Topic: Old VWS data on hard drive

[arrowspace90]

VWS just gets older and more cumbersome every year. 

So, is there someplace I can export my old VWS data?  A cloud?  And is it possible to save my old data in a format that doesn't require VWS itself to make sense of it?

It's time to move on from VWS.

[longmire]

That depends on which VWS data you want to export. A long time back with version 12 it wrote one YYYYdbase.csv file for each year. Sometime after I upgraded to v 15 it now just writes a dbase.csv that contains only the last 44,000 records, so older records get bumped out for newer.

The csv files can be read by lots of other programs and if you've a mind you can even import them into a MySQL database or a MSSQL database for long term storage and analysis.

I did that using vwsql for my records since 2004, but vwsql will not license on any new install anymore - so that's not an option unfortunately.

You can use robocopy to copy the whole \vws directory tree to a usb stick, and then if you switch to say Weather Display, I believe you can import your old records into that program. I don't know about others like cumulus and the like --- good luck

[galfert]

So with version 15 the database only holds 44,000 records and then the data is overwritten oldest first? Really? If you are then saving a record every 5 minutes then you only have 152 days worth of history! If you are saving data every 10 minutes then you only have 305 days. Less than a year worth of data. That is crazy. Why did they do away with the older separate monthly option that kept everything?

If there is less than a years worth of data then there isn't much point in importing anything. I suppose something is better than nothing, but for someone that has been running VWS for years this is a tough realization that they don't really have years worth of data that they thought they had.

[longmire]

I learned this just in the nick of time after upgrading from 12 - 15 when in noticed it not creating the YYYYdbase.csv file anymore, so I was able to pull the old yearly data csv's and the first records from the dbase.csv that v 15 created and get everything backed up. The new system was supposed to improve responsiveness and stability if i recall - by dumping "old data" the other workaround is to have vws create daily csv files, but that's a huge pita to import into something else.

I love the graphics even if they are a bit long in the tooth now, but the lack of continuing development is a huge drawback. It would be really a solid service if the author of vwssql would just unlock the license to that addon since he no longer sells or supports it, and that would help us all out a lot.

This is the hazard of single developer but "niche" software I guess.

[IngemarS]

Better late than never...

After VWSql was no longer sold, and its licens was compleatly to my old computer, I did some mysql (now inside MariaDB) script (after 5.x) when triggers ("on insert/update") were supported. I still use that to import and manually update through a daily csv file. I did modify the database from VWSql with data since VWS csv, dbase.csv, supported so many other weather stations besides Davis's. It takes it from the VWSql format and checks data and insert everything to my new, but similar database. The new database has for f ex RecDate converted to MySQL/MariaDB datetime, and some additional indexes to facilitate my own statistical purposes.

I'd be happy to send anyone the procedures for making the new database, and the convert from VWSql-database. And maybe I even have the import from old VWSql database to the new one directly.

But it is 'No Questions Asked', I am in the middle of moving and having orthopedic surgery this spring and summer - and after the move I will no longer use VWS at all.