F#ken Computer Crashed on me... lost all custom indicators

Questions about MultiCharts and user contributed studies.
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TJ
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F#ken Computer Crashed on me... lost all custom indicators

Postby TJ » 27 Sep 2008

F#ken Computer Crashed on me... lost all the custom indicators I have been coding for the past week!

although I cannot boot from the disk... I can see the files.

Can someone tell me where the indicators are stored? and how can I recover them?

I am using Vista x64.
I vaguely remember there was a directory called c:\Program Data. But I don't see it anymore.

in XP there was a directory called StudyServer. But I have never seen it in Vista.


Sigh... my advice... don't use VISTA. If you already have it, do not install SP1. Google the net and you will read the horror stories.




(This is the time I wish there were a One Button Back Up feature.)

fs

Postby fs » 28 Sep 2008

On mine it is:

C:\Users\All Users\TS Support\MultiCharts\StudyServer

Under that is a folder called Studies with a file graph_backup.xml, which I believe is an automatic backup of all studies/indicators made everytime you exit Power Editor and you should be able to use that file to import everything again.

I don't have x64, but I don't think the path should be different.

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TJ
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Postby TJ » 28 Sep 2008

ok... found it... somehow the directory became hidden. I had to interrogate the disk before it would surrender the files.

I copied the xml and the gdb to another computer... Time for a reinstall of the OS.

Many thanks

bowlesj3
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Too paranoid to not back up for a week.

Postby bowlesj3 » 28 Sep 2008

Maybe my stories will increase your backup frequency (to a second computer or 3rd).

Over the years I have had 2 full head crashes where the disk was toast (lost a month of programming once - got lucky and found a diskette reducing it to a week). I had the powersupply go on another computer and fried 7 components including 2 disks (completely gone). I had another computer catch on fire. Had another computer loose a power supply but no components (it just could not boot). I think I am on the computer too much and they don't like me :-) Pretty rough with the keys.

Now all my critical data goes through 3 computers (double backup every single day at least). The second one gets a full backup. Critical stuff goes to safety deposit box every few months just incase I loose the house (we are talking years of programming work and all my software purchases and downloads backed up to DC-disk). Dropped a notebook once and had another fall. No headcrashes on these two. I back up all studies (everything, not just my stuff) to 2 other computers since it is faster than selecting (the safety deposit box has a copy eventually).

John.

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TJ
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Postby TJ » 28 Sep 2008

Hi John...

thanks for the wake up call...

I have another computer and an USB hard drive. I have no excuses.

My brother sent me this link. I am going to check it out... and use it to schedule an unattended routine everyday.

http://www.2brightsparks.com/downloads.html

Hope this link can be useful to everyone too.

brodnicki steven
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Postby brodnicki steven » 28 Sep 2008

I use Casper xp (Casper 5.0 is the new one) I use it with an external drive and it works great (just plugs into the usb port) and VERY easy to use. I just built a new computer for MC and used the backup, to access my old files. Here is a link to Casper- I have no affiliation with them, just a very happy user.

http://www.fssdev.com/
Last edited by brodnicki steven on 28 Sep 2008, edited 1 time in total.

zukkaweb
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Postby zukkaweb » 28 Sep 2008

Hi TJ,

you could have many tipe of solution, it depend when a price could be good for you.

example

1
i advice to try acronistrueimage, it is really good software to backup your data.
and very easy to learn. you could make diffferent tipe of backup, image, and if you have a lan you could connect a schedule for automatic ftp server backup.

2
you can bua a little nas with 2 external hd and make a mirror1 to have a instant duplicate data, this good and you could find it with SyncBackPro

3
put 3 hd in one pc and make a raid 5 , remember that if you have win xp pro you could enable this function

there are too many solution for it and to solve the proble.

while if you need to recover you data from a broken hd, if the problem is in the mechanic of hd, you don't have many trouble to solve it (send me a post that i explain how to do), while if the hd is broken by temparuter , this could be more hard...

anyway ask me if you need help or want a suggestion for your needs.

regards zukka

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Date Time backups.

Postby bowlesj3 » 29 Sep 2008

Another thing I do is this. Every change to a study I make or my database program gets backed up in this format (date_time_MachineCode_ShortComment). Date is YYYYMMDD and time is HHMM. The machine code is DT=DeskTop or NB=NoteBook. The machine code helps me keep track of where I made the change so I know what studies to transfer up to the Desktop or Notebook for recompile. Again for studies this backup is all studies (not just my studies). So I have at least a month or two of these revisions on all 3 computers and every so often I clean up so there is only a month. I do this because at times I mess up and do not detect a problem and need to go back a few revisions to get the stuff from an old backup. Here is a good example. My database craps often due to its size and controls. One time I made an error and forgot to back up the reports. I had to go back about 1.5 months (about 60 backup files) to get them. What I am saying is a hardware flaw is not the only reason to back up. Human error is worse since we do not detect it for a long time and it could be detected outside the backup cycle limit. In short, back up every change and keep the revisions a long long time.

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Postby aljafp » 29 Sep 2008

On mine it is:

C:\Users\All Users\TS Support\MultiCharts\StudyServer

Under that is a folder called Studies with a file graph_backup.xml, which I believe is an automatic backup of all studies/indicators made everytime you exit Power Editor and you should be able to use that file to import everything again.

I don't have x64, but I don't think the path should be different.
Is there such a file on Windows XP ?.. i did a search and cannot find it.

fs

Postby fs » 30 Sep 2008

On mine it is:

C:\Users\All Users\TS Support\MultiCharts\StudyServer

Under that is a folder called Studies with a file graph_backup.xml, which I believe is an automatic backup of all studies/indicators made everytime you exit Power Editor and you should be able to use that file to import everything again.

I don't have x64, but I don't think the path should be different.
Is there such a file on Windows XP ?.. i did a search and cannot find it.
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\TS Support\MultiCharts\StudyServer\Studies

That's for 3.1. I don't know if the path was changed for the later releases.

aljafp
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Postby aljafp » 01 Oct 2008

On mine it is:

C:\Users\All Users\TS Support\MultiCharts\StudyServer

Under that is a folder called Studies with a file graph_backup.xml, which I believe is an automatic backup of all studies/indicators made everytime you exit Power Editor and you should be able to use that file to import everything again.

I don't have x64, but I don't think the path should be different.
Is there such a file on Windows XP ?.. i did a search and cannot find it.
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\TS Support\MultiCharts\StudyServer\Studies

That's for 3.1. I don't know if the path was changed for the later releases.
thanks, found it.


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