Loss of data when battery goes dead?

The backup battery's function is to act whenever the main battery is not available, i.e. the main battery is drained, or the battery is missing all together (such as when switching batteries.) The backup battery is usually a standard watch-size battery and as such does not have the power needed to actually power the PDA for actual usage. What it can do is continue the power flow to your RAM so that no data is lost. How long the battery lasts depends on the actual PDA. Years ago I had a Cassiopeia E-100 Palm-Size PC and it came with a backup battery, I believe the manual said that the battery could hold the RAM contents for 30 days before going belly-up. So, as long as you attach a powersource to your PDA within those 30 days (or whatever time frame the X5 has), you should be fine. Just make sure that if you left it running on the backup for a long time to replace that battery as well. The machine will most likely tell you that, but as I don't work for Dell and don't have my X5 yet, I can't make promises. The battery, if it is a standard watch battery, should be available at any Drug Store, Department Store, Jewelry Store, and the good-old standby, Radio Shack.

A PDA is no different in many respects from any other computer. Backup, backup, backup. All your data should be backed up on the desktop or notebook PC, in addition, there are backup programs and memory card programs to back your data up on as well, SoftWinter comes to mind. Check out Handango I think. Remember most of your information is 'synched', so items like address book/contacts, calendar etc. are always on your PC, but if on the road and the unthinkable happens, as it usually does, your data will be backed up on the memory card.

-are all pda's this way? All PocketPCs are this way. I don't own a P**m so I can't speak to them. -When the main battery depletes to the point where the unit shuts off how long do you have before data is lost? Until the backup battery dies. -Is the backup battery just used when changing main batteries or does it take over when the main battery goes dead? If so how long do you have before it is dead? I've never had it happen, so I cannot say how long, but if you continue to try to use the PDA on the backup battery it won't be long (minutes) if it even lets you do that. The backup is there to bridge over battery changes and to act as a safety net if you run the main batteries totally flat. -does the backup battery recharge or does it have to be replaced? Replace. -with a fully charged unit how long can it be left off before data is lost? Depends on the machine. Most of us leave the thing in the charger overnight every night, so this issue doesn't come up. You could try an experiment for 1, 2, 3 days, looking each day at the battery remaining and work up an estimate. I would expect maybe a week or more. Remember, even "off" the machine is still drawing power to maintain the RAM memory.