Backing up Important CMC Data

Computerised Mount Cutters, Computers, other gadgetry.
Post Reply
Ian Goodman
Posts: 40
Joined: Sat 22 May, 2004 1:07 pm
Location: Ashtonfield NSW Australia
Organisation: Ian Goodman Photography
Interests: Chinese Cooking.
Playing with my Grandchildren
Photoshop Training with Maitland U3A
Location: Ashtonfield - Australia

Backing up Important CMC Data

Post by Ian Goodman »

How many of us CMC operators back up some very important CMC data?

The data I am referring to is the machine data, the little file that tells your cmc where to start cutting and where to finish both for back cuts and front cuts.

I own a gunnar 601 using a windows xp operating machine not Vista as this software will not run under Vista.

The file for this machine is spt32.ini and is found in the Windows directory, it is a very good idea to put this file on a CD and file it away.

Because if you loose the drive that is the operating system and you loose this little ini file you have a huge problem you have to completely reset all the over and under cuts.

This is called Insurance and the cost is around 35centsAUD.
Not too expensive.

You will not find this information anywhere and I would like to know if Wizard, Valliani and others recommend the same action?

If not then can you advise how you have prevented all this work if the wost happens?
Spit
Posts: 1102
Joined: Fri 17 Mar, 2006 8:54 pm
Location: Glandwr
Organisation: Framing Mad
Interests: Framing, watercolours & CCFC
Location: Pembrokeshire
Contact:

Post by Spit »

I do it over network shares, as I have three PCs. I copy the important bits for my till and cmc PCs over to each other and to my personal machine. Should one machine die, a copy should be available on the others. Barring a massive lightning strike killing all 3 I should be ok......
http://www.classicbikeart.co.uk

Steve.
During business hours : My status
User avatar
Merlin
Posts: 1538
Joined: Thu 05 Jun, 2003 5:50 pm
Location: Cornwall
Organisation: Merlin Mounts
Interests: Aviation

Post by Merlin »

Having had a serious hard drive failure last year. I learnt the hard way.

I now clone my 'in use' hard drive every Friday night Acronis to an external hard drive via USB.

That way, if I should lose any data, then it is just a matter of 'reverse cloning' ( is that the technical explanation) back to the hard drive in use, without having to go through the long winded procedure of re-installing.
John GCF
markw

Post by markw »

I have all the settings and tables backed up + hard copy printouts - I should load a copy of the ready to go program on laptop so that I could just swap the cables around and be up and running in minutes.

The last time I loaded a software update on my Valiani I ended up having to recalibrate the machine - having backed up everything made little difference - very frustrating at the time.
Moglet
Posts: 3485
Joined: Mon 25 Jun, 2007 5:43 pm
Location: The Shire
Organisation: An Urban Myth
Interests: I'll let you know if I get my life back.
Contact:

Post by Moglet »

A very useful way of creating an "offiste" backup of highly critical files is to use a USB memory stick.

Also, for really critical data, if you have a second computer, I would HIGHLY recommend that you restoe the backed up data from the first system onto the second system to ensure its integrity. It can be scary, the number of times that backups fail to read properly... Also, the good ol' grandfather, father, son backup method still has its merits.
........Áine JGF SGF FTB
Image .Briseann an dúchas trí shuiligh an chuit.
User avatar
Merlin
Posts: 1538
Joined: Thu 05 Jun, 2003 5:50 pm
Location: Cornwall
Organisation: Merlin Mounts
Interests: Aviation

Post by Merlin »

It is difficult to know what are 'critical files'.

As already mentioned, a lot of files get embedded into one or many of the Windows folders on installation without the end user even knowing about what files are being copied and where they end up.

Personally, that is why I clone to an external HD. I know that I can use the EHD as the master in the likely event of the PC HD going T*Ts up.

The data on my master drive gets backed up to a slave at midnight, everynight using the package I mentioned.

Belt and Braces maybe. I learnt the hard way though by losing virtually everything. It doesnt take long to set up and I can sleep peacefully now.

There are many ways of protecting yourself and your data. It is just a matter of finding one which suits you and sticking with it..
John GCF
User avatar
prospero
Posts: 11492
Joined: Tue 05 Jun, 2007 4:16 pm
Location: Lincolnshire

Post by prospero »

.ini files are usually very simple. Just a lot of values assigned to variables and file paths to recently opened files, etc.
They are created automatically by various progs and are mostly in the Windows folder. They are read every time the prog in opened so that you start in the same state as when you last closed the prog. If you delete an .ini file then the program will open in the state when it was first installed. The prog will then create a new one when the prog is closed.

If you really want a 99.999% safe backup, open the file in a text editor (Notepad?) and print it out. Or even (gasp) write the contents on a bit of paper. :P In the event of a catastrophe with the HD and you have to reinstall the CMC software, you should be able to edit the new .ini file to match the settings of the old calibration.

Don't loose the bit of paper. :P
osgood

Post by osgood »

Merlin wrote:It is difficult to know what are 'critical files'.
Critical files for me are:
Gunnar ini file,
Photos,
video,
documents,
pst file from Outlook (which includes folders, accounts),
Software and media bought online, serial numbers,
passwords - dozens of em.
AZZ cardfile

This is the stuff that is most important to me and it is backed up on a couple of external hard drives and some is on DVD's as well!
WelshFramer
Posts: 996
Joined: Wed 30 Nov, 2005 10:03 am
Location: Llanwrtyd Wells
Organisation: Neuadd Bwll Framing
Interests: Does running a framing business leave any time for interests?
Location: Llanwrtyd Wells
Contact:

Post by WelshFramer »

I use Mozy for backing up critical data. It runs invisibly in the background and backs up my files to a server in Utah or somewhere like that.

Best of all, for me, is that it's free if you need less than 2Gb of space (after the files have been compressed).

I've had Mozy running under XP for nearly a year now and it works seemlessly -- seldom are my backups less than a few hours old when I take a look at them. The only time I notice that it's running is when I switch the PC on after a break and Mozy reports that it hasn't done a backup for a day or two.

The Mac version is a beta release and generally works OK though I've had a few glitches with very large backups.

Take a look at mozy.com for details.
Mike Cotterell
Neuadd Bwll Framing

http://www.welshframing.com
My status
Post Reply