May 17, 2007

As Windows Mobile devices have continued their surge into the marketplace, the amount of information being stored on them has surged as well.  No longer are simple items such as calendar or contacts the only items being stored.  Now many users store critical business or personal data, documents, spreadsheets and even software images for quick re-installs while on the road.  Today, more than ever, a backup solution for your mobile device is a necessity and no longer a luxury.

Sprite Software has been involved in the Windows Mobile arena for many years now and their award winning backup application, Sprite Backup, is one of the best solutions available today.  Sprite Backup uses a unique combination of a desktop client and device client which allows you to backup, restore and schedule the backup of your device all from your PC.  Further, a copy of that backup is stored on your PC locally as well as on your device's storage card, giving you an added layer of protection should you need to perform a restoration.  Sprite Backup's easy-to-use setup wizard makes using the application a snap and puts it well clear of competing products in this regard.  Overall it is hard to go wrong with this application!

Sprite Backup is installed onto your Windows Mobile Professional (Pocket PC) or Standard (Smartphone) via ActiveSync.  It requires approximately 10MB of hard disk space on your PC while another 1.6MB of space will be required on your device.  Sprite Backup can be installed on a storage card or in your devices main memory and requires your device be running at least Windows Mobile Pocket PC 2003 or higher (2003, 2003SE, 5.0).  As you will see from my screenshots, I am using Sprite Backup on a Windows Mobile 6 Professional device.  The Sprite website does not explicitly state that Windows Mobile 6 is support however after discussions with the company, version 5.1 does support it.  Further, in my testing for this review, I experience no issues with Sprite Backup running on Windows Mobile 6.

After the installation process, Sprite Backup starts its Setup Wizard which walks you step-by-step through the process of creating a one-time backup or scheduling a backup.  While going through this wizard you must have your Windows Mobile device connected to your PC via ActiveSync.  The reason is so that once you have completed the Setup Wizard, the parameters and configuration can be pushed to your device, preventing you from having to do double-duty (setting up on your PC and your device).

By setting up a scheduled backup, you are assured, at worst, to only be a few days out should have to restore your device.  I personally have my device backup once per week which is easily configured in the Setup Wizard.  In configuring this option, you can select where you want the created backup file to be stored on your device as well as a sub-folder.  Clearly the best place to store your backup is on a storage card.  I recommend creating a /backup sub-folder as well so you can quickly find backup files should you need them.

Figure 1:  Setup Wizard of Sprite Backup

Figure 2:  Scheduler for Daily or Weekly Backups

As you continue through the Setup Wizard, you have the option to enable password protection and compression on your backup files.  The password protection allows you to enter a password from 6-15 characters long that prevents your backup file from being used without your permission.  The catch, obviously, is you have to remember the password!  If you forget the password there is no way to recover it.  Compression, as you might guess, allows you to compress your backup file so you can save space on your device or storage card.

Figure 3:  Password Encryption Helps Secure Your Backup File

Figure 4:  Compression Saves You Space

Once you have completed the Setup Wizard, you can choose to immediately perform a backup on your device or do so later.  You will also note a new icon in your System Tray.  The Sprite Backup PC Agent allows you to adjust the settings of Sprite Backup by going through the Setup Wizard again or manually selecting options.  While the ability to manually adjust settings is nice, I generally found the Wizard to be sufficient for most needs.

Figure 5:  System Tray Icon

Figure 6:  Options Menu

Essentially, this is all you need to do in order for Sprite Backup to be your backup resource for your Windows Mobile Device.  Once you have configured the application through the PC client, all of that configuration is pushed to your device, eliminating the need to repeat the setup process on it.  This saves time and avoids potentially conflicting settings being setup between your PC and device.

From the PC client, you can perform backups and restores remotely on the device via ActiveSync.  This is particularly useful if you have hard-reset your device and want to return it to its state before the reset.  To perform a backup or reset, right-click the PC Agent icon in the System Try and select Backup or Restore. 

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