Transferring data from a Palm IIIxe to a Tungsten T3

[mei2qiang2]

Someone just GAVE me a Tungsten T3. Do I have great friends, or what.

Anyway, now I want to move all my data from the IIIxe to the T3. I think I can just sync the T3 with my user name and all the stuff from the desktop will transfer. What I'm afraid of is that some of the stuff I have installed won't be compatible. I'm also afraid that if something goes wrong, I might lose all my data. I'm going to make a back-up of the data first (on the computer), but are there any other ideas anyone has?

Also, this is the first time I'll use a SD Card. I just ordered it by mail. Should I wait to get it to install everything? If so, what do I put on the card and what on the Palm?

Thanks for any input you have. I don't want to spend any time that I don't have to.

Mei2Qiang2

 

[mikelove]

You're correct in worrying that some files might not be compatible between the IIIxe and the T3 - most will be (Palms as early as the IIIxe didn't have many device-specific files) but it's best not to take any chances since it can be quite inconvenient to unravel things later on.

So here are the steps to follow:

1) Locate the Backup folder in your Palm Desktop directory. It should be located at c:\program files\palm\<your HotSync name>\Backup.

2) Move this Backup folder to another location on your hard drive.

3) Uninstall Palm Desktop from your computer.

4) Install the new version of Palm Desktop that came with your T3 - this includes some extra conduits and other software that you might find useful, so it's best to use this instead of keeping the version from your IIIxe. The installation CD will include some other useful software that you might want to install to your T3, it should all install together so take a look - among other things there's a very good MS Word/Excel document viewer called Documents To Go.

5) HotSync your new T3 and initialize it with the same HotSync username you used on your old IIIxe.

6) Go into that Backup folder you saved and install any file in it that you recognize - in general, though, for applications and other related files (like all of the Oxford data files) you're just as well off downloading a new copy from the internet and installing it from there since it'll guarantee that you've got the latest version.

7) Enjoy your new T3. Right away you'll notice the gorgeous high-res high-contrast screen and breathtaking speed, and with the release of PlecoDict this summer we'll also be supporting the extended display.

As for the SD card, the T3 has *tons* of built-in memory so there's really no need to wait to install things; you can always copy them over later but it's highly doubtful that you'll run out of space without it.