Windows Mobile: restoring PIM & SMS data

Recently I’ve updated firmware on my Asus P527 and (insurprisingly) SMS & PIM data (contacts, calendar items, tasks, etc.) were wiped.

Well, sure before updating I’ve:

• backed up the entire system state,
• manually copied two main files:
  • cemail.vol
    little database containing SMS and email,
  • pim.vol
    the same size DB with contacts, tasks and calendar items.

So I’ve started restore process but… Asus backup utility said the backup file is corrupted, so it won’t restore anything( I had to restore both files manually, again. The thing is that you can manually delete and copy back pim.vol, but not cemail.vol file – it’s always being already used by some process. No ideas which one – killing doesn’t help.

So here comes the solution (files were saved as pim_old.vol and cemail_old.vol):

1. download and install MortScript software to PDA,
2. create a script (using any ANSI-compatible text editor) with the following text:
   Delete “\cemail.vol”
   Copy (“\cemail_old.vol”, “\cemail.vol”)

   Delete “\pim.vol”

   Copy (“\pim_old.vol”, “\pim.vol”),

3. save the file as “sms-restore.mscr” (beware of extension – it’s used by MortScript interpretating engine!),
4. copy:
   • both “old” files to the root directory,
   • the script file to “/Windows/Startup” (or your localised startup folder),
5. move files from the startup folder (to prevent them locking *.vol files):
   • MsgWait.lnk
     messaging subsystem,
   • poutlook.lnk
     Pocket Outlook,
6. clear Today Screen (i.e. uncheck all the items in “Settings/Today“),
7. reboot the device.

Check your messages and contacts… Voila! they’re restored.

Keep in mind that if you’re restoring messages from WM5 on WM6.1 (as I did) they’ll be transformed into chat view, it may take a couple of minutes (depending on amount of SMS).

NB! After you’re sure that eveything is okay don’t forget to move MsgWait.lnk and poutlook.lnk back to startup folder and reboot again.