Auto Backup of PSM files

[Niall Saunders]

Hi all,

Does anybody know if the default interval setting of 30 seconds DOES actually create an auto-backup of PSM icons?

IF so, where are they (normally) stored?

Cheers,

[Carlos Milovic]

See at the temporary folder (don't know where it is in these newest windows versions). You may change that with the Global Preferences.

[Niall Saunders]

Hi Carlos,

I checked the directory that was set in <Edit> <Global Preferences> <Directories and Network> - in fact there were two directory path entries.

They both pointed to
C:\Users\Niall\AppData\Local\Temp
(in my case, obviously, using Vista64)

However, examining that location only showed leftover .swp files (from a session of image integration attempts, several days ago). I still couldn't find any suggestion of automatically saved .psm files.

The I had a look at <Edit> <Global Preferences> <Miscellaneous Process Settings>. I did NOT have <Backup PSM files> checked. Presumably this should be checked for the <AutoSave PSM Period(s)> timer value, of 30 seconds, to be implemented?

Cheers,

[Carlos Milovic]

Sounds right Instead of an infinite value (or 0), use a bool to enable this option

[Niall Saunders]

Thaks Carlos,

I'll try it later today, once I get to my hotel in France (away on yet another business trip - so skies are bound to be clear in UK, and cloudy in Lyon !!)

Cheers,

[Juan Conejero]

Hi Niall,

The AutoSave PSM feature saves a copy of your current icons to a .psm file on the TEMP folder. It saves your icons at regular intervals (the AutoSave period) only if there have been some changes since the last save or PSM file open operation. AutoSave PSM works in the background as an independent task, and has only a negligible impact on performance. It is highly recommended to leave it as is by default. Although PixInsight is very stable, no complex software system is free from the possibility of an eventual crash, and then AutoSave PSM can save your day.

This feature has nothing to do with the "Backup PSM files" option. This option tells PixInsight to save a backup copy of every existing .psm file saved. A similar option exists for image files. Both options are disabled by default, but you can enable them to ensure that all versions of your images / PSM files are kept on disk. Be aware that you can easily exhaust all hard disk space with image backups, which is a very bad thing to happen.

[Niall Saunders]

OK - I have just hooked back to my PI machine in Aberdeen, and can now see the .psm files in the Temp directory.

I think I need to dig this data out of the depths of the machine, and move it to a more appropriate directory, where it is more easily located.

Thanks for the help everyone.

(PS - can anyone email me a change of clothes? Air France has lost my luggage yet again  )

[Nocturnal]

Hmm, does PI have an option to restore from this automatically saved PSM? Wouldn't it make more sense to automatically save the PSM file to the path where the user just saved it?

I suppose this issue will become null/void once projects are implemented. Which reminds me, projects should have an auto-save feature