DX4WIN has two save locations: 1. The SAVE directory 2. The Secondary Backup Directory you can specify on the QSO tab of your preferences
#1 should *always* be a local hard drive, preferably one connected via an IDE or (S)ATA interface, not a USB interface. You want your log to be saved as fast as possible. This minimizes the amount of time you need to wait between exiting DX4WIN and shutting down your computer. #2 saves at the same media speed as #1. If you use a USB flash drive, then it will take DX4WIN longer to write the files to the secondary save location. I gave up on using USB flash drives for backup years ago - they are just too darn slow for me. They tend to "lock up" DX4WIN the entire time the files are being written. I guess that's a good thing if you are planning on shutting down your computer. It's not so good if you want to quickly save your log and work someone else right away. Here's what I do: 1. I leave my computer on all the time. 2. I never exit DX4WIN unless I have to reboot. My log is always open, but saved when I am not there (see #3). 3. I try to remember to save (ALT-S) my log every time I step away from the operating position. 99.44% of the time at least. 4. My Secondary Backup Directory is actually DX4W805\SAVE2, i.e. the same local drive as the SAVE directory. 5. I use SyncBackSE to synchronize my entire DX4W805 directory to a location on my home's local area network (my development/office computer upstairs). This allows me to access the log from the other computer, as well as synchronize changes in both directions. I also synchronize my WriteLog directory the same way. 6. I have a local Acronis backup job on the ham computer that runs every night, to a USB-connected hard drive (Western Digital My Desk). Note that I only started this a week or two ago! I have never been unable to recover data from a crashed ham computer, i.e. I have never lost the hard drive. 7. I have a local Acronis backup job on the development computer that runs every night, to a USB-connected hard drive (Western Digital My Desk). 8. I use Carbonite to continuously backup my development computer to the cloud. I realize the above is almost certainly overkill, but I have never lost my log, only a rare QSO here or there, mostly due to writing the log from the development computer, and forgetting to reload it on the ham computer before logging a new QSO. When I wake up in the morning, I have at least five backup copies of my log, in addition to the copy in the SAVE directory: - SAVE2 directory - network path - ham computer backup - development computer backup - cloud I could probably run Carbonite on the ham computer, and get rid of the local Acronis backup, however, that costs more than my current solution. Local backups are good when you accidentally delete a lot of stuff and want to get it back quickly. Cloud backup is good for recovering a random file here or there that hasn't changed recently. Neither solution is ideal for recovering a recently-created file that was just deleted. I believe you can use Windows System Restore to do this, though I have not had a chance to try it yet. Check your PC - if System Restore is NOT enabled, you may want to do so. That's probably way too much information. Regardless of what you do, do *not* "log to" the Secondary Backup Directory directly! I don't know what will happen, but it probably isn't good. 73 - Jim AD1C p.s. my current plan of record is to replace my ham hard drive with a 500 GB SSD (which I already have in hand), and use the existing mechanical drive for backup, in place of the USB drive. My concern is that if I am operating a contest at 3 a.m. when the backup job starts, it will cause a noticiable slowdown that will interfere with my contest operating. Backing up to a SATA drive should be much faster and less noticable. Plus, if the computer crashes while operating, it will reboot much more quickly from an SSD. -- Jim Reisert AD1C, <jjreis...@alum.mit.edu>, http://www.ad1c.us ______________________________________________________________ DX4WIN mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/dx4win Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:DX4WIN@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
