Field Notes -- can they be undeleted?

[+LadyBee4T]

Last night I uploaded my field notes -- all 935 of them and then deleted the file on my Montana. This morning I checked the online field notes and it says there aren't any! I've lost all 935! I have uploaded field notes many times in the past and never had this happen. I deleted the file on my unit and not bulk deleted online.

 

Is there a way that they can be restored so I can actually log my finds? I did two power trails so I probably know about half on those caches but the rest are a blur and some are quite old.

 

Thanks for any input. If they're gone then they are gone but if there is a way.........

[+kunarion]

If they're gone then they are gone but if there is a way.........

There are utilities called "recovery software" that can find and restore deleted files. The deleted data often is still there, just not "indexed", so Windows doesn't see it. There's a lot of recovery software, and some is free. I bought "Data Rescue PC" and have used it a few times. With that I've been able to recover lost files, including most of the files on a computer hard drive that had crashed and lost its entire index.

 

All you need to do is recover the file called "geocache_visits.txt", which should not be a big deal for any recovery software. This of course may only work if you haven't saved new field notes in the meantime. Backup as much of the GPSr's files as you wish, before trying anything.

Edited July 20, 2016 by kunarion

[+LadyBee4T]

If they're gone then they are gone but if there is a way.........

There are utilities called "recovery software" that can find and restore deleted files. The deleted data often is still there, just not "indexed", so Windows doesn't see it. There's a lot of recovery software, and some is free. I bought "Data Rescue PC" and have used it a few times. With that I've been able to recover lost files, including most of the files on a computer hard drive that had crashed and lost its entire index.

 

All you need to do is recover the file called "geocache_visits.txt", which should not be a big deal for any recovery software. This of course may only work if you haven't saved new field notes in the meantime. Backup as much of the GPSr's files as you wish, before trying anything.

 

Thanks for the info but that didn't work for me. I meant can they be recovered from the Groundspeak files/server or whereever they were stored there. They vanished there under my profile and I did not hit bulk delete. I did delete the file from my unit but not the online field notes.

[+HHL]

There are two files that hold the field notes data:

geocache_visits.txt and geocache_logs.xml

Did you delete both?

 

Hans

[+Walts Hunting]

Last night I uploaded my field notes -- all 935 of them and then deleted the file on my Montana. This morning I checked the online field notes and it says there aren't any! I've lost all 935! I have uploaded field notes many times in the past and never had this happen. I deleted the file on my unit and not bulk deleted online.

 

Is there a way that they can be restored so I can actually log my finds? I did two power trails so I probably know about half on those caches but the rest are a blur and some are quite old.

 

Thanks for any input. If they're gone then they are gone but if there is a way.........

Just one more reason to use GSAK and set the Publish Logs dialog to save the file on my hard drive. Always backup data. As they say It's not if you lose data but wjen.

[+Walts Hunting]

There are two files that hold the field notes data:

geocache_visits.txt and geocache_logs.xml

Did you delete both?

 

Hans

Good point. I forgot about the file Garmin creates for its geocaching site. How would one get that into GS?

[+ecanderson]

One of us would have to whip up an .xml parsing program for the OP to convert to the GS .txt format. Never been in that particular ditch before, so no reason to have already looked at it, but shouldn't be that painful.

[+Walts Hunting]

One of us would have to whip up an .xml parsing program for the OP to convert to the GS .txt format. Never been in that particular ditch before, so no reason to have already looked at it, but shouldn't be that painful.

No Need. GSAK has XMLtoSqlite command that does it built in by Clyde. Plus GPSBabel will take care of that need.

[+kunarion]

GPSBabel will take care of that need.

It sounds so cool, I'm trying it out now. I see the XML file has dozens more caches than the TXT, likely due to the fact that I never touch the XML file. When does the XML file refresh or empty? It certainly doesn't contain all the caches I've ever marked Found. So it may be different, but maybe currently has all the caches the OP wants. This fix is kind of a technical thing, but I think it's not too bad.

 

In GPS Babel, I selected "Garmin Logbook XML" as the input. What do I select as the output?

 

My practice is to NOT delete the "geocache_visits.txt". I instead move it from the GPSr to my Windows desktop. Next time I do the same, I over-write the old file. This ensures that I still have the file to load for at least a little while, in case of a site glitch. There's no urgent need to "delete" the file at all, but I sometimes delete the files in the GPX folder anyway. And I back up all of it first.

Edited July 28, 2016 by kunarion

[+LadyBee4T]

I think ALL of you have misunderstood me and the problem. I'm not talking about my unit. I understand about deleting from there. I'm talking about ON the GC.COM website. I uploaded 935 field notes and they are ALL gone from there. They just vanished. If they were online I wouldn't have the problem. AND I had a lot of online field notes before this happened and they vanished too. I emailed Groundspeak and haven't received any reply.

[+LadyBee4T]

There are two files that hold the field notes data:

geocache_visits.txt and geocache_logs.xml

Did you delete both?

 

Hans

 

Nope I didn't delete both of them on the unit so I will see if I can recover the files that way. I rarely use GSAK so I may have a learning curve. LOL Thanks for pointing me in that direction.

 

I;d still like to know why they vanished from the site though.

[+kunarion]

I think ALL of you have misunderstood me and the problem. I'm not talking about my unit. I understand about deleting from there. I'm talking about ON the GC.COM website. I uploaded 935 field notes and they are ALL gone from there. They just vanished. If they were online I wouldn't have the problem. AND I had a lot of online field notes before this happened and they vanished too. I emailed Groundspeak and haven't received any reply.

You may have to wait for a reply. We can't undelete files on Groundspeak servers. The best we could do is help you reconstruct the lost info, from whatever files you haven't deleted. Sorry.

[+ecanderson]

I think ALL of you have misunderstood me and the problem. I'm not talking about my unit. I understand about deleting from there. I'm talking about ON the GC.COM website. I uploaded 935 field notes and they are ALL gone from there. They just vanished. If they were online I wouldn't have the problem. AND I had a lot of online field notes before this happened and they vanished too. I emailed Groundspeak and haven't received any reply.

I don't think we have misunderstood. We are hoping that you can RESUBMIT your 935 finds. The idea is to get you out of this ditch as painlessly as possible. After that, we can deal/discuss the gc.com problem. It is our impression that you were unable to resubmit. IF you still have the files on your unit, you can resubmit by unchecking the box on the field notes page that ignores caches prior to a specific date ("Ignore logs before..."). If you do NOT still have the geocache_visits.txt file on your unit to resubmit them, we're trying to find a solution to that far more important problem first, potentially using the alternate *.xml file that is created of your field notes. Edited July 29, 2016 by ecanderson

[+LadyBee4T]

I think ALL of you have misunderstood me and the problem. I'm not talking about my unit. I understand about deleting from there. I'm talking about ON the GC.COM website. I uploaded 935 field notes and they are ALL gone from there. They just vanished. If they were online I wouldn't have the problem. AND I had a lot of online field notes before this happened and they vanished too. I emailed Groundspeak and haven't received any reply.

I don't think we have misunderstood. We are hoping that you can RESUBMIT your 935 finds. The idea is to get you out of this ditch as painlessly as possible. After that, we can deal/discuss the gc.com problem. It is our impression that you were unable to resubmit. IF you still have the files on your unit, you can resubmit by unchecking the box on the field notes page that ignores caches prior to a specific date ("Ignore logs before..."). If you do NOT still have the geocache_visits.txt file on your unit to resubmit them, we're trying to find a solution to that far more important problem first, potentially using the alternate *.xml file that is created of your field notes.

 

Ah yes. Thanks for the great clarification! No one had addressed the question about why they disappeared online.

 

I hadn't thought about the xml file and I'm pretty sure I didn't delete that one. I have been out of town and am looking for the cord I need for the unit. Then I need to figure out how to do it in GSAK or GPS Babel since I've never tried it before and rarely use GSAK for anything. If what I need to do is in a later version of GSAK I may be out of luck there too. I very much appreciate all the help in that regard too.

[+ecanderson]

If you get stuck, let someone here know, and we can either convert the file using one of the available tools, or guide you through the process.

 

Why the logs disappeared from gc.com is definitely a separate mystery, and one we wouldn't like to see again, but our main concern is not having you lose your 935 entries altogether.

 

I've been using GSAK for ages, and in not-trivial fashion, and had not realized that it was capable of parsing the Garmin's *.xml version of the visits file. Goes to show why it's called GSAK, and how few of us actually use its full potential.

 

Geocaching.com access

Publish logs

Right click in the window

Fetch (from either your GPSr or the file on your PC, if that's where you've got it)

Point to your *.xml file and let it rip.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I think ALL of you have misunderstood me and the problem. I'm not talking about my unit. I understand about deleting from there. I'm talking about ON the GC.COM website. I uploaded 935 field notes and they are ALL gone from there. They just vanished. If they were online I wouldn't have the problem. AND I had a lot of online field notes before this happened and they vanished too. I emailed Groundspeak and haven't received any reply.

I don't think we have misunderstood. We are hoping that you can RESUBMIT your 935 finds. The idea is to get you out of this ditch as painlessly as possible. After that, we can deal/discuss the gc.com problem. It is our impression that you were unable to resubmit. IF you still have the files on your unit, you can resubmit by unchecking the box on the field notes page that ignores caches prior to a specific date ("Ignore logs before..."). If you do NOT still have the geocache_visits.txt file on your unit to resubmit them, we're trying to find a solution to that far more important problem first, potentially using the alternate *.xml file that is created of your field notes.

 

Ah yes. Thanks for the great clarification! No one had addressed the question about why they disappeared online.

 

I hadn't thought about the xml file and I'm pretty sure I didn't delete that one. I have been out of town and am looking for the cord I need for the unit. Then I need to figure out how to do it in GSAK or GPS Babel since I've never tried it before and rarely use GSAK for anything. If what I need to do is in a later version of GSAK I may be out of luck there too. I very much appreciate all the help in that regard too.

 

Unless it's changed for the later version of GSAK, it uses GPSBabel "under the hood". GPSBabel can be downloaded for free and used independently. It's pretty easy to use and unlike GSAK, there are versions which run on a Mac or Linux O/S.

 

[+kunarion]

Unless it's changed for the later version of GSAK, it uses GPSBabel "under the hood". GPSBabel can be downloaded for free and used independently. It's pretty easy to use and unlike GSAK, there are versions which run on a Mac or Linux O/S.

What should I look for, as an "output format"? I installed GPSBabel, and haven't been able to come up with the steps to actually convert the "XML" file to the right format.

 

I'm guessing that the geocache_logs.xml (and the geocache_visits.txt) contain all the field notes since the last time they were deleted. So the OP's 935 field notes and more may still exist in geocache_logs.xml. One plan is to convert that to geocache_visits.txt, and upload that to the site, as Field Notes. And save that file in a safe place .

 

But another option requires no special software. Double-click the geocache_logs.xml file, and it should open, probably in Internet Explorer. You'll see the field notes right there, in Garmin Computer-Speak. You have to type logs for each cache anyway, so if you also type the cache number, you can make the logs without messing with file conversions. You can even cut & paste text into the cache logs as desired.

 

Make it a practice to submit the cache logs promptly, and the disappearance of field notes won't matter. I'm not trying to talk you out of the way you're currently doing things. It's just an observation. . But I hope you'd consider not deleting the geocache_visits.txt until at least the logs are all done.

 

 

Edited July 30, 2016 by kunarion