Resource.mdb

[RB51]

When turning RM on this morning I found that my Resource.mdb file had gone missing. RM perform a backup at each close down but I can't figure out how to access the backup to get the data back. I have searched for information but there is so much of it - can anyone help?

 

I have lodged a support request with HRMS but, as suggested, I am asking on the forum in the meantime.

 

Thanks in advance, R-

[Chrissaf]

Roger, The only thing I can suggest is that the close down backup routine has functioned corruptly and not only deleted your resources.mdb file but the resources.bak file as well. If the resources.bak file is definitely not in the RM program folder, then I doubt there is anything you can do to recover the situation unless you made a separate back up (perhaps you used Windows 'Back Up & Restore' application and have a copy of the .mdb file you can retrieve from that).

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This is not the first time that this unwanted action has been reported. ProPack has a full backup capability built in, but in the absence of ProPack, the same can be done manually by copying the files listed on page 132 of the RM 1.64 manual onto a USB memory stick for safe keeping. Remembering to make a fresh backup should you modify your track plan or add a new loco purchase.

[Yelrow]

Rog,Hi, thats rotten luck.Its exactly the same as i had, that HRMS said could not happen, unless i had done summat. You wont have done, any more than i did, but the result, is the same. In my case, they had to help out, as you know i am technically useless. john

[RB51]

Thanks, both - just have to wait and see what HRMS say. It is a confounded nuisance though. R-

[Yelrow]

Interesting to see what they come up with. They were unhappy with Norton, but you dont have that. Mine just got put back, but no real explanation. I can find you plenty to do, if you are bored. john

[RB51]

Thanks Chrisaff

 

ProPack has a full backup capability built in

 

And on this I have relied. I have sent you an e-mail regarding your suggested course of action. R-

[96RAF]

Couple of things Rog:

 

You say you rely on your Pro backup, which in my case is not stored within RM but on a separate disk. Is this the case with yours?. If so it should be safe and sound.

 

Do you by any chance have your folder options set up so as to hide the extensions of files, if so, even if your resources.mdb file is AWOL, maybe your .bak file may still be in the RM folder but hiding. It would be unusual for both files to disappear.

[RB51]

Thanks RAF, the "hiding" files option was what Chrisaff was helping me to check as the extensions were indeed hidden - but neither variant of the backup file seems to be present in the RM folder, which does sound odd. He has also compiled a backup routine for me, as the Pro Pack option seems occasionally to be insufficient for the task.  I have yet to attempt this. R-

[Chrissaf]

Rob, in case Roger's last post seems a bit confusing. Roger and I have (some time ago) exchanged private mail addresses. Thus we sometimes collaborate privately on issues. The backup routine Roger references is basically a Batch File to copy important files to a backup location. I also showed him how to make hidden files visible in Windows.

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I don't have ProPack, but you say that yours gives the ability to save the backup to an external storage location. EDIT: I see it is documented on Page 135 of the RM 1.64 user manual.

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Roger, did you use this inbuilt feature as described on Page 135 of the manual?. If you didn't, then the documented procedure is just as good, if not better than my Batch File process I emailed you last night. Storing the backups externally is far more robust than just relying on the .BAK files kept in the RM program folder.

[Augustus Caesar]

@Roger

 

If your two files are deleted and not to be found by any normal means then consider file recovery software.

 

Here's a very fast program, works with Win 10 and all prior Windows versions... it will install as a demo but it will give 10gb of data to recover... more than what you need so you can just uninstall the program when done. no registration needed etc. so no worries of giving details away you don't want to share..

 

http://7datarecovery.com (just click the free download button)

Just for the record I do not use this software and I have no interest in promoting it... this is simply to help out a fellow rail modeller.

 

I've just tested it on Win 10 64 bit so you should have no problems with it. Install in default paths etc and when it warns about not installing 7DRS to the drive you want to recover just click YES anyway as you are only recovering ONE file and maybe two. Allow the program to launch and close the browser window it opens when the program is run!

 

Click on 'Deleted Recovery', click the drive your file was located on and click Next. It now searches that drive.

 

It'll take about 30 seconds depending on your system speed and files to search through. Then a directory tree is shown and you simply look for where the lost file/s would have been and tick the check box near the filename when you find it. Then click Save to save the files out.  Job done!!!

 

Hope this helps... occasionally it can even find files that have been overwritten more than once... I use a more sophisticated program but it costs... but this a free go and for 10gb of recoverable data is well worth a shot.... then uninstall if not required.

[RB51]

Thanks AC - I have now run that software and neither file variant (.mdb or .bak) is in Railmaster folder. I have been contacted by HRMS who have said this:-

 

--------------------------

This is more than likely because the resource database has become corrupted.  This can happen if RailMaster is abnormally ended or your PC and forcibly shut down.RailMaster maintains backups in the Backup folder.  You can restore the resource.mdb file.  However if you have run the program again since the error and shut it down then it may well have backed up the corrupted file.  If this has happened you will need to re-enter your locos into the system.  You should therefore delete the resource.mdb file from within the RailMaster program folder (usually c:program files (x86)railmaster) then download and install RailMaster from www.powerpos.com/rail-master/rm_setup.exe.  This will recreate a new blank locos database whilst leaving all your other files intact.

-----------------------------

 

Looks like a bit a manual data (re)-input is the order of the day.

 

R-

[Augustus Caesar]

No problem Roger. It was worth a shout. Even if the program files had been lost by the program deleting them itself they would have been recoverable just the same had the system just failed and the files 'lost' or erased.

 

Some circumstances don't offer up this opportunity to find and bring them back and you seem to have had one of those occurrences.

 

Just in case some are wondering... when a file is deleted and placed into the Recycle Bin and removed beyond that the file is still on the system. The first character of the filename is simply removed and replaced with an underscore which means Windows will ignore it when compiling a list of files in Explorer or wherever. The same goes for folders. A record is kept of the first character elsewhere and recovery programs simply add that character back to give Windows the ability to re-use that file or folder.

 

On some disks these programs can dig as deep as seven layers or more where files are overwritten constantly by others when erasure would normally not allow recovery. Forensics software is extremely powerful here but privately available software is almost as good.

 

Bare in mind this is all in simplistic terms and some of you may want to add more which is fine but I have streered away from complicated algorithm software etc for obvious reasons. Just thought some folk would find that at least partially interesting... :-)

[Yelrow]

Roger, this is i belive, what happened to me. HRMS, have a full copy of all your set up/ locos, in their possession. In my case they logged on, and jiggled and then restored it all.. Not wishing to interfere, dont you know, but why cant they reproduce, as with me. Otherwise, what is the point in them having all this data. john

[RB51]

It would have been nice to have the offer of that sort of help John, I can only imagine it's the cutbacks. R-

[Yelrow]

ROG,they probably think you are such  an able chap ( compliment), unlike me, who knows nothing, nothing. What would be concerning me , would be the   fact that your database, was open to corruption. If so, how so, and could it occur again, a week next thursday. If it is corrupted, how many other files are in the same state, and if none, why just RM. Are you clearing your temps.  john

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

We do not routinely keep  copies of customers' RailMaster data.  In your particular case Yelrow we did so as you were moving all of your data from one computer to another and we did it for you thus first had to copy your data to our system in order to do this.  It just so happened that when you then had a problem shortly after we still had your data in order to help you out.

You should normally backup your data, either by using the automated facility in the Pro-Pack or by manually copying the files as shown in the RailMaster PDF guide.

Incidentally there is no facility within RailMaster to delete any of the key files or databases itself.  This must be done by a user.

[Yelrow]

HRMS, thanks for clearing that up , it certainly saved my bacon, however. I am a tad confused. Are you saying that every time we alter something in RM, we should do a manual back up, if we do not have Propack. If so, thats a devil of a lot of work. Just to be clear, the only way the problem we are discussing could occur, is by one of us, deleting the file or database, itself,.. john

[RB51]

@HRMS

Just to be clear - I had set the auto back-up facility in RM (Pro-Pack version) to run this routine at every RM system close down. I did not delete any files - and yet using DIR/P from a Command Prompt and the software suggested by AC above, neither the Resource.mdb or Resource.bak files were present within the RM folder. I was able, with considerable help, to adjust the file settings so that I could "see" hidden extensions, just in case that was part of the issue. It must follow then that conditions must exist, albeit rare, for these files, and maybe others, to be deleted (whether corrupted or otherwise) by an action not carried out by a user. R-

[Augustus Caesar]

@Roger

 

There is one scenario, and HRMS must be aware of it, or at least their programmers HAVE to be aware of it, that can cause RM to give the issue you have. Now I am not saying this happened but the possibility is there...

 

Once you write a program to save manually, automatically or whatever and an existing file needs to be replaced or overwritten then the base program or routine doing that work first has to erase the original file before the new file can be written to disk. Other methods have the original simply modified. During EITHER process the header information of the file being overwritten or deleted or even copied to disk can be corrupted. This will cause a failure of a write to disk. Now, even though the routine or software does not report an error you are unaware of it and next time you attempt to access such a file you find it isn't there. If the original has its header changed then that file is unreadable as the data cannot be read and the file allocation table has no match for the file to be found.

If the header on the file being written is damaged the same occurs... no readable file. It's like it didn't exist.

 

As I said this in no way implies what has happened here. Of course the way the whole detail above works is more complex than outlined I merely give a basic scenario... complications here are totally unfounded so I will not offer those up.

 

Backups of files are always important. What I do is when I save a file, data or whatever, that data or file is written to the main drive so the program using it can find it straight away. I then do a simple second save to a second drive... this is YOUR normal backup. Where I differ is that every night at midnight I have my whole set of databases and documents backed up to two external drives (they are identical - mirrored in other words) so effectively I have the original and three backups. No system is fool proof and while copying any data or saving files out to any drive ANY part of that data can corrupt itself easily... for no reason other than it just happened.

 

So really the text above is food for thought only... it is unlikely RM will be at fault particularly here unless there have been additions to a bog standard Windows save routine within the RM code itself simply to make it work for RM... yes, then it can cause issues. But why do that? Windows own save routine is practically faultless so no need to alter or use prorietory routines.

 

In a nutshell, data files can be lost for numerous reasons. One thing here is that when programs like Avast, AVG, Norton's and others like them start writing definiton files which contain strings of data that identify viruses, trojans, spyware and malware... they invariably 'catch' some files that have similar strings of data within and can just erase them without any warning. This is what they call a false positive. If you have a program and obtain a key generator to give that program a false but working license key then Avast and AVG in particular will obliterate these generators from your system without telling you. It's a deal made with software vendors to hunt this stuff down and stop folk using counterfeit software for too long.

 

Maybe some code is found in the data strings of the database file used by RM and is overwritten... unlikely as we would find a lot of unhappy folk with this issue all at once. So, as you can see, there is more than one way to 'lose' files or databases from our systems.

[Yelrow]

AC, very interesting, i dont know what  Rog was doing, and no doubt he will tell us, but in my case,  i dont write progs, nor go on the internet from upstairs. . I do occasionally, jiggle with track layout, adding / removing a point. Mine was lost on start up, eg, it didnt, and i belive  rogers was similar.  If you close down as per instructions, how can these things  become corrupted. john

[RB51]

Yes, thanks for that AC. Much more complicated than I thought. It seems to me that you need to take regular backups (I know, I know) so that when you go to get one that turns out to be corrupted/missing hopefully the previous one won't be. That means you will want to alter or rename the backup files with a date so that a) they don't overwrite the last one, b) you know which is the previous one to try. Is there anything that will automate that? I have enough trouble remembering where keys are that I've used, so I'm pretty sure I won't remember to make back-ups and additionally re-date them.

 

@ John, I didn't do anything (honest Guv) - just closed down as usual. It was only when I re-started RM that the problem came to light. The explanation given by AC suggests there are many potential causes almost none of which a non-techie, like me, will appreciate until the damage is discovered.

 

R-

[Augustus Caesar]

If a backup is taken of any file, not just the resources database file discussed here, and is kept away from the original source directory and saved to another drive then you will be OK. That file should not be overwritten by RM at any time and should NOT be lost... ever... unless damaged by a virus etc. or other system failure of some disastrous sort.

If the system hard drive is the ONLY drive you have and it has not been partitioned and no external drive is handy then simply backup the file to a different folder where it is away from the original.

If the user, you, has an external drive then great, use that to backup the file to.

If your internal system hard drive has been partitioned and can have files or data written to that second partition then definitely use that. Look up hard drive partitioning if you don't know what it is. It sounds complicated but can be a breeze and is once you know what you are doing. ** Caveat... do NOT attempt partitioning of any drive without being sure what you ARE doing as you may damage Windows and the partition of the drive it sits on. Then it's no more Windows without reformatting the drive and reinstalling the OS... oh, and your data is at risk of being lost... unless you have recovery software... I think enough said! :-)

 

Backup software is out there and free so have a look around... there is no need to pay for this stuff when a perfectly free program will do it for you. All you need is a program that will backup individual files or folders and not just the whole drive which is NOT what is required here. A program that offers regular, daily, backups is desirable for obvious reasons.

 

I use software that is licensed to my company and is bought so I can't point to specific programs and don't want to be seen to favour any one over another... but they are out there.

[RB51]

Thanks AC - very helpful as always. R-

[westernwill]

 Roger, if you buy an external hard drive they often provide backup software with it.

[Chrissaf]

This site offers virus free safe to use FREEWARE. Been using this site for years without any adverse issue.

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Check out the 'Disk & File' navigation button column one, second button down, then choose 'Best Free File Based Backup Program' category.

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