Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : Four ways to lose data while travelling


JMckie
07-17-2005, 12:01 PM
I've read many posts where people lost their data while travelling. I didn't think it would happen to me.

On a five-week trip, I brought along my Axim, GPS10, iQue 3600, and install CDs. I prepared my desktop for remote access and FTP, so that I could get whatever I needed remotely. I left the laptop behind. I was prepared, and everything was working nicely.

Somewhere in the middle of the trip, my desktop at home stopped responding. Later on I would find out that there was a power outage, and even though I had a UPS, my PC simply powered off.

I read about the magnetic mishaps when you put a strong magnet next to your credit cards. I was consciously of this, but just one time, I absentmindedly put them in the same pocket. I don't have to tell you what a hassle it is to not be able to use your ATM and credit cards while travelling. Two cards got clobbered. (For this reason alone, I consider the GPS10 unsuitable for handheld use. The potential for accidents is just too great)

Then my 1Gb Lexar SD on the Axim got corrupted. One day it was working, when I woke up I had lost 80% of the data on it. I don't know what happened. On scanning the forums I discovered that this was not uncommon. I know four people personally who own PPCs. It turns out it has happened to all of them.

I lost all the data in the "My Documents" folder of the SD card. I also lost access to all the the apps on the card, including the Que software and most of the games. (Now I am thinking of getting a large CF card just so I can backup the SD card. I just won't keep any personal data on the CF card, just media files.)

After reformatting the SD card the first thing I did was to make a new backup of the system. Which was a good thing because:

Two days later, I was watching on my Axim (through wifi streaming) and the thing just froze. I tried to reset and all I got was a dark screen. I had to hard reset to recover. In four months this was my first hard reset of the unit. I was able to restore from the recent backup.

The remainder of the trip I used the trusty iQue 3600 for GPSing, who this time didn't let me down.

jonasolof
07-18-2005, 03:23 AM
Me too.

I wouldn't go on a > 2 day trip in unknown areas without the iQue 3600 as a back up albeit I find the Loox 720 PPC screen easier to read in the car in full daylight. Navigation is simply too essential.

One of many unrealized projects is to modify a cradle so that I can have the PPC on the same Garmin base as the iQue 3600. The Loox 720 has audio out in in the bottom so I plan on using an IQue power/loudspeaker unit for it also. The easiest would be to have a connector in the cable, so I could have the same power unit/loudspeaker for both devices. and the same cradle base, incl. the option of the beam bag.

Also, I bought a high yield 5 volt charger (4 amps) so that I can charge any device without bringing all those chargers).

(BTW and OT, I met with Anders, Apersson850, to have a look at the 3600a. Its backlight is much brighter than the 3600's but in full daylight and cloudy wheather there isn't any difference in readability and I've seen other screens that are better: Loox 720, GPSMAP76CS, RAymarine RC400 (increasing order) - so there is still a lot to do.

JMckie
07-18-2005, 12:02 PM
I wish I got the Loox instead of the Axim. The one thing I didn't realize I needed at the time of purchase was USB host. That feature plus a portable USB hard disk would have given me an easy way to back up my SD card, not to mention almost unlimited storage.

This one feature alone would have made the extra cost worthwhile. The extra memory, camera, etc would have been icing on the cake.

OWG
07-18-2005, 01:24 PM
Is the Loox available in NA now? When I was shopping (last fall) it was not and there didn't appear to be any plans to hurry it along. I really liked that USB host feature too!

By the way, I have found my hx4700 to be extremely stable. I travel a lot and it goes with me everywhere, including the GPS 10. After I stopped installing every new piece of PPC software out there to see what I liked, it has been virtually problem free. I had posted this elsewhere, but with SPB Pocket Plus, SPB Weather, Garmin Que, Resco viewer, Magic SS, GPX Sonar and Beta Player as my only external apps for the past 4 or so months, everything is working perfectly. Free Memory is always hovering around 24MB, nothing leaky. I have a SanDisk Ultra II 512M CF and a Lexar 512M SD.

Curious Cat
07-18-2005, 04:03 PM
The Asus, AFAIK, is the same basic unit(s) as the Loox. There is an Asus forum here (http://www.pdastreet.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=138). You may need to extend the viewing date as there has been little recent activity.

0gopogo
08-03-2005, 09:01 PM
JMckie,

The Xs-Drive 2 XL (http://www.xsdrive2xl.com/) may be attractive for mobile backups. It has card readers for CF/MicroDrive and SD. The 80GB version should be big enough for lots of backups as well as archiving the movies and images from the digital camcorder and camera. It is small and light. The downside?
- GBP 170 (plus shipping and duties).
- Slow reading off the memory card i.e. 1GB in 8min (~2MB/s; maybe they used slow memory cards).

0gopogo
08-03-2005, 10:06 PM
OWG,

Just a note since you are already using SPB Pocket Plus and Weather: the latest Spb Diary is really worth a try. Spb also released two free Pocket Plus (v3) plugins, one of which is useful: Spb Folder. Diary will cost you a little Main Memory. OTOH most of Pocket Plus can be relegated into the file store. When not navigating I usually hover above 30 megs free.