* Backup and Restore Family Historian Settings question

[BillH]

Mike,

I just ran Backup and Restore Family Historian settings and it seemed to behave differently than I remember. I clicked on BACKUP all Family Historian Custom and Preference Settings and the following window appeared. After a few seconds the words Not Responding appeared in the title bar of the window.

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It stayed like that for about 30 seconds. Nothing showed on the Data Filename: line for those thirty seconds. Then just before the plugin finished it displayed a file name for a brief second (it came and went too quickly for me to see the name of the file) and then showed Backup completed for 405 files for 1 program on the Status: line.

I am using version 2.2 of the plugin download and installed yesterday. I don't remember it taking so long before. Shouldn't it have shown more progress as the files were being backed up? Was this the way it worked before?

Bill

[tatewise]

It should display the Data Filename of each file as it is copied to the backup folder, just as it did in earlier versions.

Can you check you have the latest download from the Plugin Store dated 09 Dec 2014 because there have been several V2.2 updates during Beta testing.
Just check the details in the Tools > Plugins dialogue.

Is there anything unusual about the D:\ drive or its folders?
Is it internal to the PC, external, networked, etc?

Is this the same backup folder as you have used in the past?

[BillH]

Mike,

I just checked and it is dated 09 Dec 2014. I downloaded and installed it yesterday. There is nothing unusual about the D drive. The C drive is a Solid State drive that only has the operating system and a few files on it. Everything else is on the D drive which is a standard HDD internal to the computer. I've had this same setup since August. The backup folder is the same one I've been using since then.

Bill

[tatewise]

That is odd because there have been very few changes to the Plugin, and even less that affect Backups.

One thing that might be having an effect is the new FH V6 map image cache.
The Plugin does not backup that folder, because it is of no use for backup/restore purposes.

Can you tell me how big your map cache is?
Use Windows Explorer to navigate to C:\ProgramData\Calico Pie\Family Historian\Map\Cache
Then right click on the Cache folder and choose Properties.
What is its Size in bytes and how many Files and Folders?

[tatewise]

As well as checking your Map Cache size you could try running the attached Plugin.

The only change is that it reports its progress while excluding the Map\Cache\ files, so hopefully the (Not Responding) will not occur.

It is V2.3 and will overwrite the current Plugin V2.2, which can be restored from the Plugin Store if necessary.

[BillH]

Mike,

Here are the stats for my cache.

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I installed version 2.3 and ran it.

Now it shows the file names as it progresses up until file 96 and then it stops and I get not responding in the title bar. It does show files in Map\Cache being excluded and counts through them although the number excluded varies each time I run the plugin even though I haven't done anything else in FH in the meantime. For example, the number of files excluded in map\cache showed one time as 2629, then the next time as 2026, and then the next time as 739. Interesting since the stats show the folder contains over 149,000 files.

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It stays like that until just before it finishes and then it displays the following.

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No file names are displayed after it shows the map cache being excluded except right at the very end a file name flashes by too fast to read.

[tatewise]

Thanks for that feedback Bill.
It does look like the size of the Map Cache is the cause, as yours is very large compared to what I have experienced.

I need to reword the Map\Cache\Standard OSM\... files excluded message, because they are NOT counts, but the folder names, that happen to be numerical.
Go and have a look.
Also I found that many of those folders are empty!
There appears to be no way to purge the Map Cache, and I don't know how FH manages it.
When the FH V6 release furore is over, I will ask Simon.

Try this revised Plugin attached, which will hopefully appease Windows and stop the (Not Responding) message:

[BillH]

Mike,

Much better. It showed all the files being excluded and never displayed not responding. It kept showing the files right up until it finished and displayed the total files backed up. One question though. Why does it show that it has backed up 97 and then jump to 405 without displaying any files being backed up after the map cache files are excluded?

Bill

[tatewise]

Not sure why, but try this variant attached, it might help.

[BillH]

Mike,

I think this is version is fine. A few things flash by really quickly so I can see that something is being done after the map cache files are excluded. I guess on my machine the backups are being done so fast that I can't really read what is being displayed because it goes by so fast. In any case, I don't think you need to make any changes. Progress is being displayed and there is no not responding message so this version should be just fine.

Thanks for all your help!
Bill

[tatewise]

Thank you for your help, Bill

[tatewise]

Bill, I have looked at this again today and devised a method of bypassing the Map Cache altogether. There are no messages saying the folders are being excluded (that will be added to the Help & Advice). I have removed the special technique used to prevent the (Not Responding) effect.

Please try the attached, which should list all data files smoothly as it did in FH V5.

[BillH]

Mike,

That is much faster when it doesn't have to go through the map cache exclusions. It ran in under 2 seconds rather than taking about 30 or 40 seconds. Actually, it ran so fast I couldn't read any of the file names being backed up, but I could see that there was progress being made. I didn't get any not responding message. This one looks very good.

Thanks,
Bill