Empower 2 Project Archival/Restoration Problem

[cunavalos]

We are experiencing a problem on two separate machines, several months ago we had an incident in work relating to the 'death' of two pc workstations running empower 2. The problem is there was over 2 years of data on each pc which had not been archived or backed up. Our IT department were unable/unwilling to fix/rebuild pc and replacement pc's were purchased and empower 3 installed on these.
The problem is we are currently unable to retrieve any of our old data from the two 'dead' pc's. The two hards drives were removed form the dead pc's and connected externally to the new pc and we can view the empower projects in the c:/empower/projects folder but these cannot be restored to our new version of empower using the restore option because these files in this folder only contain the .dat files and not .exp or .inf file types associated with the archived file types( i may have gotten some of the terminology wrong here as i am not the system admin or an it expert and have only recently moved to the department so the failure to back up any of the data was not my responsibility either)
We have been in contact with our waters engineers and they recommended trying to reboot from one of the old hard drives installed from a new pc but this was unsuccessful.
My question is, can we retrieve/restore this data to another version of empower or is all the data lost.
If you require any more information please respond here and i will try to provide as much details as possible.

[Hollow]

hm. no clear advice just thoughts:

As you already know, w/o the inf and exp files you're not able to restore the projects to empower.
These files are written when you do a project-backup from within empower and contains the associated infos from the database. Without these infos, the dat files are really "raw-data" and another instance of Empower don't know what to do with it.
The number of the dat-file corresponds with its channel-id from Emp.

So what I would try to do/find out if (maybe also with advice from waters technicians):

Maybe it's safe to backup your data to another drive, before doing such experiments as below. And get some trial PC for these recovery experiments.
I don't know if somthing's going to work or just makes thing even worse...

a) if you still can access the \empower folder (so your HD is alive), is there a chance to start the old EMP2? I don't know if Empower stores a lot in the "windows" part of the OS?
If yes, you're lucky and could do a project backup (so the exp and inf files are written), then a restore in Emp3 should work without problems

b) if possible I would just do a core installation of Emp2 (without the need of system configurations) and then try to "cheat" it by replacing the new created database with the old one together with all the .dat files. Maybe this would then need some Oracle configuration programming which is beyond my skills

c) similar as b) but instead of rough file replacement, in Emp2 find the settings where you could specify the path for the database and raw data (actually I don't have access to Emp2, but there is such a setting. This item is also asked during installation).
Then try to use the path of the old data.

d) don't know if there is the possibility to merge two Oracle databases from outside Empower by Oracle programming? Maybe ask Waters informatics or Oracle support. the aim would be to merge the old one and it's data to a new empty one from a fresh Emp2 installation.

e) maybe it's possible to import these raw data into another CDS like Chromeleon, Chemstation etc. without the info from the database?
Maybe you will lose the generated results but at least have your chromatograms back. Then export and import into Emp3?

Good luck

[unmgvar]

empower should not be limited to seeing only one data base (the one created at installation)
if you have the old hard disks then you need to see how to load the entire old data base that is installed in there. the oracle data base should still be there
then read from there directly
i am puzzled has to why your waters tech cannot solve this.
this should be like transferring data from one data base to another.

[Hollow]

did a google about Oracle databases. (didn't read everything)

Maybe this could provide some inputs for discussion with technicians...

http://www.oracle.com/pls/db111/portal. ... d_recovery

>>Maybe the databse could be backup-ed from outside empower and then restored as Emp2 database again?

https://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread ... dID=525853

[benW]

Hi Cunavalos,
As Unmgvar points out, there is a good posibility of recovering your data.

What you are seeing in the empower/projects directory are the raw data files which are encripted and stored outside the database. You cannot access these files directly as they are read by Empower software in conjuction with the meta data stored in the database. When the projects are backed-up by Empower, the raw data files are then packaged as you are familiar, this then provides the information for empower to unpack into the database and check the integrity on project restore.

Back to your issue, what version of Empower was installed and what service pack level? Also what OS was installed and which language?

Depending on what was salvaged on your hard drives, it may be possible to rebuild and back-up your projects. The best solution would be to back up the hard drives so you have a copy and send a copy over so I can recover the projects for you.

Update if this is an option or not.
Ben

[cunavalos]

Hollow / unmgvar ,
Thanks for taking the time to answer my query, there is some good advice there and the encouraging thing is that the common consensus in this post is that we may be able to retrieve the data. I am a novice in the administration of empower software but have several years experience in using the software but a lot of the details are new to me so the concept of rebuilding the database is a bit alien to me. i should be point out that our contracted waters service technician who is most familiar with our software program and equipment is currently on leave and i am sure he would be in a position to help when he returns (in several weeks).
benW, i will get the specific details you requested and post them here and would be delighted if you could help even if it was to take one small project and be successfully able to back that up to demonstrate that the raw fies are ok and we could then arrange with our waters tech the retrieve the remainder.
Regards
cunavalos

[benW]

Hi Cunavalos,
Sounds like a good plan! Keep me posted and we can workout getting your data back.
Cheers, Ben

[aceto_81]

If the only thing you have to do is to prove your datafiles are ok, you can maybe rename a datafile according to an injection id in another project, move the file to that project and open that injection?
That way, the "wrong" datafile might open, and you can verify everything is fine.

Not tested, so don't know if this works.

Ace

[benW]

Sorry Ace...
Would be an easy route, but it is not quite so simple. Unfortunately (and fortunately) you cannot "hack" Empower like this, if you could it would make it easy to bypass the audit and business logic to change channels. The integrity of the datafiles are checked by Empower, not just the file name and relevance of data. Making changes to them will render them kind of useless, and you will not see any data (eg Data Missing in review, backup data integrity failure etc...).

[RedCat]

Remember that Oracle is very pedantic about keeping records of internal transactions - i.e. EVERYTHING that you enter in any data field. Empower keeps so-called control files to keep up to date with all that goes on behind the scenes.

Follow this procedure to recover a Personal Empower 2154 database when you have had a HDD crash.

1) You must be able to copy the original Empower database directory, and the entire Projects directory from the broken HDD - either get youself an external USB portable HDD case and put your dead HDD in there, or add the disk to the PC.
You will need the following:
a. The database and control files – copy all of C:\Empower\Oracle\oradata\WAT6.
b. The passwords file - C:\Empower\Oracle10g\database\PWDwat6.ora and C:\Empower\Oracle10g\database\SPFILEWAT6.ora.
2) Do whatever needs to be done to fit a new HDD, load a fresh copy of the operating system. Then re-load a fresh installation of Empower 2154. Important: Use the same HDD name as before (i.e. if Empower was loaded on the C: drive, then load it there again – the internal pointers will get confused and give you a “Shared memory realm does not exist” error).
N.B. If you have been using another copy of Empower since you started this post, then make absolutely certain that you make a backup of your new projects via the Configuration Manager before going on. If you don't you will loose all your new data.
3) Once Empower has been loaded, stop the OracleCSService service, and the OracleWAT6 service using My Computer > Manage > Services.
4) For safety sake, copy the newly-created (virgin) …\oradata\WAT6 directory and the two password files to a safe backup location.
5) Copy the saved (old) versions of C:\Empower Oracle\oradata\WAT6 and C:\Empower\Oracle10g\database\PWDwat6.ora and C:\Empower\Oracle10g\database\SPFILEWAT6.ora to their correct locations.
6) Copy the Projects directory.
7) Re-start the two Oracle services.

Empower should be good to go. Run Empower, and create backups of your old (recovered) projects.
Return to your newer version of Empower and restore the old projects into your new version.
Cheers

[Phillhere]

you lot seem extremely knowledgeable about this...
I have an almost related issue, that i could do with some pointers on...

One of our main empower systems died, the hard drive corrupted, access the the data was possible, copying it out via the route described above which did retrieve some of the projects, however the install had a number of user licences installed, (the optional 10 user licences, loaded from a key diskette).
these appear to gone the same way as the hard drive, in that we cant get the corrupted drive to run, and can't then load the user licences back to the key disc.
if you have any ideas of a workaround for this, or anything at all that may help, it would be massively appreciated.
thanks

[RedCat]

Hello Phillhere
Yep, the Oracle licensing issue using floppy disks has plagued Waters since it was first introduced.
Nowadays, since most PCs don't even have floppy drives, Waters have moved on to electronic web-based licensing.

In answer to your query - you are screwed. When you activate the license (any of them, such as System Suitability, Named User Licenses, System Control Licenses etc. etc.), a software token is passed from the floppy to the database, the token is erased from the floppy, and the floppy is stamped with the computer name that was keyed. In this way, Oracle protects its licenses from being used on mulitiple database instances (I would never stoop to calling this "piracy"!). Since Waters pays Oracle a fortune for licensing, you can understand why the protection mechanism is important.

You only recourse is to get hold of your local friendly Waters Sales Representative, and ask for a replacement floppy disk. You will be charged for this disk, and will need to send your used disk back to the local branch. The part number for an Empower 2 Poersonal software Named User 5 Pack is 667001187.

Cheers
RedCat

[Phillhere]

having already asked the question, I am unsure as to whether a "friendly waters sales representative" actually exists.
so far all I seem to have managed to find was the obstructive , unhelpful and downright rude ones.

we did originally plan to carry on our upgrade plans with waters, but are now investigating other options, as this has spectacularily soured our relations.

[benW]

Hi Phillhere,
That is very disappointing to hear; I shall be generous and say that there is probably some simple miscommunication with Waters! .
Let me know if you cannot resolve this, please feel free to contact me by email via the contacts page of the website in my signature and I will endeavour to help you - I am reluctant to post my email for having my inbox filled with spam.
Cheers,
Ben

[RedCat]

Hello Phillhere

I, too, am disappointed tyo hear about your experience with Waters.

As with BenW, you can contact me directly, and I'll see if I can point you in the right direction.

P.S. I am NOT a Waters Sales Rep!