Chrissaf Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 Unless you took a backup stored away from the laptop you may have lost your plan and loco list files, but it may be possible to read data from the HDD even though it won’t boot as a system. This needs another pc and a HDD caddy to connect with the old HDD. You will have to remove the HDD from the lappie, easier to do this on some lappies than others. To deregister you will have to contact HRMS using the direct email and tell them your details including the email it was registered against. They will prove your ID and send you a reminder of the release code as well as unlocking it at their end.so you can input on the new PC. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 PS - The files you need to retrieve from your old HDD are all listed on Page 132 of the RailMaster manual, as is the deregistering a dead PC process. Please do not take any offence, but it strikes me that if people read the manual, many of these basic questions could be avoided. This particular question about what RM files contain the data comes up with alarming regularity. Such that I knew the page was 132 from memory, and didn't even need to look it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 Hi all, my laptop that I run my elink from has fried itself. The hard drive has only given up the railmaster guide software and I need to de register the old laptop. My question is, how can I do it if its dead?My second question is, where are the loco settings stored. Are they held in the elink or are they held in the laptop/pc, as I have loads of locos registered, many with sound..... Not sure I want to start from the beginning putting cvs and settings back in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 Addendum to last reply:If you follow Rob's advice and remove the HDD from the dead laptop and fit it into a caddy to retrieve (if you can) the files you need. Then once you are happy that no further files on the old HDD are needed, then re-format the drive. keep it in the caddy and use it as a back up drive. You can either use the integral 'back up' routines in Windows or install some freeware backup software (there are loads out there to choose from). In Windows 10, there are two 'back up' applications. The native Windows 10 backup routine saves hard drive data but does not take a 'system image' of the hard drive. OR there is the Windows 7 version of 'back-up & restore' in the Windows 10 Control Panel that does the full monty 'back-up' and is my personal preference..This of course assumes that the failure of your laptop is not due to a completely dead unrecoverable hard drive. As Rob says, Windows might not boot from your old HDD, but the drive may still be accessible. You can also find other freeware, that can in some circumstances recover data from a seemingly dead drive by directly reading the data contained on the magnetic disks..I trust the freeware on this site 100%, I have been using the freeware from this source for years without any issues. The owner of the site checks all software for malicious content. But just to legally cover my back, use the software at your risk. The link below will take you directly to the HDD tools and utilities page, where you will find some HDD data recovery freeware..http://www.techsupportalert.com/pc/disk-tools.html.This link below will take you to one of the sub-links from the page linked to above. It is the recovery freeware that I think would best suit your needs (if your old HDD is not readible when in a caddy as an external USB drive from within Windows Explorer)..https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/minitool-power-data-recovery.htm-0. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pugtop Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 Hi, thanks for the info. Just a note, I'm a bloke, blokes don't read instructions, you should know that.......and besides how can I read the instructions when they are on the hard drive from the dead laptop? I have a new laptop on the way, the hard drive has been removed and does give up the rail master instructions (not done by me and I've not delved into the files yet) I have the hard drive in a caddy and I will be able to access it when I get the new laptop. I shall contact HMRS as and when I can and hopefully I will be able to retrieve my data.... I'm afraid, if I can't I will be looking to change DCC systems. Thank you for the quick responses.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 Resource.mdb file has your loco info plus you need your specific named... .pln .prg and groups.dat filesTip sort the RM folder into A-Z order or by file type to make finding stuff in there easier.Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pugtop Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 /media/tinymce_upload/5ab021f4d2a7c1902f905e852ea79208.pngRight, an update... Now all loaded onto my new laptop, de-registered old one, running complete new version now. I'm struggling to find my loco settings in the X86 files from my old laptop, any hints would be appreciated. I've looked for the suggested files but cannot find them. Brain is now frazzled from the deregister process and reloading onto new, unfamilliar laptop..HELP!I WANT TO PLAY TRAINS!I have looked for the files listed and cannot find them.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pugtop Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 I am seeing Resource. bak, RESOURCE.ldb and Resource, that's all .. The other groups aren't visable either.... Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 resource.bak and resource.mdb are co-located in the same folder which is:"program files(x86)/railmaster".By default, Hornby use the same 'railmaster' folder for everything. There are no alternative folders created to look for. So if resource.mdb is 100% guaranteed missing from that folder.....then for some reason your system has deleted it or not making it visible to you..However, if you are really lucky then you might be in a position to recover them. You say you can see file "resource.bak". This file is a back-up of the "resource.mdb" file. So just 'right click' the .bak file and choose 'rename', then rename it to "resource.mdb". It really does depend upon when the .bak file was created as to how close it is to being a true copy of the original .mdb file. And also whether the .bak file has been corrupted by whatever the event was that lost your original .mdb file..With regard the other missing files you are looking for. They should all have a .bak equivalent file too. So if you can see the .bak versions, you can use the same renaming technique to recover them too..Make sure that the file manager you are using is configured to 'show hidden and system files". In Windows Explorer, showing 'Hidden' & 'System' files is disabled by default. To 'enable' showing these files in 'Windows Explorer', open the 'Control Panel' and click "Folder Options". Then in the dialogue box that opens, set the 'show' radio button. See image below for details. Note that your missing files are not normally treated as 'Hidden' or 'System' files. So this tip probably won't make any difference to file visibility. But unless you try it, you will never know../media/tinymce_upload/2109286215279b6197154bf3b64d7c6b.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/0204f4280c71833a5c1bc0131de5d2a9.jpg.PS - Also, make sure that 'Hide extensions for known file types' is NOT ticked. See just below the yellow highlight in the image above.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pugtop Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 Out of interest, what is the "Resource" file with a big key image on it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarabuses Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 In my RailMaster folder the Resource.mdb file has a large key on the icon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 The big key probably means ‘locked’ but there is no reason why it should be as it is a user add to file when you list more locos, etc. Could be how your particular OS flags stuff up when you have been fiddling with access rights. Usually its a padlock. Often folk set access rights on a folder when there is more than one user on a PC. You can access it but other users cannot. Right click the folder, select properties and check access rights. I am on an iPad at present so do not have a Railmaster folder to look at. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 pugtop,Your file just named "resource" with the key is probably the resource.mdb file you are looking for. If you make sure the tick box for 'Hide extensions for known file types' is not ticked, then .mdb extension should then show, if it is the missing file. See my image in my last post on previous page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 Screen grab of your RM folder listing then...May have to be in several bits if your grabber doesn't do running pages.Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 Have you followed my tips about changing the folder options to make files more visible to you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducky1 Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 The Key symble is windows icon for a database. So this shows that the file is a database file.Ducky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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