[swiftex]

I get rid of Recipe Box and able to back up no problem.

os2: 2.0.0.6149

[iainc216]

Ouch. Thanks for letting me know. Maybe tomorrow I'll get brave and uninstall the one that hurts the least to lose the progress on....when I decide which one it is. I'll let you know if it helps...& I hope it does.

I wasn't too far into machinarium, rebooted the playbook and attempted a back up. Didn't work.

I wish I had recipe box installed.. would be better than deleting my apps one at a time

[Chrysalis1156]

I wasn't too far into machinarium, rebooted the playbook and attempted a back up. Didn't work.

I wish I had recipe box installed.. would be better than deleting my apps one at a time

Thanks for letting me know. So with you on the Recipe Box thing. I'm getting the feeling there's more going on here than just bad apps. I could back up fine before the latest OS update. Some people couldn't backup until they got the newest update. Right now I figure deleting my app and losing my data isn't worth it. If I had to wipe my pb I have backed up my media and settings. All I'd be losing is what I'd be deleting to figure out this backup problem. What a hassle!

[FF22]

Image of success:






I deleted one app and rebooted (well, restarted, I kept getting the darn shutter sound).

I failed 4 times yesterday after succeeding 3 times the day before after repeated failures.

Flaky is the best way to describe DM Backup.

Oh, for the record, I'm still an OS behind with 1.0.8.4985 and using DM Beta 7.xxxx.

But I will reveal that my gamesmanship involved France On-Device GPS Maps.

It is also the app that has a cache of stored map tiles, I gather. The day before I failed about 6 times removing a sideloaded app and then another and then a new game, etc. Finally, I thought about that map program and its map cache. I cleared out the cache and I was able to do 3 backups adding back sideloaded apps.

Yesterday morning I went back into the map program. It wanted to refill its cache. I did not permit it. But anyway, afterward I could not backup again. I rebooted, etc. Removed another sideloaded. Open France again. Let it refill the cache. Deleted the cache. Closed rebooted, etc, etc. No avail. Failed backups.

Just now I totally deleted the app. Rebooted. Backup worked.

Now, I'm not saying this program is the culprit. It could be interactions. And it is definitely something wrong with Rim's processing methods. It should have error checking and recovery. And Obviously, it should not allow apps or their data to bung up memory, indexes, storage or settings that thwart backup.

I've gone on long enough.

(PS - anyone know how to get attachments/thumbnails to be in a certain place in this text box?)

[bourgolo]

I get rid of Recipe Box and able to back up no problem.

os2: 2.0.0.6149

Looks like the Recipe Box app is a recipe for disaster on the Playbook at the moment ;-)

[jafobabe]

Looks like the Recipe Box app is a recipe for disaster on the Playbook at the moment ;-)

There goes the kitchen sink! LOL J/K ..

[ultra07]

I think I may have found the problem! I was able to backup yesterday. So I tried it again to day with no luck. The one thing I did notice was yesterday when I connected the USB cable to the Playbook it said it was loading Playbook drivers. Today it did not say that. The backup failed every time I tried! I do not know if this is the problem but I am sure this is a start. Anyone know how to make it install the Playbook drivers every time?

[FF22]

The drivers should be installed only once UNLESS you might use a different usb port - then I've noticed it may want to do some installation again.

[Chrysalis1156]

I went thru the "repair" routine with Desktop Software 6.1 & when I plugged in my pb it reinstalled my drivers. Still no backup of AppData however. Think I give up until OS2 comes out when I figure all of my stuff will be a do over anyway.

[barskin]

Same thing happened to me yesterday. I tried and tried on my desktop PC and laptop. I called PlayBook technical support, and we tried to work on it. Then, I stopped trying to do a full backup. I don't need a media backup, anyway; the same media is on my desktop pc, laptop, and an external hard drive. I just did a custom backup of application data, and it went through fine.

[barskin]

WHOOPS. I just connected my PB to my laptop and tried a backup again. It wasn't my application data that I backed up successfully yesterday (as I said in my last post); it was my settings. The tech I spoke to told me that I didn't need to backup the application data, and I told him why it wasn't necessary to backup my media, so I left it at my settings. But, apparently there is a general problem that needs to be addressed if so many people are getting error messages when we try to backup our PBs. I will call back tech support and tell them that they have to work on this, and everyone else should do so as well.

[FF22]

Problem is that some of us are beyond 90 days and I will not pay for support to report a problem with their darn backup. So, maybe you can take a quickie poll and report that you are calling representing x hundred users who canNOT backup!

[Chrysalis1156]

Problem is that some of us are beyond 90 days and I will not pay for support to report a problem with their darn backup. So, maybe you can take a quickie poll and report that you are calling representing x hundred users who canNOT backup!

+1 - I'm past my 90 days and this seems to be a problem with Desktop Software communicating with the Playbook. It's telling me to check to make sure my device is connected when I try to backup AppData even tho I can backup Settings & Media. Thinking this is something they need to fix with an update of one or the other. Got frustrated & quietly put down the Playbook - don't wanna do anything I'll surely regret later....like use it as a frisbee...grrrr! Had enuff for one day.

[Revord]

I have no issue as long as I'm in dev mode. Outside of dev mode, I have a hard time even getting my computer to recognise my playbook, much less get a backup going. In dev mode, I get complete backups no problem, at least the last 2 times I have tried it. Hope that helps.

[FF22]

Well, I just attempted two backups. First, I installed the newest update for my France-on-device. I only updated and did not run the app. The backup worked.

I then merely opened the app. Closed it. Tried another backup and it FAILED.

By the way, I checked and Developer Mode is ON. So that does not control it on my pb.

Again, this implicates the app but it is still a RIM PROBLEM. Their system allows something to be corrupted, overrun or simply messed up. When MESSED UP, it will not allow a backup by DM.

I'll be back after I again remove the app and see if backup works.....

[ultra07]

I can backup my settings on the Playbook. Every time I try to backup the appdata I get the error message! The only thing I have down loaded since my last appdata backup was Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Seasons!

[Chrysalis1156]

I can backup my settings on the Playbook. Every time I try to backup the appdata I get the error message! The only thing I have down loaded since my last appdata backup was Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Seasons!

I have them both as well - they're part of the appdata I don't want to lose. Kinda between a rock and a hard spot.

[pmccartney]

Could it also be Angry Birds causing a backup problem? I recently purchased it and now, for the first time, I can't backup APP Data either. I have 3 other full backups (sans media) that all worked fine.
I haven't changed anything else. All other hardware and software versions are unchanged since my last backup. Ive rebooted everything, tried 3 different USB ports on the PC, reload DM.
No Luck.

[doxa sub750T]

For your record, I do have Angry Bird HD and I can perform full backup with zero issue. I hardly store my media stuffs on my PB, so my backup file is only about over 620MB.

[pmccartney]

^ Thanks...that rules out AB and that's a good thing. Now I will start uninstalling some smaller apps one by one until I (hopefully) find the culprit.

[peter9477]

I've noted earlier or elsewhere that even the Recipe Box app, though it's clearly and inarguably implicated in the backup issue for numerous people, is not a guaranteed way to make backup fail. I know at least one person who has it installed and was able to do an Application Data backup with no issues.

That means that, for whatever freaky reason, it is not 100% in all cases, so it's possible Angry Birds does have trigger the problem in some or many cases, but not all.

Note also that if F2 can repeat the test another one or two times, where merely installing that On-Device map app doesn't trigger it, but running it even once does, then we know another new thing: in some cases (like Recipe Box) merely installing it can be enough to make backup fail, while in other cases (the map app?) it has to be run first.

I'm not sure what any of it means yet, but this all seems like progress, and the more people poking, the faster the root cause will become apparent.

Anyone else make the mistake of buying one of those map apps? We've got enough reports about Recipe Box to know it's definitely an issue for some... can anyone other than F2 confirm their map app triggers it in the same way as it does for him?

There also does seem to be an element of flakiness here. I'm going to go back and re-do my tests a few more times with Recipe Box, to see whether it's 100% in my case, and always just after being installed but before being launched, or whether there's some variation. That kind of thing always throws people off and leads to lots of conclusion-jumping.

[Chrysalis1156]

I'm also wondering if maybe it's a combination of things like the actual app and the size of the appdata backup. I know mine is just over 1GB and won't backup. I read something about over 1GB sometimes being a problem too.

[FF22]

I've had backup data of over 2 gigs and it worked.

I, also, think that it is not merely apps but their data and maybe they violate some "sandbox" principle (Peter can deal with that concept but I can't). But it SHOULD not be an app problem as RIM's installation processes, OS and DM should be able to either prevent whatever INDEX/POINTER is being blown away or should have error correction that skips around it. In other words, this should not happen if the OS is as incorruptible as suggested.

Peter, I don't do the official rim forums - is this issue being discussed over there? Any comments from the powers-that-be?

Ignore the large, early ones, those included MEDIA which I no longer backup using DM (I do that manually using copy/paste)

[peter9477]

I'm also wondering if maybe it's a combination of things like the actual app and the size of the appdata backup. I know mine is just over 1GB and won't backup. I read something about over 1GB sometimes being a problem too.

That was an early problem (May? June?), but it's been fixed for many releases. I forget if it was Desktop Manager's fault or the PlayBook's fault, but the 1GB thing should be long past now.

I, also, think that it is not merely apps but their data and maybe they violate some "sandbox" principle (Peter can deal with that concept but I can't). But it SHOULD not be an app problem as RIM's installation processes, OS and DM should be able to either prevent whatever INDEX/POINTER is being blown away or should have error correction that skips around it. In other words, this should not happen if the OS is as incorruptible as suggested.

Peter, I don't do the official rim forums - is this issue being discussed over there? Any comments from the powers-that-be?

The Recipe Box issue was being discussed in the general forum, but nobody from RIM had weighed in yet or acknowledged our findings. I was waiting to get more confirmation and (I hoped) to track down something resembling the root cause before reporting it.

It has been mentioned to one RIM employee in an IRC chat, and he promised to pass it along to a co-worker who works directly on the backup software, so I'm not overly concerned about the "Recipe Box effect" being missed by them.

You're right that it "shouldn't" be an issue, but there are a handful of ways that it could be, all of them likely involving sloppy coding of some kind.

It could be filename length... the Recipe Box app has an unusually long "package-id" string... longer than anything else we've seen so far. (On the other hand, a test app I made with an even longer name didn't prevent backup so it's not merely that.) It could have some files with odd permissions. They could have some funky characters (Unicode?) in a filename. Might be a very large number of files, or one particularly large file, or maybe just a single file with a very particular file size, which (making this up) triggers an obscure and still unknown bug in the "zlib" library that handles the compression.

Any number of bizarre reasons and explanations are possible... it's the unfortunate and fun nature of software development that you can't bet against almost any cause for such things. (It might be something I'd point at and shake my head in disgust at "how stupid could the programmer have been", and yet I've no doubt made similar mistakes myself in the past.)

[toffeenose]

I thought that I'd share with you the response I just received from BB Customer Support on the backup issue:

"Thank you for contacting BlackBerry Technical Support. We are pleased to assist you.
Yes it is true, you can't backup application data at this time. This is something they are working on for future software updates, but as of right now, it is by design. For now, if you do ever need to wipe your PlayBook and sign in to App World again, your list of application are automatically saved in "My World" within BlackBerry App World, no matter which PlayBook you sign in to."

So RIM is fully aware of the problem.....indeed, "as of right now, it is by design"!