Palm OS Database
A Palm OS Database is the normal format in which data is stored on a Palm OS-based device. These devices lack a normal filesystem, and instead store everything as part of a database. The .pdb extension is what ends up on files containing data exported from a Palm device to another system such as a PC.
The one other format used on a Palm device is PRC, or Palm Resource Compiler. PRC can be considered to be a separate format, or it can be considered to be a subtype of PDB.
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Format details
There is a 72-byte header, followed by a record list which begins with a 6-byte header. If you prefer, you can think of these two headers as a single 78-byte header.
After that is an optional "app info" segment, then an optional "sort info" segment, then the data segments for the records. The segment sizes are not stored explicitly; a segment is assumed to end where the next segment begins, or at the end of the file.
Identification
There's no simple way to identify a PDB file as such, though a known data type can be identified by the 8 bytes at offset 60.
For how to distinguish PDB from PRC, see PRC (Palm OS)#Identification.
Specific formats
The type of data stored in the file is indicated by the type and creator codes, which are two FourCCs (a total of 8 ASCII characters) that appear starting at file offset 60.
There are separate articles for the following formats:
- GrayPaint
- MOBI ("
BOOKMOBI") - Palm Database ImageViewer ("
vIMGView") - PalmDOC ("
TEXtREAd") - PQA ("
pqa clpr") - ScreenShot Hack PDB
- TealPaint PDB ("
DataTlPt")
Additional formats might be listed at Category:Palm OS Database. For a longer list of formats, see the MobileRead Wiki.
