S7 DB Backup

Hi
What is the best method of backing up a DB for backup and emergency restore, using S7.

Is going to online view and drag/drop the online db to the offline db adequate?

Cheers

Yes.

Before I drag online db to offline, I compare blocks to ensure timestamps are equal and make a backup of the project in case something goes wrong.

Then after dragging online db to offline, I open all db's to ensure no symbol information was lost. If you get the dreaded "symbol information of the block is invalid" and see all your variables have changed to STAT then something was not equal. S7 really cares about date timestamps.

Here is an another way which is more fast and reliable according to me that has been told to me by LD when I ask a similar question of yours.

http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?t=52568

Lately there ara alot of topics about this question of yours and mine. Maybe a bit of research in the forum is sometimes what we need.
Thanks

Thanks for the link but I simply wished to backup the DB to the programming device so that the end user could restore the DB actual values if the PLC failed. These values are all process parameters etc

Maybe it got lost in the translation

Hi,Maybe You can try this page http://www.elektlabs.cz/index.en.html in section S7Backup,it is freeware but works only througth Ethernet..

I am pretty new to S7. I believe in addition to dragging DB's from online to offline you can also go to: PLC / Upload Station to PG...

I was quite disappointed to learn that there is not a simple way to go online with a processor and save current values using S7.

I'm quickly learning not to take for granted the little things that Allen Bradley has integrated into their software.

I'm may not be understanding you correctly but if you are just wating to put the "Initial" value of the DB into the actual.

Can't you just open the DB, goto View -> Data View, then Edit -> Initialize Data Block. That will write the initial values to the DB, then just download the DB.

Hi all
The method I asked about in post #1 actually works fine as confirmed by Paul B.

Thanks for the interest.

The intent was to leave site with all the offline DB values the same as the online DB values, and this was acheived.

Cheers

Glad you got it bud. That method has worked for me since I figured it out on my own back in 1999. I can still hear the chants in my head: Swim M***F*** Swim!!! My first Siemens system was a four door panel with four racks. Like an idiot I used M memory for setpoints because the DB's were cumbersome to edit for a first-time Siemens programmer. When it came time to upgrade the firmware on the 318 I found I was not able to save the setpoints. Hmmmm, don't let anyone see. So while Bob did the firmware update I crapped my pants in private and managed to pull it together and get working setpoints into the four lines the panel controlled. Those were the days...

PLC / Upload Station to PG was mentioned. When you do that you will end up with an entire separate station. And when you open the DB's you will get the dreaded "Symbol Information of the Block is Invalid" because the date-time stamp conflicts with your offline block (there is no offline block in this case). Then you will see the STAT0 and the STAT1 for all your variables. The only way to back up the working values that I know of is in the second thread of this post: http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showpost.php?p=357151&postcount=2

Paul B said:

Yes.

Before I drag online db to offline, I compare blocks to ensure timestamps are equal and make a backup of the project in case something goes wrong.

Then after dragging online db to offline, I open all db's to ensure no symbol information was lost. If you get the dreaded "symbol information of the block is invalid" and see all your variables have changed to STAT then something was not equal. S7 really cares about date timestamps.

Click to expand...

Hey, i have tryied this now,
i have drag/drop the online DB to offline
And then when i open offline DB it´s still same initial value,
What do i do wrong here?

The initial values will not change.
It is the online actual values that will be copied to the offline actual values.

So if i need to declaration a new line and download i will lost actual value,

Is there any easy way to keep actual value so i dont lost it in that case?