While modern mass storage devices
are very reliable, they retain their predecessors' habit of failing at the worst
possible moment. The careful operator will make frequent backup copies of his or
her log using external media -- a removable disk drive, a
disk drive on another PC on a home network, or a thumb drive; storing backup
copies off-premises in the cloud using DropBox,
OneDrive, or
Google Drive provides additional
protection against catastrophes. In addition, one
should make a backup before performing major changes to one's log, such as importing
new QSOs, using the Modify QSOs
panel, or running a script; this makes it easy
to recover if things don't go as expected.
To make a backup copy of the current Log file,
click the Config button
select the Configuration window's Log tab
click the Backup folder panel's Backup button.
DXKeeper will create a copy of your log file in the specified backup folder; this copy's filename will include the current UTC date and time, allowing you to create and retain log backups as frequently as every second. If you've previously created a log backup file on the same UTC date, you will be offered the choice of aborting the new backup or over-writing the previous backup.
If the Backup log on shutdown box is checked when DXKeeper is directed to terminate with a log file open, then
a copy of your log file will be created in the specified backup folder
this copy's filename will be constructed by appending the current UTC date to the log filename
if an existing file with this
name already exists in the specified
backup folder, the existing file will be replaced with the new copy
If the contents of the current Log are damaged -- by the unintentional deletion of multiple QSOs, for example -- you can replace the contents of the current Log with those of a previously-created backup copy. To do so,
terminate DXView and SpotCollector if they are running
click the Config button
select the Configuration window's Log tab
click the Backup folder panel's Recover button.
DXKeeper will display a file selector dialog window with which you can choose the backup copy whose contents will be replace the contents of the current Log file. Before this replacement occurs, the contents of the current Log file are saved to a file whose name is generated by appending the words _abandoned_YYYY_MMM_DD_HH_MM_SS_0 to the original filename. This file provides a safety net should you later discover that it contains needed data; it can be deleted when you are certain that its no longer needed.
When the operation is complete, the Log file will will be in a state identical to that of the moment you created the selected backup file: logged QSOs, awards progress, QSL queue, and log-specific settings.