What do you do if you no longer have access to a Psion, but need to access some data from an old Psion backup on your PC? Native Psion files can't be read on a PC, but fortunately, there are some solutions:
- Use the PsiWin PC connectivity suite to convert the Psion-format files to a format that can be read on the PC.
- Download and install the Psion ER5 emulator - this gives you a Psion machine on your PC, and will allow you to access your old data on a PC - See our emulator setup page. From the emulator, you may be able to print or export your data to a text file, or use a third -party Psion converter
- Consider borrowing or buying an old Psion machine, loading the files onto the Psion, then printing the documents or data as a text file
- Find another friendly Psion user that may be able to convert the file into a format that can be read by a PC for you. If you don't know of another user, try asking for help in our Psion forum
also
Data conversion for the Psion can be quite complicated, due to the file formats used by Psion / Symbian. You should find that the PsiWin program supplied on CD with your Psion machine can help you with most of your conversion needs. If your PC is connected to your Psion, dragging files from "My Psion" to the PC should prompt you to convert to a PC format, otherwise you can
convert files that are stored on the PC, using the Psion File
Converter. This program is installed with PsiWin and is located in c:\program files\Psion\PsiWin - the application filename is Cpycnv.exe
For more help on
file conversion, see our dedicated
conversion page.
Agenda and Contacts databases: Note that these can't be converted using the Psion File Converter - PsiWin supports synchronisation of these files, but not direct conversion. See our suggestions in our
Backup FAQ. The most common solution is to load up the files in the Psion Emulator, and either use Print to save the data as a plain text file, or use a Psion-based converter, as detailed on our
Conversion page