How to save the data in RSL 500

Hi Everyone,
I have developed a program for a customer that is running on a MicroLogix 1400. The customer has asked me to make some changes, which I am happy to do. This application has a lots of live data that is stored in the N and F files. The plan is for me to make changes to the program and send it to the customer for downloading in the field. When he does that will also download the data that I have in the N and F files wiping out all the data that has accumulated all this time.

So the question is how can he download my program and still maintain all the current data? As far as I know there isn't a Data Preservation Tool for the RSL500.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Ill stick my neck out
I don't think there is a way to upload the data tables.
you could write ab app to do that in vb
depending on you customer you could setup a VPN and edit the program online remotely
or setup a dialup serial connecting and edit it remotely
I did that some years back on several systems it worked well for me. we couldn't do it with the internet then.
some people don't allow you do that but it is cheaper the travel cost.

I think this utility has a feature that saves all data from data tables, but I think it only works via serial port:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/abdf1/?source=directory

I know I've accomplished something similar many years ago with a PLC-5, RSLinx OEM with an OPC topic, and a freeware Windows utility called (I think) OpenOPC. It would read all data table vales out of the PLC-5 and dump them in a CSV. I think this all happened over a DH+ connection.

What I do in a case like this is get online with one instance of RSLogix 500 and offline with the new program. Copy the data files from the online instance to the offline instance, take the online instance offline, download the new one.

If you right click the data file you want and click copy, then right click on the instance in which you want to move the values, click paste, it will past all the data from one to the other. You will get a warning about replacing the file and you need to be careful that you are right clicking on the correct one...you can easily paste the file into the wrong one and screw things up.

This makes quick work of it as long as the data you are concerned with isn't scattered across a bunch of files and only in a few of them, and as long as it is okay to copy the entire file.

It seems like I remember an application for either 5's or 500's that did this, but maybe it was part of AI...