Pace and Cap - Sartin Methodology & The Match Up - View Single Post - RDSS2

Ted Craven · 05-02-2017, 06:05 PM

Q: I have been with RDSS for a few years, and the horse races are accumulating and slowing down my computer. I am thinking of getting an external hard drive and putting last year's races on that. Is this the way to go? Any recommendations on the type of external hard drive to purchase? Any other suggestions in this regard?

A: The size of the database file affects the speed of the Convert process in the Data Centre operations. I recommend starting a fresh, empty database file for each new year. Even if you download EVERY race card from EVERY track 365 days a year - your database file should still be well less than 1 Gigabyte in size. But it will run more slowly than with a fresh empty database file.

You should be making a backup copy of all your data anyway, every week

. But if you prefer not to

, you can simply copy your database file to an external thumb drive for deep storage. 2 Gb USB thumb drives cost about $5 in my local Staples, and 8/16 Gb thumb drives only a little more.

Look in the Data Centre, lower right box captioned 'Database' to find the file name and folder of your working database. Use Windows' folder system to navigate there and make a copy of that file on your thumb drive.

Next, in RDSS, on the Desktop, use the Data Mgmt button to create a New database file. Opening the New Database dialog box, creates a new database file named (cheekily): 'NEW Database (RENAME This Please!).db'. Scroll the list of database files displayed in your \RDSS\Data\ folder to find that file, right-click it to Rename it, then give it a meaningful name: e.g. data2017. If you see the .db file ending (a database file), DON'T change that ending part. If you don't see that .db file ending, don't worry about it - just rename it. Then single-click on it to select it.

You are then prompted to RESTART RDSS. When you restart, that newly created (and empty) database file will be the default database file for your next session of RDSS. Voilà - you have a clean, empty and faster processing RDSS database! If ever you want your old one back, or any other old ones as the years go by - simply use the Data Mgmt tool to Switch between existing databases. You could go back and rename your previous, big database file something like data2015-2017.db, or whatever. That way, you know what's what in your Data subfolder.

Most computers have LOTS of storage space these days. Your RDSS databases, even after a few years should not occupy a whole lot of space. So - keep them all on your main hard drive so you can go back to them if you want. But back them all up, please!!

Other Data subfolders you can clean up periodically to regain disk space are: the \Data\Cache\ folder and the \Data\PP\ folder. The Cache contains temporary files created whenever you Assemble a race for fast retrieval inside RDSS - also to store pacelines chosen and Contender choices made. if you know you'll never go back to resurrect an old race (e.g. with previous paceline selections), you can drill down into that Cache folder and delete subfolders according to year, track and date.

Downloaded TrackMaster data files are stored in the \Data\PP\ subfolders of your RDSS2 folder - by Year, Track, and Date. Once you have Converted these files to a RDSS database, their job is done! You can delete them (e.g. annually) or better still - move them to deep storage on your handy RDSS 8 Gb $10 thumb drive

This also frees up storage on your main disk. (While RDSS cannot currently recreate a database out of these older TrackMaster data files, one day it will - so that's an argument for keeping them somewhere.)

The above ideas should solve your RDSS slowly Converting, plus recover some disk storage space, plus earn you a good data housekeeping award

Cheers,

Ted

05-02-2017, 06:05 PM	#34
Ted Craven Grade 1 Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada Posts: 8,854	RDSS Runs slowly Converting data Q: I have been with RDSS for a few years, and the horse races are accumulating and slowing down my computer. I am thinking of getting an external hard drive and putting last year's races on that. Is this the way to go? Any recommendations on the type of external hard drive to purchase? Any other suggestions in this regard? A: The size of the database file affects the speed of the Convert process in the Data Centre operations. I recommend starting a fresh, empty database file for each new year. Even if you download EVERY race card from EVERY track 365 days a year - your database file should still be well less than 1 Gigabyte in size. But it will run more slowly than with a fresh empty database file. You should be making a backup copy of all your data anyway, every week . But if you prefer not to , you can simply copy your database file to an external thumb drive for deep storage. 2 Gb USB thumb drives cost about $5 in my local Staples, and 8/16 Gb thumb drives only a little more. Look in the Data Centre, lower right box captioned 'Database' to find the file name and folder of your working database. Use Windows' folder system to navigate there and make a copy of that file on your thumb drive. Next, in RDSS, on the Desktop, use the Data Mgmt button to create a New database file. Opening the New Database dialog box, creates a new database file named (cheekily): 'NEW Database (RENAME This Please!).db'. Scroll the list of database files displayed in your \RDSS\Data\ folder to find that file, right-click it to Rename it, then give it a meaningful name: e.g. data2017. If you see the .db file ending (a database file), DON'T change that ending part. If you don't see that .db file ending, don't worry about it - just rename it. Then single-click on it to select it. You are then prompted to RESTART RDSS. When you restart, that newly created (and empty) database file will be the default database file for your next session of RDSS. Voilà - you have a clean, empty and faster processing RDSS database! If ever you want your old one back, or any other old ones as the years go by - simply use the Data Mgmt tool to Switch between existing databases. You could go back and rename your previous, big database file something like data2015-2017.db, or whatever. That way, you know what's what in your Data subfolder. Most computers have LOTS of storage space these days. Your RDSS databases, even after a few years should not occupy a whole lot of space. So - keep them all on your main hard drive so you can go back to them if you want. But back them all up, please!! Other Data subfolders you can clean up periodically to regain disk space are: the \Data\Cache\ folder and the \Data\PP\ folder. The Cache contains temporary files created whenever you Assemble a race for fast retrieval inside RDSS - also to store pacelines chosen and Contender choices made. if you know you'll never go back to resurrect an old race (e.g. with previous paceline selections), you can drill down into that Cache folder and delete subfolders according to year, track and date. Downloaded TrackMaster data files are stored in the \Data\PP\ subfolders of your RDSS2 folder - by Year, Track, and Date. Once you have Converted these files to a RDSS database, their job is done! You can delete them (e.g. annually) or better still - move them to deep storage on your handy RDSS 8 Gb $10 thumb drive This also frees up storage on your main disk. (While RDSS cannot currently recreate a database out of these older TrackMaster data files, one day it will - so that's an argument for keeping them somewhere.) The above ideas should solve your RDSS slowly Converting, plus recover some disk storage space, plus earn you a good data housekeeping award Cheers, Ted __________________ RDSS - Racing Decision Support System™ Last edited by Ted Craven; 05-02-2017 at 06:07 PM.