Wipe phone?

[Alec52]

I'm new to BB's and was exploring my phone. It asked if I wanted to do a mobile back up of my contacts through my service provider. I wanted to do it so that my contacts would be kept safe in case I lose them but the next menu said that I had to wipe my phone for this to take place. On the posts in the forum I see that wiping the phone is like resetting it to factory specs. This doesn't seem right if I'm just backing up my contacts. Not sure about it...

[pcgizmo]

A security wipe will remove the data and apps from the phone, returning it to what it was when you first turned it on. You can use the BlackBerry Desktop Manager software to make a backup of all the data on your phone and save it on your PC. It's very easy to restore. Regular backup are a good idea.