NbuExplorer
===================

NbuExplorer is Nokia NBU, NBF, NFB, NFC and ARC backup file parser, extractor
and viewer. It can help you check the contents of a backup or extract files
from it. It is non-destructive as it accesses backup files in a read-only mode.
Nevertheless, it is provided with NO WARRANTY (according to GNU GPL license).
The main goal of this application is to enable Nokia phone and Nokia software
(PC Suite and Ovi Suite) users to access their data stored in backup files
in as much comfortable way as possible. This application IS NOT an official
Nokia product and can be used only at your own risk.

Main features
===================
- View content of nbu, nbf, nfb, nfc and arc backup files
- Extract individual files from backup files
- Brute force scan for vcard and other phone data in any file

System requirements
===================
To run this application you need to have installed MS .Net Framework 2.0
(3.0 or 3.5 should be fine too) runtime. It can be downloaded from official
Microsoft download pages:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5

The application should also run under the Mono runtime. It was successfully
tested on Ubuntu 9.10 after installing the winforms2.0 extension (can be done
with the following command: "sudo apt-get install libmono-winforms2.0-cil").

dbshell integration
===================
dbshell is third party application which can be used by NbuExplorer to parse
contacts from symbian contact database (usually located under Private\100012a5
folder as file with name DBS_100065FF_Contacts.cdb), memo notes including timestamp
(from notepad.dat) and message headers (from logdbu.dat file).

In order to enable this functionality you will need to get your copy
of dbshell (version 1.3):
https://sites.google.com/site/garawaa/
http://symbian.site11.com/
Unzip content of dbshell.zip to the same directory where you have NbuExplorer.exe
so relative path between exes will be the same as in following example:

C:\Programs\NbuExplorer\NbuExplorer.exe
C:\Programs\NbuExplorer\dbshell\dbshell.exe

That's it! Once NbuExplorer detects symbian contact database in backup, it
will automatically attempt to parse it using dbshell.

Usage
===================
Open
-------------------
Simply open a backup file either by menu item File/Open, or drag&drop backup
file onto the running application main form or by launching application with
a path to a backup file as command line argument ("open with" association to
*.nbu or any other file extension is possible too).

Browse
-------------------
Once in the main program window, you should see recognized contents in the form
of a directory tree on the left part of application main form. You can browse
that folder structure as you are probably used to from standard applications.
The right top part displays a list of files in a selected folder and optional
(hid-able) right bottom part works as a prieview of the selected file. It can
display pictures (common formats like jpg, png, gif) and text (recognized only
by file extensions - txt, htm, jad,...).

Export
-------------------
All recognized files can be exported either by a double-click on the selected
file in the file list, via context menu in file list or directory tree. When you
select only one file to export, you are prompted to select a target directory
and are allowed to change the file name. When you select more files or a whole
directory, you are prompted to select a target directory. An overwrite dialog
may appear when some "existing file collision" occurs.

Browse messages
-------------------
Second tab of the application main form called "Messages" can be used to
browse messages. The tree with checkboxes on the left side server to filter
messages by sender/recipient.
"Export messages" toolbar button allows you to export messages in one of following
formats:
- Plain text file (*.txt)
- Comma-separated values (*.csv) - can be open in Excel or similar application
- Android 'SMS Backup & Restore' XML format - this format can be used to transfer
messages to Android phones using application called "SMS Backup & Restore".
For more details refer to http://android.riteshsahu.com/apps/sms-backup-restore
- All messages to XML file (*.xml) - can be used for further processing
Export to most of these formats respects current filtering and ordering of
messages.

Preferences
-------------------
In preferences you can choose which sections of backup file will be used to read
messages which are shown on Messages tab. Backups usually contain same messages
in multiple sections (and multiple formats). Because of this you may see
duplicities in decoded messages (typically multipart messages which are merged
in one backup section, but hold as separated parts in another section).
If you want to filter these duplicates out, you can disable unwanted source
types individually.

There are also other options affecting either behavior of application's UI
(like drag & drop functionality) or parsing (like time recalculation or data
formats to be searched by bruteforce scan).

File parsing log
-------------------
The last tab of the application main form called "File parsing log" can be
used to check details about the backup file parsing process. Hexadecimal numbers
appearing in the log are usually start addresses (from beginning of file)
of blocks that were detected in the backup file.
File coverage parameter which should appear at the end of each successful
parsing log means how large part of the whole backup file (in percents) has been
understood and can be viewed or extracted as files.

Bruteforce scanning
-------------------
Important data like contacts, messages and calendar items are stored in nbu 
backups in the format of vcards, which can be typically identified by starting
and ending text sequence (BEGIN:VCARD...END:VCARD). Therefore, it is possible
to search for such data in any file without understanding its internal
structure. This method can be used for corrupted backups or backups on which
the standard method fails. It is also suitable for different (than nbu) file
formats which preserve data in vcard form (for example communication center
cache files such as PCCSContact.db, PCCSSMS.db).
Some other file formats which can be recognized by typical start/end sequence
like jpeg images, 3gp videos and zip archives are now supported as well.
Bruteforce mode is automatically used when opening a file with other extensions
than typical bakucp files (nbu, nfb, nfc etc.). For these files, it will be used
when option "All files (bruteforce scan)" in the file type filter of open file
dialog is selected.

Contact
===================
Project homepage: http://sourceforge.net/projects/nbuexplorer
SVN repository: http://svn.code.sf.net/p/nbuexplorer/code/trunk/
NbuExplorer at facebook: http://www.facebook.com/nbuexplorer
Donation page: http://sourceforge.net/p/nbuexplorer/donate
Author: Petr Vilem, [email protected]