[WriteLog] Re back-up

[Don Cassel]

Phil,

Before I networked Writelog, which now serves primarily as my backup system,
I always kept a Windows Explorer window opened to the folder containing the
log files. Every so often I would then select the files and save them to a
floppy. If your computer doesn't have a floppy drive a USB memory stick is a
great alternative and is faster than the floppy. 

Don VE3XD

-----Original Message-----
From: writelog-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:writelog-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Phil Cooper
Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2004 2:22 PM
To: Writelog
Subject: [WriteLog] Re back-up

Hi again all,

Well, there have been a few different answers!

Perhaps I wasn't clear enough in the description.
Yes, I know that in MOST cases, restarting WL will result in you being asked
if you want to include the unsaved data now, and yes that is fine, as far as
it goes!
Mark N7MQ has had a PC crash, and it corrupted his CQWW04.WL file.
Starting WL again has NOT resulted in being asked to restore the unsaved
contacts, and anyway, the WL file was corrupt, so wouldn't open.
Mark does not have the journal file (with extension _jou.adi) in his
directory, and any <filename>_bck.adi file only contains the last few
contacts since the previous Ctrl-S.

Alan N5NA correctly pointed out the section from the help file about
back-ups, but the point is that the backup is effectively the WL file itself
PLUS the <filename>_bck.adi file.

Mark is not the first person to suffer this fate, as there was a similar
tale a few months back, but sadly, I can't remember who it was!

Mike K9MI suggested altering the INI file to read AutoSaveCount=1 but again,
this is saving the data to the contest.wl file.

Having WL networked would seem to be one solution, but that is not practical
for many of us. or you could save your contest.wl file to a floppy, but even
then, a serious crash could still corrupt that wl file, as it did for Mark.

Wouldn't it be nice if WL could give you the possibility of saving all
contacts to - say - a specified drive as an ADIF file? In the event of a
serious crash, you could import this ADIF file.

Just to verify what I am saying, start a contest and enter a few dozen
contacts.
Close WL correctly, and then open the contest.wl file with Notepad.
Now delete the first few lines of the file, effectively corrupting it. If
you now try and restart WL you will not get the chance to back up the
unsaved Q's, and you will have lost all your log data.
It just comes up with INVALID FILE FORMAT, and it is as though you are
opening a new contest from the start. OK, your contest_bck.adi file will be
there, but that won't be your full log!


73 for now
Phil GU0SUP

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