[XAP] SMSBackup V0.9, Backup & Export SMS/MSN/Facebook Messages [Updated 2012-05-19]

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shinichi_wtn

shinichi_wtn

Senior Member
Jun 25, 2009
58
81
Beijing
GoodDayToDie said:
Odd, that it works better one way sometimes and the other way the rest. Still, I'm glad the problem was resolved. Perhaps it's best to just say that some people will get better results with one order, and other people with the reverse order.

Very odd indeed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Yes, it is a strange thing. If we restore store.vol and PimIndex.vol first, our primary windows live account doesn't appear in the phone but other accounts such as twitter and facebook are restored and appear. Maybe there still exist other file(s) contains primary account information. We need to find how WP manage accounts and their relationships with contacts.
 
Last edited:
shinichi_wtn

shinichi_wtn

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Jun 25, 2009
58
81
Beijing
konker

konker

Senior Member
Jan 9, 2006
325
2
Possible to convert WM6.x SMS messages to match CommsBackup.xml format?

shinichi_wtn said:
Thunder_ in XDA have found that windows phone itself has a backup mechanism, it may backup messages on a regular basis, and store it at "\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\BackupVols\CommsBackup.xml" (see this link), so we can take the file, extract it and then we get our messages.

This small app will help you automatically copy the "CommsBackup.xml" to IsolateStorage and extract them to readable sms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
shinichi_wtn,

Thank you for this wonderful tool!
I've began using v.0.5 & will be upgrading to v.0.6 to discover the full potential of restoring SMS & contact information across WP7 devices.
I'm exploring the possibility of converting WM6.x SMS database to match the database structure of WP7 according to the CommsBackup.xml format.
Do you know of any way by which I can achieve this goal?
I hope to be able to transfer my wife's SMSs from her WM6.x phone to the Samsung Focus SGH-i917 v.1.3 that I got for her.
Please advise me accordingly.
Thanks!

Konker
 
Last edited:
G

GoodDayToDie

Inactive Recognized Developer
Jan 20, 2011
6,066
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Seattle
The CommsBackup.xml format isn't the important one here - what's important is the CE database file that is used to store the messages. While you might be able to get the OS to restore the "CommsBackup" file (one assumes so, or else why does it exist and why is it called "backup"?) I don't think anybody knows how. The actual file that is used for storing messages is a binary database. You can read and write it using the WinCE APIs for accessing such databases, so all you'd need to do is figure out the database structure and write an app that pulls the message from the old phone, puts them in the format WP7's database needs (which would require things like matching contacts and such), and then write it into the database.

Not easy, for sure. Quite probably possible, though.
 
konker

konker

Senior Member
Jan 9, 2006
325
2
Can not find file store.vol [& PimIndex.vol]?

GoodDayToDie said:
The CommsBackup.xml format isn't the important one here - what's important is the CE database file that is used to store the messages. While you might be able to get the OS to restore the "CommsBackup" file (one assumes so, or else why does it exist and why is it called "backup"?) I don't think anybody knows how. The actual file that is used for storing messages is a binary database. You can read and write it using the WinCE APIs for accessing such databases, so all you'd need to do is figure out the database structure and write an app that pulls the message from the old phone, puts them in the format WP7's database needs (which would require things like matching contacts and such), and then write it into the database.

Not easy, for sure. Quite probably possible, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GoodDayToDie, thanks for your feedback.
I've not met with success in restoring the store.vol & PimIndex.vol from my HD7 to the Samsung Focus even when I've copied these files I obtained from my HD7 to the Focus' BackupVols folder.
The app indicated that it 'Can not find file store.vol [& PimIndex.vol]. please make sure you put the store.vol [& PimIndex.vol] in BackupVols folder.'
What could be wrong?

Konker
 
G

GoodDayToDie

Inactive Recognized Developer
Jan 20, 2011
6,066
2,933
Seattle
@konker: Unless both phones are using the same primary WLID (i.e. they are both yours) and are connected to the same accounts (mail, LinkedIn, etc.), I can not recommend copying your store.vol to the other phone. It will quite likely break your contacts/People hub in exciting ways.

That said, if you're willing to risk that, we'd be interested to know how it goes. However, I'm not the developer or maintainer of this app, and can't relly help debug an unexpected behavior of it on your phone.
 
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konker

konker

Senior Member
Jan 9, 2006
325
2
GoodDayToDie said:
@konker: Unless both phones are using the same primary WLID (i.e. they are both yours) and are connected to the same accounts (mail, LinkedIn, etc.), I can not recommend copying your store.vol to the other phone. It will quite likely break your contacts/People hub in exciting ways.

That said, if you're willing to risk that, we'd be interested to know how it goes. However, I'm not the developer or maintainer of this app, and can't relly help debug an unexpected behavior of it on your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GoodDayToDie,

Thanks for pointing that out.
Both the phones are mine & both have been registered with the same WLID.
I wanted to test restoring SMS from my primary device (HD7) to the Samsung Focus. Both of these are currently running DFT Freedom ROMs.
Perhaps I understood wrongly where the IsolateStorage actually is.
I use WMDC enabler to browse the phone's storage & made manual backups from the HD7 & copied them to the Samsung Focus.
Is that correct?

Konker
 
shinichi_wtn

shinichi_wtn

Senior Member
Jun 25, 2009
58
81
Beijing
konker said:
GoodDayToDie,

Thanks for pointing that out.
Both the phones are mine & both have been registered with the same WLID.
I wanted to test restoring SMS from my primary device (HD7) to the Samsung Focus. Both of these are currently running DFT Freedom ROMs.
Perhaps I understood wrongly where the IsolateStorage actually is.
I use WMDC enabler to browse the phone's storage & made manual backups from the HD7 & copied them to the Samsung Focus.
Is that correct?

Konker
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Yes. Before you restore, you should install and open SMSBackup app first. Then you can use any IsolateStorage tool to upload your backup store.vol and PimIndex.vol to BackupVols folder of my app's IsolateStorage(09125ea9-95de-469a-aedc-22e35389ab0a).

I've attach an image to show where you should put your backup files, hope you understand.
 

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konker

konker

Senior Member
Jan 9, 2006
325
2
Success!

shinichi_wtn said:
Yes. Before you restore, you should install and open SMSBackup app first. Then you can use any IsolateStorage tool to upload your backup store.vol and PimIndex.vol to BackupVols folder of my app's IsolateStorage(09125ea9-95de-469a-aedc-22e35389ab0a).

I've attach an image to show where you should put your backup files, hope you understand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
shinichi_wtn,

Thanks for the tip!
I was able to immediately restore the HD7 SMS to the Samsung Focus & the date/time stamp appears to be correct!
I discovered my original email accounts & contacts disappeared. I subsequently restored the PimIndex.vol but that did not bring back the information.
I'm curious when I discovered a sms.xml file in \Applications\Data\09125EA9-95DE-469A-AEDC-22E35389AB0A\Data\IsolatedStore which was all the SMS that was on the Samsung Focus before I restored the Store.vol.
What does that file do?

Konker

Update:
Got all my emails & contact information back after resetting up the accounts. Did notice the anomaly that was mentioned here, that the contacts are not associated with the SMS in the Messaging Hub even though the contact information is identical. Better than nothing.
 
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NOOB4ALL

Member
Nov 19, 2008
8
0
Hi
thx for da job seems nice

I have some questions :
Does da erased text messages are in da CommsBackup.xml file ?
I try to recover some erased messages

Can the backup be automatic ?
So if i erased a message by mistake without doing backup manually i'll still be able to restore it ?

Thx
 
V

VNavratil

Member
Sep 12, 2011
35
1
Hi, I uploaded my backup on the skydrive in txt. only, but I dont know how to restore them. Or if I backuped them correctly. Is it possible to restore sms´s with txt. only?
 
konker

konker

Senior Member
Jan 9, 2006
325
2
VNavratil said:
Hi, I uploaded my backup on the skydrive in txt. only, but I dont know how to restore them. Or if I backuped them correctly. Is it possible to restore sms´s with txt. only?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The TXT & XML files are merely for backup purposes only. The utility is currently not capable of using this data to restore the SMS. For that, you would have to use the Restore function in the Backup & Restore menu & place the store.vol (& PimIndex.vol) in the location shinichi_wtn showed a few post back.
 
K

kahiro

Senior Member
Jun 7, 2005
215
18
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4
same contact linking problems

hi shinichi,

tried v0.6 but still have the same problem as previously. tried to restore both before and after syncing and same problem. duplicate contacts created in the people hub but when clicked on nothing happen. I guess these are coming from the backup. Also problem with wrong contact photos being assigned.

anyway, my contact index using the test option is 05-00-00-00-02-00-07-00-59-00-00-00. hope you can find the solution soon as this is one of the most need tools for us flash junkies.

keep up the good work. thanks.
 
shinichi_wtn

shinichi_wtn

Senior Member
Jun 25, 2009
58
81
Beijing
NOOB4ALL said:
Hi
thx for da job seems nice

I have some questions :
Does da erased text messages are in da CommsBackup.xml file ?
I try to recover some erased messages

Can the backup be automatic ?
So if i erased a message by mistake without doing backup manually i'll still be able to restore it ?

Thx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

CommsBackup.xml is generated by the phone every day or every two days but not at regular time. So it is very likely to have your deleted messages because new CommsBackup.xml is not generated yet. But the real database store.vol never contains your deleted messages(erase it immediately after you delete), so can not restore them.
 
shinichi_wtn

shinichi_wtn

Senior Member
Jun 25, 2009
58
81
Beijing
kahiro said:
hi shinichi,

tried v0.6 but still have the same problem as previously. tried to restore both before and after syncing and same problem. duplicate contacts created in the people hub but when clicked on nothing happen. I guess these are coming from the backup. Also problem with wrong contact photos being assigned.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Yes, restore feature is not perfect at now. Since we do not know how WP manage accounts and other infos, so different problems may happen after restoring. But at least we can keep our sms in the computer:)
 
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jcsy

jcsy

Senior Member
Jan 9, 2009
3,753
949
Land of the Z1/EVO3D/GTAB10.1(2)
OK
I am using 0.7

I selected BACKUP STORE.VOL

I navigvate into here;
\Applications\Data\09125ea9-95de-469a-aedc-22e35389ab0a\Data\IsolatedStore\BackupVols

I can see this file now, store.vol

so I copy paste this (within windows) to my Laptop

and when I want to restore, I restore it to
\Applications\Data\09125ea9-95de-469a-aedc-22e35389ab0a\Data\IsolatedStore\BackupVols
and upload the store.vol there
(using Windows Phone Device Manager, or any Isolated Storage explorer)

and now enter the app, and select "RESTORE.VOL" correct?

honestly, i think these instructions would be easier ^_^
and also, not so technical (though I understand that there are many technicalities prior to 0.7 version :) )
good job mate

going to give this a go :D

43 thanks, 44 posts
AWESOME :)

on another note, i just restored store.vol , after syncing live account
do i need to backup and restore the pimindex? i just need my SMS's
 
Last edited:
lordmago

lordmago

Senior Member
Feb 13, 2010
489
142
Near Venice
Numbers don't add up after backup

Hello all

Yesterday I made backup of store.vol and pimindex.vol with 0.6 version, because I wanted to install different custom rom (from NewTech 8107 22L TU to Dynamics7 v1.0 8107, for HTC 7 Pro). Then I made backup in my pc using Wp7EasyBackup.

I installed ROM, new 0.7 version and all other application using Reinstaller (this imply I set up my Wi-Fi connection and Live account to download from marketplace).
Then I restored files backup in my pc with Wp7EasyBackup.
I started SMSBackup V0.7 to restore store.vol and pimindex.vol and most recent sms I found was 19/02/2012!!! :confused: and yesterday was 10/03/2012... :eek:
Did anyone experienced something like this??
 
konker

konker

Senior Member
Jan 9, 2006
325
2
lordmago said:
Hello all
I installed ROM, new 0.7 version and all other application using Reinstaller (this imply I set up my Wi-Fi connection and Live account to download from marketplace).
Then I restored files backup in my pc with Wp7EasyBackup.
I started SMSBackup V0.7 to restore store.vol and pimindex.vol and most recent sms I found was 19/02/2012!!! :confused: and yesterday was 10/03/2012... :eek:
Did anyone experienced something like this??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure you can use Wp7EasyBackup to restore your ROM backup to a new ROM? I use the same utility but not across different ROM. I cannot comment on the date/time stamp though. I successfully restored the Store.vol & PimIndex.vol from my HD7 to my Samsung Focus (v.1.3) & the date/time stamp was preserved. Only issue I observed was the SMS did not associate with the contact database thus I was not able to view my contact's SMS from within the contact...but this is expected.
 
A

andreacorti

Senior Member
Apr 27, 2011
314
105
Lecco
I have a problem.. it worked correctly 'till some weeks ago.. then.. I opened it and "error copying messages" or "import failed no sms to import"... also manualy refreshing.

I have an Omnia 7 interop unlock on 8107.
I'm able to copy manually with WP7 root tools the store.vol or the commsbackup file.. but sms backup doesn't work anymore...
 
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    shinichi_wtn
    shinichi_wtn
    [XAP] SMSBackup V0.9, Backup & Export SMS/MSN/Facebook Messages [Updated 2012-05-19]

    [Introduction]

    Thunder_ in XDA have found that windows phone itself has a backup mechanism, it may backup messages on a regular basis, and store it at "\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\BackupVols\CommsBackup.xml" (see this link), so we can take the file, extract it and then we get our messages. Before version 0.7, the app automatically copy the "CommsBackup.xml" to IsolateStorage and extract them to readable sms.

    Since CommsBackup.xml is generated by the system, we can't controll it. We often get only part of our messages because CommsBackup.xml doesn't contain newest ones.

    The sms/msn(also many other datas) in Windows Phone actually stored at "\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Stores\DeviceStore\store.vol". It is an EDB database. We can use native EDB API to explore and extract it. From Version 0.7, the app use this way to extract our messages and will never rely on CommsBackup.xml anymore:)

    [Compatibility]

    The app should be compatible with devices supported by WP7 Root Tools(need to mark the app as Trusted)
    Also support fully-unlocked phones

    [Features]

    1. Automatically extract messages in store.vol, can sort messages by conversation or by sending time, can filter messages by contact, start/end date and keyword.
    2. Export messages in txt/xml/csv format to IsolateStorage or SkyDrive.
    If you export messages to IsolateStorage, you can use any IsolateStorage tool to download them to your computer.(The ID of this app is 09125ea9-95de-469a-aedc-22e35389ab0a);
    If you export messages to SkyDrive, they will be uploaded to your SMS folder in SkyDrive(The folder is private, thus "just me")
    3. Backup and restore "store.vol" and "PimIndex.vol", you can backup these two files before you flashing ROM and restore it later. This will keep your messages and contacts remain the same.(This feature is for professional users only)

    [Versions History]

    V0.9
    1. Reduce memory usage(tested with 100,000 messages)
    2. Speed up message importing process(faster than previous versions)
    3. Add csv export option
    4. Facebook messages will show Facebook friend's name(not the ID number in v0.8)
    5. Switch backup mode(SMS or MSN) in Setting page.
    V0.8
    1. Add feature to backup MSN messages. You can switch backup mode(SMS or MSN) in the menu bar
    2. Change UI of message list, looks more Metro now.
    3. Improve contact identify algorithm.
    4. Optimize the compatibility with WP7 Root Tools.
    V0.7
    1. Extract sms from store.vol directly, now you can backup and export all short messages and will never rely on CommsBackup.xml.
    2. Optimize for fully-unlocked ROMs. If your phone is fully-unlocked, the app read store.vol directly; If your phone is interop-unlocked but not fully-unlocked, the app will copy store.vol to IsolateStorage and then read store.vol(because directly mount store.vol will cause Access Denied exception)
    3. Add more setting options and remove exit confirm.
    V0.6
    1. Add support to backup and restore both store.vol and PimIndex.vol.
    2. Increase max waiting time for file operation to 15 seconds(older version is 6 seconds). This may help those who have very big CommsBackup.xml or store.vol(>10MB)
    3. In order to find how WP store contact's index in PimIndex.vol, I add a test feature(Click "test" in the menu bar) and need your feedbacks. Thanks!
    V0.5
    1. Add feature to export filtered messages. You can enable this in setting page.
    2. Simplify setting page, no "save" button now.
    3. Fix a bug in V0.4 which may show "import error: Value Does not fall within the expected range" when the app starts.
    V0.4
    1. Integrated with phone's contacts. For each message, the app will show contact's name if the phone number exists in any of the contacts, otherwise it will show pure number as before.
    2. Add feature to filter sms. You can filter messages by contact, begin/end date and keyword. This will allow you search sms more quickly.
    3. Add feature to restore system sms database store.vol, you can restore all sms and contacts after you flashing rom
    4. Fix a bug when uploading txt to SkyDrive, the text document sometimes become incomplete or even blank.
    Known bugs: Under certain conditions, it may show "import error: Value Does not fall within the expected range"
    V0.3
    1. Add double-language support(both en-US and zh-CN)
    2. Fix the bug in V0.2 that the app may crash when uploading sms to SkyDrive
    Known bugs: When uploading txt to SkyDrive, the text document sometimes become incomplete or even blank
    V0.2
    1. Add feature to export txt format
    2. Add feature to upload sms to SkyDrive(some guys think IsolateStorage is not convenient)
    3. Add feature to Backup system database "store.vol"
    4. Fix some bugs that do not automatically update sms
    Known bugs: the app may crash when uploading sms to SkyDrive

    [Tutorial - How to backup and restore your sms]

    The sms and contacts information(also many other datas) actually stored at "\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Stores\DeviceStore\store.vol". To backup and restore this file will keep our text messages remain the same. Also, there is a file in the same folder named PimIndex.vol which contains contacts' indexes. WP use it to search contacts. So you must also backup and restore this file.

    Below is the methods:
    1. Open SMSBackup app(version>=0.6), go to "Export & Backup" page, navigate to "Backup", there are two buttons for backup and two buttons for restore.
    2. Click "Backup store.vol" button to backup "store.vol", then the file will be copied to "BackupVols/store.vol" in IsolateStorage, you can use any IsolateStorage tool to download it to your computer(the same with PimIndex.vol).
    3. When you need to restore sms and contacts(for example, after flashing a new ROM), you find the store.vol and PimIndex.vol you have already backup in your computer, use IsolateStorage tool to upload the two files to BackupVols folder.
    4. Open SMSBackup app and navigate to the same page in step 1. Click "Restore store.vol" button, then click "Restore PimIndex.vol". When both have executed. Restart your phone immediately.
    Important Note(Updated 25/2/2012): If you flash a new ROM, please add/sync live account first and then restore store.vol and PimIndex.vol; After restoring, sync again. If you failed in this way, you can restore store.vol and PimIndex.vol first and then add/sync live account. Since we do not know how WP manage accounts and other infos, so different problems may happen after restoring. Feedbacks and suggestions on restoring feature are welcome.

    Important Note: the restore feature in version 0.5 is not perfect. It can restore all text messages and contacts successfully. But you may encounter the problem with searching contacts or wrong profile pictures in the People Hub. Thanks to the feedbacks by kahiro, 2new, AshleyT. The reason is that we haven't backup and restore PimIndex.vol. Now I'm researching on how WP store contact's index. I think we can modify this file to add indexes by ourselves. every contact is a 12 bytes in PimIndex.vol. I don't know what it means. If you can help me, please open SMSBackup V0.6, Click "test" in the menu bar to navigate to a new page, then click "Get Contact Index Format" button and reply the format string it shows(for example 01-00-00-00-02-00-07-00-8E-00-00-00). Thanks!

    There are some users say the app may crash when login or upload to SkyDrive while some others do not have this problem. I use Microsoft Live SDK to connect to SkyDrive, I do not know if the SDK have some compatibility issues. I'll continue to find if there is anything wrong. Thanks for your feedbacks.

    At last, thanks to Thunder__ who find the CommsBackup.xml file and endeffekt who find the store.vol file (see http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1072796); Thanks to the DiagProvXML app, I use the COM libraries to copy native files in early versions. Thanks Heathcliff74's wonderful guide on native code. Thanks to GoodDayToDie, he gave me good suggestions and idea.


    Early versions download stats
    V0.3 - 1897 views
    V0.4 - 830 views
    V0.5 - 1922 views
    V0.6 - 1322 views
    View
    3
    badboy70
    badboy70
    Working fine on NextGen+ ROM, HD7.

    I'm wipping together a small tool to read the exported txt files.
    Should be finished soon

    RY7ua.jpg
    View
    2
    shinichi_wtn
    shinichi_wtn
    Diggia said:
    THX for your useful reply. I know there are some problems with LG ProvXML. I hope and wait for the next version of SMSBackup. So you suggest to backup these files manually. Is it possibile with WP7 Root Tools ? Can you write me the path of these two files ? THX in advance ;)
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    Path of the two files:
    \Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Stores\DeviceStore\store.vol
    \Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Stores\DeviceStore\PimIndex.vol

    Now new version(V0.8) is available, you can try this version to backup these two files. Let me know if it works.
    View
    2
    shinichi_wtn
    shinichi_wtn
    konker said:
    GoodDayToDie,

    Thanks for pointing that out.
    Both the phones are mine & both have been registered with the same WLID.
    I wanted to test restoring SMS from my primary device (HD7) to the Samsung Focus. Both of these are currently running DFT Freedom ROMs.
    Perhaps I understood wrongly where the IsolateStorage actually is.
    I use WMDC enabler to browse the phone's storage & made manual backups from the HD7 & copied them to the Samsung Focus.
    Is that correct?

    Konker
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    Yes. Before you restore, you should install and open SMSBackup app first. Then you can use any IsolateStorage tool to upload your backup store.vol and PimIndex.vol to BackupVols folder of my app's IsolateStorage(09125ea9-95de-469a-aedc-22e35389ab0a).

    I've attach an image to show where you should put your backup files, hope you understand.
    View
    2
    shinichi_wtn
    shinichi_wtn
    Tester needed

    Update to version 0.6. This version allows you backup and restore both store.vol and PimIndex.vol.

    Now I'm researching on how WP store contact's index in PimIndex.vol. Every contact appears in the database is a fixed length array of byte. The length is 12. For example 01-00-00-00-02-00-07-00-8E-00-00-00.

    Now, I find that 8E(142) is the unique ID of the corresponding contact(in Contact table of store.vol). But I am not sure that every phone is the same. Also, if the contact's ID is larger than 256, for example 257(I only have 200 contacts...), how the array will like to be. 01-00-00-00-02-00-07-01-01-00-00-00 or 01-00-00-00-02-00-07-00-01-01-00-00 or something else...

    So I add a test feature in v0.6(Click "test" in the menu bar). I need your feedbacks, thanks!
    View

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