How do I restore a backup?
All data seems to have disappeared some time today but I see a backup from 0755 this morning, but it certainly isn’t the contents of …/datafiles
You should have a data backup folder in the main WD folder in there are monthly zip files plus a .ini and .reg file
If the files pre date the problem then shut down WD then copy the ini file to the main WD folder and then double click the reg file this will reload it
If the files post date the problem the unzip the next to newest month file to get files needed
Is it just the data that’s missing or has the configuration reset as well, like the first time WD has been run?
If it’s the later then have a look at this FAQ: Recovering Weather Display Configuration
So all the files in the wdisplay/datafiles folder are missing?
If this is the case then they won’t be backed up by Weather Display, you’ll have to look at your own system backups or in the Recycle Bin to see if they can be restored.
I have never heard of the just the datafiles going missing, unless they have been deleted accidentally.
Did anything occur at the time you think they went missing, was there any system updates, did update Weather Display at that time or was there a power outage causing the PC to suffer a hard shut-down? The more info you can give about the possible cause, the easier it will be to try & help to find a resolution.
I think my husband managed to find an old shortcut to a previous install. I created a new shortcut for him pointing to the correct folder and all is well.
Though I’m still puzzled as to why the backup doesn’t actually backup the data.
It does, although each backup file is for the month, so only contains the data for that month. In the latest folder databackup122024.zip you’ll find a text file called 1212024lg.txt, this contains all the vital data recorded so far for December. The other text files in the Zip have slightly different data, like solar, UV, soil… if you have those sensors on your station.
Because a station can have years worth of data stored, Weather Display doesn’t create a backup with all this data in each monthly backup folder as this would just waist storage space.
So, if you loose the contents of the datafile folder you can recreate the data from the monthly backups, it just takes a while to extract the data. Better to have it backed up on a different drive on in the Cloud. 