What folder are QSOs kept in Log4OM?

[m0sva]

Hello,

Had a Windows failure (blue screen), so I am trying to recover the QSOs I had logged in my Log4OM (Release 2.6.1.0 (14-05-2020).
By using a data recovery utility, I have found some data from Log4OM.
If anyone knows the name of the folder the contacts information is kept, I can then hopefully copy its contents to a new installation of Log4OM.
Any suggestions please?

Thank you
Tim

[KI5IO]

Hello,

Had a Windows failure (blue screen), so I am trying to recover the QSOs I had logged in my Log4OM (Release 2.6.1.0 (14-05-2020).
By using a data recovery utility, I have found some data from Log4OM.
If anyone knows the name of the folder the contacts information is kept, I can then hopefully copy its contents to a new installation of Log4OM.
Any suggestions please?

Thank you
Tim

Tim,

In the "current" User Guide (dated: August 06, 2021 - 4:46PM) you will find some recovery steps starting on Page 228. The heading on that page is: Emergencies ... Restoring Log4OM after a crash or failure

Direction on where to find your backup files (here's hoping you set them up back when) and there is also a failsafe location for your to look into. Check out starting on Page 228. You will find your path there.

[m0sva]

Thank you Nolan. Unfortunately I hadn't got around to setting up backup.
Hence I am trying to find the name of the folder(s) where the QSOs info is kept in case I can retrieve it .
Would anyone know please?
Thank you,
Tim

[G4POP]

Thank you Nolan. Unfortunately I hadn't got around to setting up backup.
Hence I am trying to find the name of the folder(s) where the QSOs info is kept in case I can retrieve it .
Would anyone know please?
Thank you,
Tim

It's the folder that you specified when you set up log4om, search for a file that ends .sqlite like m0sva.sqlite then in log4om file/open database to select it.

There will also be a backup in the backup/historic folder

Please read the user guide as suggested by Nolan

[m0sva]

Hi Nolan and Terry,

Thank you very much for coming to my help, much appreciated.
Fortunately I was on a daily basis uploading all my contacts to Logbook of The World, so I have the basic info there, phew!
Sadly after well over a year, I cannot remember anymore what the file was called, Terry, sorry. The .SQLite file had not survived either in the retrieved data. I am rescanning the (cloned) damaged drive with another program - desperately slow, more than 24h so far.


But I am not giving up. So I found the right Log4OM version and installed it afresh on a different computer.
Terry's YouTube video (Log4OM V2 Quick Start) was ideal for refreshing my rusty memory, thank you Terry.
Then experimentally, I created and saved a hypothetical contact with Nolan (Nolan, hope it's OK, hi-hi) so as to see whether and how I could find it and then replicate the technique with the damaged drive.

Interestingly, Windows could not find the contact at all. Hence it must be written/stored only in a way that is not recognized by Windows. Perhaps a suggestion then for future reincarnations of Log4OM- to create copies readable by Windows? Tried a couple of SQLite utilities (e.g. DB Browser for SQLite) but no luck.
I am not giving up, and time permitting I will continue to see what can be found out!
Just hoped someone had come across my circumstances (blue screen and then whole Windows drive unavailable!) with Log4OM and was wishing to share findings and solutions too?
Any ideas welcome!

Tim

[KI5IO]

Hi Nolan and Terry,

Thank you very much for coming to my help, much appreciated.
Fortunately I was on a daily basis uploading all my contacts to Logbook of The World, so I have the basic info there, phew!
Sadly after well over a year, I cannot remember anymore what the file was called, Terry, sorry. The .SQLite file had not survived either in the retrieved data. I am rescanning the (cloned) damaged drive with another program - desperately slow, more than 24h so far.


But I am not giving up. So I found the right Log4OM version and installed it afresh on a different computer.
Terry's YouTube video (Log4OM V2 Quick Start) was ideal for refreshing my rusty memory, thank you Terry.
Then experimentally, I created and saved a hypothetical contact with Nolan (Nolan, hope it's OK, hi-hi) so as to see whether and how I could find it and then replicate the technique with the damaged drive.

Interestingly, Windows could not find the contact at all. Hence it must be written/stored only in a way that is not recognized by Windows. Perhaps a suggestion then for future reincarnations of Log4OM- to create copies readable by Windows? Tried a couple of SQLite utilities (e.g. DB Browser for SQLite) but no luck.
I am not giving up, and time permitting I will continue to see what can be found out!
Just hoped someone had come across my circumstances (blue screen and then whole Windows drive unavailable!) with Log4OM and was wishing to share findings and solutions too?
Any ideas welcome!

Tim

Tim,

With respect to your new installation of L4OM ... I'm assuming you downloaded the newest V 2.16.0.0 version.

With that new installation did you create a path for your backup files? Did you also possibly create a secondary backup path? Or did you just accept the default main backup path?

With you test QSOs being saved (thanks for the honor - ) when you have the Main UI open with Log4OM and you click on the Recent QSOs (F7) tab do you see those new/test QSOs?

If you see them then they have been saved. The Microsoft o/s is not going to be able to find any specific QSO so looking for any given/specific QSO in that fashion is a waste of time.

When L4OM does a backup (to the default path or a path you have selected) it will be saving two files. One with a .adi extension and on with a .json extension.

The .adi file is simply an ADIF file that contains your saved QSOs. The .json file contains the most recent configuration for your Log4OM UI, etc..

In you search on the 'sick' drive I would be looking for .adi and/or .adif files. You new installation of L4OM will have now created a new .json file and with you doing the settings that is now all in good shape and will update/improve over time as you make tweaks to other values in the program.

If you have the majority of your QSOs at LOTW there is a way you can download all of them and then import into your new L4OM installation and have the checks done to validate those calls and get things set for proper viewing of awards, etc..

One step at a time and be sure to review the User Guide (it gets changed / updated frequently) and watch Terry's Y/T videos for refresh as well.

[G4POP]

Don't forget the QSO data stored by LOTW is far from complete

[m0sva]

Thank you very much for sharing your experience and expertise Terry and Nolan.

Cut a long story short, by reinstalling the older version of Log4OM, exploring how and where exactly it kept various files for the test contact with Nolan (importantly the backup.adi) and certainly taking onboard your spot-on guidance to also make fuller sense of the manual, I eventually replicated the process with the failed drive and the retriever program to generate a few comprehensive lists of the contacts by using ADIFMaster.

I should now have, I believe, most of my QSO details retrieved (with gridsquare, comments and so on) and happily without having to pay for a new data retrieving application. Had I gone fishing just for adif files because LoTW, QRZ and other logging software use adif, there were so many files with that extension that I would have exceeded the maximum permitted number of free to recover files and would have had to buy the whole program. Thanks to your guidance and of course the Log4OM's keeping that automatic Backup, lots of effort and cost was avoided.

Perhaps, to make things easier and simpler for future, could keeping the logs also in a basic *.txt format be possible? One way or another we type the content as text. That would make retrieval really faster and more straight forward without the need to add the step of using specialized adif reading software. I realize there may be issues of tabulation, etc., just putting the idea on the table

I am very pleased and thankful that between us Terry and Nolan we quickly sorted this out.
If any further details of this data recovery operation may be useful for future similar cases, I am happy to share what I learnt through this small adventure.

All that remains, I suppose then is to transfer the recovered (default) backup to the new installation of Log4OM. And be making extra backups- I can now see the value of Cloud as Terry mentions in the video. Any "cost-effective" solutions/providers?

Not nit-picking but next time the manual is updated there is a typo on p. 228, where
C:\Users\YOUR USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\LogOM2\Backup
should read
C:\Users\YOUR USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Log4OM2\Backup
Also the folder AppData is hidden, so don't scratch your heads for too long if it's "not there"!

Thank you gentlemen!