Red Feline Backup - VFS Backup for Palm OS®

Red Feline Backup is a backup program for PalmOS. It does not require a host PC. Instead all databases on your PalmOS device will be copied onto a memory card inserted into the device. Red Feline Backup is free software with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. It is licenced under the GNU General Public Licence.

Screenshot of Red Feline Backup running on an emulated Palm M125The program features: Red Feline Backup requires a PDA running PalmOS 4 or 5.

Release Announcements

So you want to keep up to date with the latest Red Feline Backup releases do you? Coming back to this page every month or two sounds too much like hard work? If you answered yes to both questions you might like to know that all new releases will be announced on freshmeat.net, if you subscribe to Red Feline Backup then the crew at freshmeat will make sure you are kept bang up-to-date without you having to do anything more energetic than read your e-mail.

Download

Both the source code and the compiled binary are held in the same zip file. To install simply download the distibution, unzip and double click on rfbackup.prc.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Why did you pick that name?

    'redfelineninja' is an anagram of my own name together with that of my wife. Since the program is hosted at www.redfelineninja.org.uk the name of the program seemed very obvious.

  2. Why did you write yet another backup program?

    Although there are lots of backup program for PalmOS at the time I started writing it there was no free software program that could backup to a memory card. As it happened another similar program, VfsBackup by Andre Kuehne, was announced to the world six days before I unleashed Red Feline Backup. I guess its a matter of personal taste but I still prefer my version. I'll probably have a look at what Andre has been up to every now and then however.

  3. How do I know I can trust your program with my data?

    The best way to decide if you trust the program is to test it yourself. Perform a backup using some other means and then backup using Red Feline Backup, hard reset and try restoring. At the time of writing I trust the program enough to use it as my primary means of backup on my aging Palm M125. This is quite a serious committment as the backup capacitor is fried and everytime I change the batteries I have to restore the device. This gives the code quite a workout.

  4. But you said the program has ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY!

    Indeed it doesn't. I wrote it in my spare time and published it for the common good. I simply don't have the means (or incentive) to offer any sort of warranty. Either test this program to your own satisfaction or pay for one of the others.

  5. Can I recover my data if my PalmOS computer is damaged?

    Every database is backed up to the memory card in a directory called /PALM/RFBackup. This directory contains ordinary .prc and .pdb files that can be installed to a new device. If your PC has a card reader you can even restore your Palm device without using Red Feline Backup. Simply re-install each database held on the memory card using the Palm Desktop or pilot-link.

  6. Will I lose data if the battery runs out midway through a backup?

    It is unlikey that data will actually be lost (but see question 4). Basically the program will always backup a new database to a file called DATABASE.TMP so the older backup file will not be overwritten until DATABASE.TMP has been successfully written. This makes data loss unlikely. Be warned however that (at the moment) the restore operation does not automatically restore DATABASE.TMP since it may have only been partially written. If your Palm ran out of juice midway through a backup then consider using a tool like FileZ to keep a copy DATABASE.TMP before having a careful look over your PDA.

  7. Where's the shed key dear?

    Generally in the shed door... My wife contends that this is actually the question I am most frequently asked. It's certainly one with a generous variety of answers.

  8. What's in the release?

    RFBackup.prc is the installable program for English speakers.
    RFBackup.prc is the installable program for German speakers.
    RFBackup_fr.prc is the installable program for French speakers.

    All the files ending in .c, .h, .rcp and a file called Makefile are the source code for the program. Unless you want to (and are capable of) modify the program these can be ignored.

    The README contains the entire documentation (apart from this web page).

    AUTHORS give information about those people who contributed to the program.

    COPYING contains licensing information. The license for RFBackup allows you to provide copies of the program to anyone you think might like it (with or without charge) but does require that you inform them about the license (by providing them a verbatim copy) so they understand that they also have permission to distribute it. The pre-amble to the license provides more details on the purpose of the license.