Complete data loss during first sync

[Aerone]

Hi, I just tried Birdiesync for the first time and ran into a major problem as it seems.

I'm using Windows Vista 32 Bit with the latest Windows Mobile Device Center, Thunderbird 2.0.0.6 with Lightning 0.5, an Asus P535 Smartphone running Windows Mobile 6 and the latest Version of Birdiesync.

I carefully followed the installation instructions, including the advised settings in the Windows Mobile Device Center and sucessfully ran the Birdiesync Wizard on first Thunderbird startup.

The only strange thing I noticed was that it took far longer to connect my phone to my computer. The attempt to establish a connection took several minutes, so I unplugged the phone again and reconnected it. Again after several minutes the Mobile Device Center showed the phone as connected. At the first attempt I got an sync error. I tried it again. The syncronization with Birdiesync startet and was very quickly finished. I thought that it was a bit too fast and tried to sync again 2 or three times. Suddently I noticed that on the phone there was nothing left to sync!?! All contacts and all calendar entries are gone! Unfortunatly I don't have a backup of any of the data! Is there any way to get it back? Do you have any idea what might have happened? Oh one more thing: I forgot to mention that I run Pocket Informant 2007 as my default application for calendar and contacts. Can this cause the problem?

Any help is highly apreciated!!!

Thank you in advance!

[Aerone]

After some google research I copied my pim.vol file to my computer (which I should propably have done in the first place ) and opened it in the editor. I see alot of cryptical stuff but also names of contacts that don't appear on the phone anymore. What can I do to fix this? The pim.vol is 460kb amd the pocketinformant.vol 86kb. Is this the place where the calendar entries should be stored?

Well I guess I'd sleep better tonight if I had made a backup...

[Birdy]

Hello Aerone,

I am really sorry you met this problem. This is the first time I hear about someone loosing all its contacts and appointments. Did you synchronize your contacts and appointments with Outlook previously ?

Do you remember which synchronization error you met ?
Could you send me all the logs as described in this thread ?
Could you also send to me your pim.vol ?
Was your Thunderbird/Sunbird empty before synchronizing ?
I know that people use both Pocket Informant 2007 and BirdieSync and they don't seem to have problems.

[Aerone]

Hello Birdy,

thank you very much for your fast response! I cannot believe what just happened! I somehow got the data back! I didn't want to give up yet so I renamed the pim.vol, did a softreset and a new one was created. Then I renamed it back and nothing happened. I changed the active sync mode of the phone from turbo to normal and back, I took out the SD Card and plugged it back in and suddently I could see all my contacts again, as well as the calendar entries! I have no explanation what happened but I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with your program, which seems to work well now. My thunderbird was not empty during sync but the lightning plugin was. I did not sync the Phone with outlook before because I don't have it and don't want to use it. So I was more than happy do hear about your application and am looking forward to try it now (after a backup of course ) Thanks again!

Aerone

[Birdy]

Well, I am pleased to see that you recovered your data.

But even if in this case it was not necessary, it is important to always regularly backup your contacts, appointments, tasks or mails ! Especially before synchronizing your data for the first time.

[CeriDavies]

I decided to upgrade to the new version, looks like it can possibly sync to my email (which is remote).
Anyway. I installed the new version 1.6.1.1, and try to sync. I see errors,
on my Cell Phone saying to configure the email address (but not how?) so I end up remove the remails check box, and have to connect/disconnect a few times, until I see:
Cards sync'd and
1 unresolved item in Events, which will not reslove.
I see no entries in calendar or events.
I check in Thunderbird and I see all calendar events (on my WCAP server) and all my contacts are gone. Bad, I don't back up my calendar events since they are on a backed up server at work.

I restore my contacts and add a couple of new events on the WCAP server, verfiy that they get seen in Thunderbird.
Try to sync again. Contacts sync, good so far
Calendar does not. I try this a couple of times, and one of the two recurring events I added to the web cap server has been deleted!

I get an error during sync from lightning I assume:
WCAP minor error:
Error Number: 0x804a023b
Returned when a fetch or delete is attempted that does not exist.

I got an error from birdie sync saying no events in calendar NULL one time but it does not come out every time.

The Birdie Sync configuration in Lightning is correct. I can't do anything in Active Sync, it won't even show my the Events configuration...

[Birdy]

If you are under ActiveSync, could you send to support(at)birdiesync.com the file "WCESMrg.log" located in C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Local Settings\Temp ?

Could you also create an event in the WCAP calendar, launch the synchronization by reconnecting your mobile and send me the logs as described in this thread ?

You mentioned an error like "no events in calendar NULL". Was it something like " It is impossible to list events of calendar '' ". Was it a BirdieSync alert (rising from the task bar) or an error displayed by Thunderbird ?

The "Settings" button in ActiveSync is disabled. All the options are managed from Thunderbird.

[Birdy]

After analyzis of the log and some discussion with Ceries here is what very likely happened:

After the upgrade of BirdieSync, Ceries selected "contacts" "and appointments" (for Outlook synchronization) instead of "cards" and "events". Then these options were unselected to switch to "cards" and "events". In that case, ActiveSync/Outlook indicated that since "contacts" and "appointments" were no longer selected it would erase all contacts and appointments on the mobile. After the authorization of doing so, it deleted the contacts and appointments on the mobile.

The problem is that these contacts and appointments were synchronized by ActiveSync before the upgrade with Thunderbird ones (cards and events). And since the partnership was not deleted, ActiveSync kept the "link" between the items on the mobile and in Thundebird. When "cards" and "event" synchronization were enabled again, ActiveSync detected that all the contacts and appointments were removed on the mobile and so deleted all the matching items in Thunderbird.

So if you unselect "contacts" and "appointment" Outlook synchronization, that will delete your contacts and appointments on the mobile. So be sure not to have synchronized "cards" or "events" before in the same partnership if you want to avoid having your items deleted in Thundebird at the next synchronization of "cards" or "events".

If you want to unselect "contacts" and "appointment" Outlook synchronization without erasing your items on the mobile device, simply delete the partnership.

[evelyne]

had this problem myself. Made a connection between outlook and the mobile phone, just for contacts (to back up photo's from my contacts) Removed the connection, all contacts on mobile gone (stupid me). Nothing happened with tasks and calendar though, they were still connected with thunderbird.
Imported my contact from outlook to thunderbird and got my contacts back. My tasks and calendar though were gone within thunderbird, these items were still on the phone.
So I disconnected the phone, removed the partnership, to sync with outlook for tasks and calendar, just to make sure to have a recent backup file (my backup was 2 days old). Uninstalled lightning and birdiesync, removed storage.sbd and installed lightning and birdiesync again. Removed the connection with the phone in activesync. Installed birdiesync and lightning again. Thought this way the sync between the mobile and thunderbird would bring the tasks back, but it didn't. The information is still on my phone, but won't get back into thunderbird. Anyone knows how to solve this?

Thanks,

Evelien

[Birdy]

Hello,

So you mean that even after having deleted ActiveSync partnership, your tasks are not synchronized back to Lightning ?
Are you under Xp or Vista ? If you are under XP, did you choose "Combine" or "Replace" during the new partnership establishment ?
Did you select Lightning tasks ? Not Outlook tasks in ActiveSync/WMDC options ?
Thanks.

[evelyne]

Yes, deleted partnership first. Choice combine, can try replace, but thought that wouldn't work with no item within thunderbird.
I'm on XP, with WM6. I did select lightning tasks.
I will try again tomorrow.

I do have different options, because I still have a backup that's two days old. I can restore the storage.sbd if that's the better way to go. I wonder what to do with categories after removing the storage.sbd. Probably that's the problem? Because with an empty storage.sbd there aren't any categories anymore within thunderbird. I did use more than one calendar, so my calendaritems do have categories (within birdiesync I use the option to link calendar to appointment and task categories).

Everything is still within outlook, so I can try different options. No problem.

[Birdy]

I can send you a new test version to investigate on your problem.

[evelyne]

Removed partnership from pc as well as mobile. Restarted the mobile. Still the same. Tasks were gone. Do you know what would be the best to do with the storage.sbd? I can try the new version. The information is still at my pc, so I can test as much as you want

Evelien

[Birdy]

After tests done with Evelien (thanks a lot for you analysis), here is the reason of the removal of the tasks (or other categories) on the mobile device. This explanation is only available for Windows Mobile 6.0 devices (previous operating system behave differently):

If you setup a new partnership and select Outlook contacts, calendar, tasks or e-mails synchronization, then after the synchronization:
- if you unselect one of this Outlook category, it will delete all its items on the mobile device.
- if you delete the whole partnership, it will delete all the items of this Outlook category on the mobile device when you connect it (even before setting up a new partnership) if your Outlook category is not synchronized with another computer within another partnership.
You should see warnings informing you about it when you unselect the Outlook category or delete the partnership.

So on Windows Mobile 6.0, be careful if you have an Outlook category (contacts, calendar, tasks or e-mails) selected for synchronization that you unselect or if you delete your partnership: it can delete all the items in this category on your mobile device.

If you had synchronized with Thunderbird or Sunbird before unselecting Outlook category, it is recommended to delete the partnership to prevent from propagating the deletions to Thunderbird or Sunbird.

[wwwgandi]

If you want to change from Outlook to Thunderbird and sychronize with a "Windows Mobile 6"-device via Birdiesync, this is how I succeeded:

First on PC:

• install Thunderbird, but don't import data from Outlook right now
• install the Add-Ons Lightning (Calender), MoreFunctionsForAddressBook and ThunderBirthDay
• create one (empty) e-mail-account in Thunderbird
• now import the data from Outlook
• the standard mail-client has still to be outlook!

Then PDA with Windows Mobile 6:

• save all your data with the freeware "PIM Backup application" !!
• now on the PC delete the existing partnership in ActiveSync
• then restart ActiveSync on the PC and don't establish a new partnership to Outlook (this will delete all your Outlook-data on the PDA, but unfortunately it is inevitable)
• on the PDA, restore the data you backuped with "PIM Backup application"
• now install Birdiesync on the PC (ActiveSync must be started)

So no data will be lost. Good luck!