Backup Files

Any time the editor has to overwrite a file with new data it makes a backup copy of the original data. This protects you from inadvertent data loss. Backup files have the same name as the original but have the extension ".BAK". For example, if the original file is called "BIGCAVE.DAT" the name of the backup file will be "BIGCAVE.BAK".

Warning. The editor only retains one backup copy of each file. This means, that every time you save data, the old backup file is deleted and new one is created. For this reason, you should not save any changes after you have realized there is a problem. Saving data will overwrite the old backup and the data you want to save may be destroyed.

Restoring Backups. If for some reason you need to restore data that has been lost or changed during editing, you may be able to do it from the backup file. The safest way to do this is to make a copy of the backup file with a different name. You can do this with Windows Explorer. You can then use the Editor to extract the individual surveys from the data file and copy them back into the original file.