Palm Desktop and HotSync don't work since OS upgrade
When I try to sync my Handspring Visor or launch Palm Desktop I get the error message: "Conduit Manager. Unexpected end of file." This started immediately after I upgraded from OSX 10.8 to 10.9.
I've tried a soft reset on my PDA and uninstalled Palm Desktop then installed the most up-to-date version. Still no joy.
'Unexpected end of file' when using Palm Desktop for Mac
End of File errors can happen when Palm Desktop or
HotSync Manager [emphasis added] find an out-of-place marker in the Preferences file that denotes the end of the file.
If you encounter this error, follow this procedure to recover your personal data.
1. On your Mac, open your Palm device's
user folder. Make sure to open the folder named after your Palm device.
2. Move the file named
User Data to your desktop.
3. Rename the file named
User Data Archive to User Data.
4. Launch Palm Desktop and select the user that exhibited the error.
5. What happens?
•
Everything's OK: If the User Data Archive file (which you renamed to User Data) is not corrupted, Palm Desktop should launch properly, and you should see your user data. Check your data to ensure that most or all of it is recovered. Stop here; the issue is solved and you do not need to proceed to the next step.
•
The error appears: If you receive the "Unexpected end of file" error again, the archive has also been corrupted. Continue with these steps.
6. Earlier, you moved the file named "User Data" to your desktop. Take this file and move it to the Trash, but
do not empty the trash.
7. Launch Palm Desktop and select the user that exhibited the error.
8. Move the User Data file from the Trash to your desktop.
9. From within Palm Desktop, hold down the Apple and Option keys while selecting Import from the File menu.
10. Navigate to the desktop, and select the User Data file you moved there. In many cases, this process will recover your personal data and create a new, uncorrupted User Data file in your user folder.
PowerBook G4 12 867 MHz 640 meg 40 gig SuperDrive Mac OS X (10.4.3) What problem? I use the The Missing Sync for Palm OS
'Unexpected end of file' when using Palm Desktop for Mac
End of File errors can happen when Palm Desktop or
HotSync Manager [emphasis added] find an out-of-place marker in the Preferences file that denotes the end of the file.
If you encounter this error, follow this procedure to recover your personal data.
1. On your Mac, open your Palm device's
user folder. Make sure to open the folder named after your Palm device.
2. Move the file named
User Data to your desktop.
3. Rename the file named
User Data Archive to User Data.
4. Launch Palm Desktop and select the user that exhibited the error.
5. What happens?
•
Everything's OK: If the User Data Archive file (which you renamed to User Data) is not corrupted, Palm Desktop should launch properly, and you should see your user data. Check your data to ensure that most or all of it is recovered. Stop here; the issue is solved and you do not need to proceed to the next step.
•
The error appears: If you receive the "Unexpected end of file" error again, the archive has also been corrupted. Continue with these steps.
6. Earlier, you moved the file named "User Data" to your desktop. Take this file and move it to the Trash, but
do not empty the trash.
7. Launch Palm Desktop and select the user that exhibited the error.
8. Move the User Data file from the Trash to your desktop.
9. From within Palm Desktop, hold down the Apple and Option keys while selecting Import from the File menu.
10. Navigate to the desktop, and select the User Data file you moved there. In many cases, this process will recover your personal data and create a new, uncorrupted User Data file in your user folder.
PowerBook G4 12 867 MHz 640 meg 40 gig SuperDrive Mac OS X (10.4.3) What problem? I use the The Missing Sync for Palm OS
I've followed steps 1 to 5 and Palm Desktop launches fine. I selected the user from HotSync in the menu bar at the top of the screen, but when I launched Addresses, Memos, etc, all were blank.
Still, this looks like genuine progress and I welcome your suggestion as to what we do next.
If you have not already done so, I would repair disk permissions using the Disk Utility application. I've never encountered quite what you are seeing here, but the repair should eliminate any permissions related issues which might cause your data files not to be read when you selected the existing HotSync user.
Does intact, contemporary data reside somewhere? In the Address Book and iCal for example? Because if it does, you can restore it to your Palm device if it is missing or has been improperly overwritten.
At this point, if you attempt to initiate a synchronization with iSync, what happens?
This may be pertinent - within my User's folder I have the following files:
User Data
User Data (old)
User Data Archive (old)
User Data Archive (old) (old)
As for iSync I have never used it before. When I synchronise my handheld it launches HotSync.
I am loath to try a sync quite yet in case I lose everything on the handheld.
Well, unless you choose to install a replacement like The Missing Sync for Palm OS, the HotSync Manager is still the supervisory software which executes any synchronization with any Palm device under Mac OS X, including those which use iSync and the iSync Palm Conduit instead of the Palm Desktop.
If you have not configured your device by adding it to iSync, why not simply set the standard Palm conduits to Handheld overwrites Macintosh - if your Palm device is where the intact, up-to-date data resides - and synchronize with the Palm desktop in order to get a complete and contemporary copy of what's now on your handheld, on to your computer? Now that the error message no longer appears, you should be able to do that. With the conduits properly set, who cares what user data presently appears in the Palm Desktop, as it will all be overwritten during the next synchronization?
You will eventually want to pare down that collection of user files folders, probably just to User Data. The others can remain on your desktop, out of the Palm folder, until you are sure that it is safe to throw them away.
I synced Handheld overwrites Mac and, sure enough, Palm Desktop seems to have updated perfectly. I've not lost my contacts and that is great. Nice one, Michael!
However when I made a new entry via Palm Desktop and attempted a sync from Mac to handheld (on checking, the HotSync conduit settings had defaulted to two-way), I got this error message:
"Conduit Manager could not be found. It must be located in the same folder as HotSync Manager for proper operation."
In fact, both appear to be in the same folder (Applications → Palm) but when I run a Finder search for HotSync Manager, the results indicate a previously invisible alias of HotSync Manager inside the application. Is this how Russian dolls behave in the Twilight Zone?
Great question, and rhetorically speaking - I have no idea. It's good that your data transfered as you expected, but the extra copy of the HotSync Manager suggests that there may still be problems ahead.
I would draw you a map of an ideal configuration, but I cannot, as I have installed The Missing Sync for Palm OS which removes the HotSync Manager, patches other Palm components, and defeats iSync if it is installed.
If you do want to synchronize with iCal and the Address Book using iSync - instead of with the Palm Desktop - first export vCal calendar and task records and vCard contact records from the Palm Desktop, and import them into iCal and the Address Book. [Just double-click them to start the import process.] Then configure iSync, and synchronize. Make sure that the first time you do so, you select the option to
replace the records on your Palm device with those in iCal and the Address Book - don't merge them, which is the other choice you're given during an initial synchronization.
"…first export vCal calendar and task records and vCard contact records from the Palm Desktop, and import them into iCal and the Address Book. [Just double-click them to start the import process.] Then configure iSync, and synchronize."
I'm not sure what these terms mean: vCal; task records; vCard contact records.
vCal and vCard refer to file formats. If you launch the Palm Desktop and select Export from the File menu, a dialog box will open.
If your calendar was in the foreground, the third drop-down menu item labeled Format: will list three active options: Tab & Return, Palm Desktop and vCal.
If your address list was in the foreground, the third drop-down menu item labeled Format: will list three active options: Tab & Return, Palm Desktop and vCard.
Palm Desktop vCal records contain calendar data and any task or to do data you have placed in it. Palm Desktop vCard records contain contact data: name, address and so on. As you can see from what I described above, that export effort is a two-step process: one to create calendar and task records, and the other to create calendar records.
Thanks again, Michael, for your continuing involvement.
I've done most of what you suggested - and it seems to have worked fine - but I'm struggling with "configure iSync". I've launched the app but can't find that option
The configuration you mentioned – is it done using the window I've just found that offers icons of .Mac and a PDA? If so, should I be merging or erasing data?
I'm not sure what you mean. The window containing "…icons of .Mac and a PDA" sounds like the main window of iSync.
If you are attempting to synchronize for the first time and you want to replace the data on your handheld with the data from your computer, you should choose Replace. If you want to keep the records on your handheld but append them with records from your computer, and keep those on your computer but append records to it with data from your handheld, then Merge is the appropriate choice.
