Support says there is no way to salvage my backup

If I could figure this much out it had to be a stupid simple problem. For tech support to say it is not possible means they really don't know what is or is not possible (so, why are they doing tech support), or they don't care enough to find out (I ask again, why are they doing tech support), or they know and don't care enough to take the time to explain what could be done (same question, rinse, repeat).

Great support on this forum!

I started to post the writeup on the backup file and databases under development, but the entourage site has been intermittently slow and/or completely unavailable for the past couple hours. So, I posted the work in progress on Mobileread site:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=131049

Tomorrow I'll try to update the same on the Development forum here.

Originally Posted by Glow

Great support on this forum!

Agreed!

Sorry Tech Support didn't come through as they should have, but great work by everyone here! And great work Cheyennedonna!! I am so glad you have your documents back -- "Whew" doesn't express the relief strongly enough.

Thanks for posting all the info you discovered, kenjennings!

Wow!!! Just checking in before going to bed. Awesome work Ken! Hope I never have to use it, but will add it to my Devonthink database... thanks! And am so happy for you Cheyenne!.... I was really feeling for you losing your study notes and wondering what you could possibly do about them...

Originally Posted by cheyennedonna

...Mission accomplished. Some vital notes for my final weeks at school were being held hostage in there.

This is indeed good!

Originally Posted by cheyennedonna

I originally wanted a Notion Ink Adam...

Good thing you didn't buy one: http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets...side-20110128/

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/28/n...part-in-haste/


I'm very happy to hear you got your files back and have made a copy of this post. Nice work Ken.

Originally Posted by kenjennings

In continuation: Been root'ing (pun intended) around some more in the database.

It looks like /fridge is everything important about the device. So far, I see one table that appears to have the serialno value that identifies the device. In theory, I think updating this value to the target eDGe's serialno may make the backup restorable to a different edge.

** DISCLAIMER ** Completely untested by me, since I do not have a second edge for the purposes of research or torture. I'm only reporting what the data suggests may be possible. Your mileage will vary. Make sure you have an entirely separate backup and are willing to do a factory reset. I apologize in advance for the mayhem that will probably ensue, but I did warn you, right???

Requirements:
Be able to move a backup file to another PC.
Be able to run zip and unzip to uncompress/recompress the backup on a PC.
Have and be able to run sqlite3.

1) Determine the device ID/serialno of the TARGET edge. This is the serialno with the barcode on the "binding" edge of the closed edge like this: F303082002AF (No, not my actual serialno).

2) Do a backup on the source edge.

3) Copy the backup to another PC, unpack the zip file.

4) go to /fridge/.edge/.esi-data/.databases

5) run sqlite3 library.db

6) in sqllite execute the command: update esimeta set device = 'F303082002AF' where _id = 1 ;

7) quit sqllite, and rezip the directories /fridge and /sdcard (or /extsdcard if that was unpacked.) Alternatively, you may be able to just freshen the zip archive with only the library.db file

8) move the backup file to the target edge.

9) try to restore, cross fingers, get ready for disappointment, etc.

Did just as kenjennings suggested, and was using SqLite3 to fix device SN, have not go through for me, after restoring "fixed" file to another PE, got this message "Invalid Backup file - There was an error verifying your back up file. Please, try again latter." But all files are perfectly visible on PC. New PE just not see files in sdcard folder... After I removed "." before folder names on PC, and opened it from usb-flash on new PE, all files are visible, so PDFs, journals, etc could be moved to another PE and added to the library. I was able to add journals to new library and update/rename them. I don't have a lot of Journals, so this works and this is comforting to know that some data can be saved. Maybe the reason backup was not recognized is that it was created on Dingo PE and put on ERmine PE, at least it didn't say "it was created on another device" as it was before "sql-ing" library.db...

Originally Posted by larka2006

Did just as kenjennings suggested, and was using SqLite3 to fix device SN, have not go through for me, after restoring "fixed" file to another PE, got this message "Invalid Backup file - There was an error verifying your back up file. Please, try again latter." But all files are perfectly visible on PC. New PE just not see files in sdcard folder... After I removed "." before folder names on PC, and opened it from usb-flash on new PE, all files are visible, so PDFs, journals, etc could be moved to another PE and added to the library. I was able to add journals to new library and update/rename them. I don't have a lot of Journals, so this works and this is comforting to know that some data can be saved. Maybe the reason backup was not recognized is that it was created on Dingo PE and put on ERmine PE, at least it didn't say "it was created on another device" as it was before "sql-ing" library.db...

Ok, it may be there's something else I have to look for in the backup file that identifies the computer that did the backup.

Or, because the edge creates the backup with absolute not relative paths the updated library.db was not refreshed in the zip file correctly.

I am completely clueless when it comes to SQL, but learning right now. Please, keep me posted if you find other ways to fix database created on other device. I can be a tester - I have 2 PE and one EE now (they are all in the family .