has to do with cases when data has been updated on both sides independently of each other. In that case, there would normally be a conflict, but "replace item on device" tells ActiveSync what to do in those cases. Here's what I mean by "independently of each other" : Say you sync at 12 o'clock, so you have the same data on both your PC and phone. Then you disconnect your phone from the PC. At 1 o'clock, you change an item on your phone, and at 2 o'clock you change the same item on your PC. Then, at 3 o'clock, you connect the phone to your PC. ActiveSync then "sees" that the same data has been changed on both sides independently, after the last successful synchronization. Then, you 're either asked to resolve the case manually, or a pre-determined action is taken, depending on your preference.

None of what you described was BirdieSync's fault, and none of it has to do with different versions, or anything else. It was purely your lack of understanding of the synchronizing procedure. BirdieSync does have its minor issues here and there, but in general it's a brilliant piece of software that works beautifully. I understand your frustration, but really, you have no one to blame but yourself.

nick

Birdy
Site Admin
Posts: 3118
Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 11:43 am
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Re: Birdiesync has pretty much lost everything. Thanks.

Post by Birdy »

Hello Slidey,

I am really sorry that you met these problems while synchronizing with BirdieSync and I understand that you consider it very frustrating.
A possible scenario that could lead to the loss of contacts or appointments on the mobile is if you unselected the Outlook contact, appointment or task synchronization in the WMDC partnership. A window can be then displayed warning you that it will delete contacts, etc. on the mobile device. If you agree, the items will be deleted on the mobile device and so at the next synchronization with BirdieSync it will delete them on the desktop.

As mentioned in the previous posts, if you synchronize with a second desktop, all the modifications performed on the mobile device will be automatically reproduced on this second machine. So if all the items were deleted on the mobile device, they will be deleted on the second desktop. So what happened with your work PC is part of the usual synchronization process. They are two conditions to get the "Replace/Combine items": you must be on a XP machine (on Vista, the "Combine" is automatic), and the partnership should have been deleted.

The general rule to remember is that once a partnership is established, all the modifications on the mobile device will be transfered to all the desktops it is synchronized with. This also true from the desktop to the mobile device. So to prevent the modifications to be transfered you must delete the partnership with ActiveSync or with the Windows Mobile Device Center.

I think that before installing BirdieSync or upgrading, it is always wise to make a backup of your data, either by using a tool like Mozbackup, PPCPimBackup or by copying the profile directory.

If you have more information about how you lost your items after the upgrade, I will try to understand with you what could have exactly happened.

nixx and Teutobod, I am very grateful regarding your answers. BirdieSync will continue to evolve and improve and I really appreciate your support.
Birdy

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