Dear sir,
I am working in 9FA gas turbine with speedtronic MKVI control system. I want to know what are the files to be backedup for emergency usage in case of System crashes, and how to take a backup in MKVI contro lsystem with Toolbox 11.02.03C Please let me know:

1.Procedure to take a backup of m6b file.
2.what are the files to be backedup as a good practise.
3.What interval it is to be taken.
4.what are the precautions to be taken during MKVI shutdown i.ePDM switching off

by
prasad

 

Prasad,

Most GE HMIs were shipping with a back-up utility called Acronis True Image (or some version of Acronis)--which works very well.

It can be used to entirely back-up the hard drive to removable media (CD, DVD, etc.) even spanning multiple discs for a single hard drive.

This is the most efficient back-up method: "ghosting" the hard drive to removable media which can be used to create a new hard drive. I think Acronis can also be used to selectively back up files and folders, even pseudo drives. It's pretty flexible.

Some sites have also purchased and installed a second hard drive exactly like the one in the HMI and copied the contents of the main hard drive to the back-up, then removed that hard drive and stored it in a safe place. This can be expensive and time-consuming, but very effective in the worst-case scenario of a hard drive failure.

Having said that, I believe that many HMIs being provided by GE and it's packagers these days have multiple hard drives in a RAID configuration, so that if one hard drive fails the HMI will continue to be serviceable until a new hard drive can be installed and then the RAID utility can be used to "restore" the new hard drive from the existing one.

So, there are several options that are as effective as it gets--and much more useful in the event of a failure than just copying individual files to CD or DVD and then having to copy them back onto a new hard drive that had to have MS-Windows and ToolboxST and CIMPLICITY and WorkstationST all re-installed beforehand.

Some sites have also used external hard drives (connected via USB) to perform back-ups (I think Acronis supports this).

Some sites with IT departments will have their own preferred method of back-up and don't want to use what GE or one of its packagers provided preferring, instead, to standardize on one software package for the entire plant. Some work better than others--and some don't work at all on GE HMIs (imagine that?!?!!!).

Let us know what you decide and how you proceed.

As for when it should be done, well, when you are satisfied the HMI and Mark VI are working properly, make a back-up. And then, after any changes are made (such as display changes, or LVDT calibrations, or application code changes, or Mark VI hardware changes (cards; terminal boards) make another back-up after everything has been verified to be working properly. You don't want to be using a back-up that is three years old and doesn't have the latest Control Constants and LVDT calibration information and any application code changes to create a new HMI or a new hard drive from. (Do you?)

So, any time an important change is made to any application (ToolboxST; CIMPLICITY; WorkstationST; the Mark VI (if changes were made to Control Constants and/or I/O Configuration, or cards were replaced) perform a back-up. Acronis really is pretty quick, and very good.

I do recommend deleting any troubleshooting files that might have been created during troubleshooting. Sometimes, Trend Recorder files can get HUGE, and several of them can greatly increase the time it takes to perform a back-up. This is always a good idea, anyway--just good "housekeeping" practice to keep the hard drive from getting full of junk files.

Hope this helps!