Friday, June 3, 2011

Pass Safe Gingerbread update

Upgrading to Gingerbread (Android 2.3) will break the Pass Safe's database. In order to avoid losing all your passwords, you should make a backup of your passwords (Export DB function in Pass Safe - unencrypted to make sure that you will be able to read the passwords after upgrade), upgrade to Gingerbread, reinstall Pass Safe and import the passwords (Import DB function in Pass Safe - make sure to use "Import DB (unencrypted)" if you saved the database unencrypted).

And remember, it's always a good idea to make backups before doing any firmware update, no matter how small!

1.5.1 Update:
Pass Safe (even the free version) will dump the database if it will crash after a system update on the sdcard's root directory, in a file named passsafe_crash_db.dump. If you did not create a backup before the system update, you can use this file to recover your passwords. However, you will need an Android phone which was not updated to Gingerbread in order to read these passwords. Follow these steps to recover your database:

1. After update, try to start Pass Safe. It will create a file named passsafe_crash_db.dump on your sdcard's root directory
2. Rename that file passsafe.dump. Warning - it will override any other file named passsafe.dump on your sdcard's root directory.
3. Find another phone which was not updated to Gingerbread (Android 2.3.3) and insert your sdcard (containing newly renamed file - passsafe.dump) into this phone.
4. Install (or update to the last version) Pass Safe Free.
5. Open Pass Safe Free, press menu button and select "Import Database". Caution - do not select "Import DB (unencrypted).
6. Press menu button again and select "Export DB (unencrypted)". Caution - do not select "Export Database".
7. Remove the sdcard and plug it into your phone (the one updated to Gingerbread).
8. Reinstall Pass Safe on your phone.
9. Open Pass Safe, press menu and select "Import DB (unencrypted)". Caution - do not select "Import Database".

Your passwords should be available now.