Chromatography Forum

Hello,

I'm very new to using a GC but I am starting to generate quite a bit of data from analyzing trace gases (CH4, N2O, and CO2) on a Varian 450-GC. The output of each sample is a run file. Unfortunately this file is in some type of proprietary format, a format of which I can't discern or find any documentation on it. I have found some info on varian/bruker file formats but its for NMR data files. I will be generating quite a lot of data over the next two years and it would save me so much time if I can process these automatically. I have the programming skills to mine and process the data, I just can't figure out how to convert it from the .run format.

I have been trying to decipher the data format without any luck. If anyone has any information on the bit length (4, 8, 16, 32, etc) or bit format (big endian, little endian, etc) it would be much appreciated.

Even more appreciated would be if anyone knows if there is a header format for these files. Apparently in some of the Varian/Bruker files there is some information in the header/beginning of the file that essential describes how the rest of the data in the file is laid out.

Thanks for any info you can provide. If I get anything that works I will post a link to the code of this forum. Thanks.

-Scott

Why ? If we assume you have a data system does this not do what you need ? If you need to mine data can you not save the report document in a readable form and mine this data ? Chromatographic files are in a proprietary format and designed so that you cannot mine the basic data, For integrity of results you should not be able to edit/change the raw data in any way. I don't think any supplier would be happy for you to decode the file type and publish it.

I'm with CE on this - why do it the complicated way ?.

You can export the raw data in the form of signal vs time to a variety of file formats using the software that you have. You then have all the analytical data that anyone could ever extract from the run. What more would you need ?

Peter

Slpitz I am wondering did you find how to convert the *.run files. We are having the same problem. Our datasystem we have is beyond Bruker and so we would like the format to be at least in .cdf format. But it seems our conversion is merging the data into a single file.

Also, we are looking at their Mass Spec and we are waiting and see if there is a solution.

If you really think that you need to convert data formats then have a look at Adron Systems software - it converts back and forward between several formats, some of which can be exported directly to number crunching programmes. I still do not understand why you would need to do this though.

Peter

Bruker finally sent me an updated software. It has conversion software on it ( however, it has some bugs which Brucker is working on fixing). Also, for us it has enough information for us.

But thanks for the Replys