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Backing Up and Restoring Data with the Siebel Handheld Client

It is recommended that you back up your data to an external device—for example, a CompactFlash card or a Secure ID card. If the handheld device is damaged, the backup may not be retrievable. If you store your backups in RAM, depending on the size of your application and data extract, you may decrease the amount of memory available for the application, and your application performance may suffer.

Automatic Backup After Synchronization

The automatic backup feature must be enabled in the application by your System Administrator. If the backup feature is enabled, a backup is automatically created at the end of every synchronization. This way, you have an up-to-date snapshot of the database.

CAUTION:  You must never synchronize your data to the handheld device and then restore the database using an older copy of the database. If you do, the next time you synchronize, the application tries to rewrite changed transactions. This can cause data integrity problems. Therefore, when the database backup feature is enabled, a database backup occurs automatically at the end of each synchronization.

Keep in mind that enabling automatic backup makes the overall time to synchronize somewhat longer. The size of the database and the speed of the CompactFlash card also affect the time it takes to complete synchronization.

For more information, see Enabling Handheld User Database Backup.

Backing Up Data

The following procedure describes how to back up the database on the handheld device.

To back up the database

1. From the application-level menu, choose File > Backup.

   NOTE:  If the Backup menu item is disabled, contact your system administrator to have backup enabled in your application.

   A dialog box appears, telling you that backing up the data will restart the application and prompts you to confirm that you want to continue.

2. Tap Yes to start the backup.

   A status dialog box appears indicating that the backup is in progress and may take a few minutes. The Handheld configuration files and data is copied to the backup location specified in the setup.ini file. Typically, the backup location is a CF or SD card.

   A dialog box appears telling you whether the backup succeeded and asks if you want to return to the application.

3. Tap Yes to return to the application.

NOTE:  If the backup fails, consult your system administrator.

Restoring Data from a Backup

In order to restore the application to its previous state, the user should contact the system administrator. Any work performed on the handheld device since the last backup will be lost.

To restore the database

1. Remove the external flash card from the damaged device and place it in a new handheld device where the application has been installed.
2. Navigate to the \Program Files\Siebel Handheld folder.
3. Start the restore by tapping the BackupUtility file twice.

   A dialog box appears, asking you to confirm that you want to restore the device from a previous backup.

4. Tap Yes.

   A status dialog box appears, indicating that the restore is in progress. The backup utility restores the files to the state when the backup was performed. A dialog box appears telling you if the restore was successful. If successful, it asks you to confirm that you want to restart the Siebel Handheld application.

5. Tap Yes to start using the application.