Databackup Basecamp 4.0.5

I have an elaborate data structure within Basecamp that has 7 Parent List Folders (States) under the main List Folder (Country).
Then within the 7 List Folders (States), there are a further 4 List Folders (Feature Holders) and a List,
Each of the 4 List Folders at this level has further Lists inside them. This makes a total of 40 lists at this level.

When I backup I have been in the habit of backing up the overall folder (Country) that contains the 7 Parent Folders (States), and as I work on individual Parent Folders I also back those folders up individually.

I do these backups by exporting the folders to GPX files.

Today I had the misfortune to actually delete one of the bottom level lists by mistake, so I backed up the List folder (State), removed the contents of the State from the Database and restored the last State Backup GPX file back into the database, with the intention of then removing all the waypoints except for the one list I had deleted, then restoring back the backup I just made that was missing this list, and I would be back in business.

I have been doing this method of backing up the waypoints for some time as the whole Basecamp Database covers a similar structure for 2 countries and holds a total of 25,750 items - waypoints - tracks etc, and this is the first time I have made a "blue" that means I needed to go back and restore a GPX file.

To do a full backup using the the Backup Feature of the software creates quite a large file and means a monumental amount of work to do a restore to recover a small amount of data.:mad:

HOWEVER - to my horror - even though the the GPX Category Pointers in the exported data know where each waypoint comes from, the restore of the State resulted in a single FLAT waypoint file, which I then had to proceed to move across to a new structure I had to create of the 4 feature holders and the 40 lists, then shift the waypoints back into the structure again.

Did I do something wrong in expecting the structure that was retained in the GPX export to be preserved when reimporting?:confused:

Does this mean that in effect to hold my database at the List level I need to actually do 287 GPX exports to retain the structure of my database within the GPX files?:(

0 SUSSAMB over 13 years ago

Best way to back up your data is to use the BC backup ... you'll find it under the file menu.

Other way is to simply keep a back up of the Basecamp database folder.

No need for 287 GPX exports :)

0 Former Member over 13 years ago

I believe the only way to preserve the Folder/Subfolder/List structure is to backup with BaseCamp. A gpx file eliminates the structure.

I have a similar set of tracks/waypoints by (1) State and then (2) geographic areas within the state. I use a separate database (separate backup) for each geographic area. It is awkward to change areas, because I have to backup the area I am working in then restore the area I want to go to. Cannot say I like this method, but it seems to work for me, and if I make a mistake it only affects one area.

Suggest you start with a completely clean database, add a few folders/subfolders/lists, then experiment with backups vs gpx exports.

0 Former Member over 13 years ago

David,

It sounds like Basecamp is trying to use the Category tag in the GPX file to fake out the list feature. That would have worked for restore purposes back in, I think, v3.x. Back in an older version Garmin decided to fake the Category feature by importing waypoints with category tags into lists with names that matched the Category tags.

However, that no longer works. In v4.x Garmin has either intentionally removed it or broken it. In any case, it will no longer work for your restoral purposes.

...ken...

0 DavidXFrancis over 13 years ago

Thanks - yes I have experimented with the BC Backup - both with setting up a separate database for each country - but as I am back and forth between NZ and Australia all the time and travelling extensively in both countries this creates far too much overhead in swapping from 1 country to another, and also means there are challenges around all the birdseye downloads I hold, putting it all in 1 database comes out as the only practical answer. The database backup is just over 10GB and takes a lot of cups of coffee to run, or to restore, so a recovery of 1 section of data can become an investment of a 10GB backup of where I am at, followed by a 10GB restore to get at the last backup data, followed by another 10GB restore to get the flawed data back, then merge the recovered data, and for best practice then a new 10GB restore at the recovery point. I am using a Toshiba P500 but that process still represents well over 8 hours of "waiting" time. Reinforces I guess the absolute need to never ever do anything wrong!

I will do some experimenting with backing up the Basecamp database folder and see how I get on and what happens to the birdseye downloads.

The other thing that just might seem to appeal is perhaps to do the 287 GPX exports, then simply add to it/overwrite with fresh GPX exports of any folder I modify at all, then if I remember to absolutely follow the discipline on an ongoing basis, then had I been doing this already, the restore of the folder I somehow deleted erroneously would have become a 20 second reimport from the backup GPX file which would have repaid the time of the 287 exports many fold over, compared to the 8 hours plus recovery time using full BC Backups. (still doing my regular BC Backups and hard drive backups as well of course).

0 Former Member over 13 years ago

Please post the results of your experiments. I, too, was thinking/hoping that exporting to a .gpx file would/might save the structure. Is it only at the lowest level, i.e. list, that the .gpx export file faithfully represents the BC object?
Thanks,
-cj

Thanks - yes I have experimented with the BC Backup - {snip}

I will do some experimenting with backing up the Basecamp database folder and see how I get on and what happens to the birdseye downloads.
{snip}