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+--- Thread: Recover logs from HDD (/showthread.php?tid=3398)
Recover logs from HDD - orionbelt - 2026-02-04
Hello,
I have some of my observations logged on SkyTools on a laptop that is not turning on anymore. I extracted the HDD from the computer and I can access them from another one. I tried to recover from the backup but looks that there is some observations missing. There is any way to recover the information on the original files and copy it to another computer to access the missing observations?
Thank you. Clear skies,
Carles
RE: Recover logs from HDD - theskyhound - 2026-02-04
(2026-02-04, 05:39 AM)orionbelt Wrote: Hello,
I have some of my observations logged on SkyTools on a laptop that is not turning on anymore. I extracted the HDD from the computer and I can access them from another one. I tried to recover from the backup but looks that there is some observations missing. There is any way to recover the information on the original files and copy it to another computer to access the missing observations?
Thank you. Clear skies,
Carles
Hello Carles,
You didn't say, but I am assuming you are using SkyTools 4 Visual. This is a complicated process because we are recovering data, which is outside of normal operation.
Your best bet is to find the folder that SkyTools stores all of your custom data in on your extracted hard drive, and extract all of the files and subfolders. Install those files on another device with SkyTools and then create a Sync database. On the device where you want to have all of the data assembled, use the Sync feature to read the data from the Sync database you created. This will merge the missing data with the data you already have.
The folder you want to copy from the old computer is called "SkyTools 4." Check for a file called dds.bin to ensure you have the right folder, as there are other folders that use the same name. The default location for this folder is C:\Users\"your user name"\AppData\Roaming\Skyhound\SkyTools 4 but when you installed you could have placed it anywhere.
The tricky part is temporarily replacing the files on another copy of SkyTools. The safest way to do this would be to temporarily install SkyTools on a computer it has not been installed on before. In that case, you would do a clean install and update to the latest version. Then find the same custom data folder on that computer and replace all of the files and folders there there with the ones you extracted. All you need to do then is to start SkyTools and create a Sync database to use on another device.
If you want to try this on a computer where SkyTools is already installed, without losing any data, I recommend creating a full backup. Then copy the extracted files over the ones in the custom data folder. Create the Sync database.
Then restore the backup. Finally, use the Sync feature on the Sync database you created, merging all files together. To simplify and speed things up, you might only Sync the logs when merging the data.
Let me know if you have any questions.
RE: Recover logs from HDD - orionbelt - 2026-02-11
Thank you very much, it worked!