OSCAR data management

[Choke43]

I am an OSCAR new user. I have read data from my SD card, viewed and printed reports from my machine with no problems. I have some questions about saving data and clearing out my SD card and have not found the info I need in the manual. The data on my SD card is critical so I am reluctant to learn by experimenting.
1. Does OSCAR save the data once it is imported? If so where are the files located?
2. What is a Backup Journal? Is this an index to backup files? How does one create a backup. No option found to SAVE data
3. What is the " Rebuild CPAP Data" command used for?
4. The "Purge all machine data" command purges the data on a SD card or the data on mu hard drive?
5. What is the typical process for data management? Import data, View reports, Backup data (to save on HD), Clear SD card (PC file manager), Return SD card to machine to continue collecting data.

I thought about posting under OSCAR, but did not see an option to POST.

[Crimson Nape]

First, OSCAR does not delete or remove any data from the SD card. It only reads the data.

I have listed my responses to match your questions.

1. Oscar saves the raw data in the OSCAR_Data directory under the user profile name.  A typical path to the backup data is (for Windows):
   C:\users\UserName\Documents\OSCAR_Data\Profiles\UserName\ResMed_SerialNumber\Backup
2. This backup procedure is automatic every time you import data.
   
   
3. The Backup Journal refers to the option to export, in XML format, all notes you have entered.  The Notes tab can be found (on the leftside) in the Daily screen (Details / Events / Notes / Bookmarks .  All data is automatically saved.
   
   
4. Rebuild CPAP Data - Occasionally your data may get corrupted, this option allows for rebuilding OSCAR's database.
   
   
5. Purge Data - This removes the CPAP data from OSCAR's database only.  It does not affect your SD card's data.
   
   
6. Typical Process -
   
   1. Copy the SD card to a dedicated directory on your computer.  This is for data safety.  SD cards can go bad in a heartbeat.  Backing up the data on your computer assures that the raw data is always preserved.
      
      
   2. Import data into OSCAR either from the SD card or from your dedicated directory.
      
      
   3. View Reports
      
      
   4. Drink some coffee - and think about your results.
      
      
   5. If you need to take a screenshot for posting here, use the F12 key. You will be prompted where to save this PNG file.
      
      
   6. Prior to removing the SD card from the computer, use the "Eject or Remove" command.  The "eject" will be an option if you are viewing the card's drive letter in Windows File Explorer and "remove" if you are using the USB - Safely Remove Hardware from the Systray.
      

Please review the links in my signature for a better understanding of OSCAR.

I also moved your thread/post over to the Software forum.

- Red

[GuyScharf]

Generally, never clear the data off your SD card. Just put the SD card back in your CPAP machine after you have imported data into OSCAR. Your machine will keep adding data for new nights to your card. One reason for not clearing the card is that if for some reason you should lose your hard drive or the OSCAR database and its backup, or you want to install OSCAR_Data on a different computer, you can rebuild the OSCAR data from the SD card.

[Choke43]

Thanks for the advice! I somehow missed your reply before I erased all the data on my card. I did, however, retain a copy of the card on my  hard drive, which I periodically backup. Your response triggered another question: What happens when the card is filled with data, does it scroll off the older data? I am not too concerned about data from four or five years ago. I'm not sure why I would want to go back that far.

[Choke43]

Thanks! Very Helpful

[cathyf]

1. 1. If you need to take a screenshot for posting here, use the F12 key.  You will be prompted where to save this PNG file.
      
      
   2. Prior to removing the SD card from the computer, use the "Eject or Remove" command.  The "eject" will be an option if you are viewing the card's drive letter in Windows File Explorer and "remove" if you are using the USB - Safely Remove Hardware from the Systray.
      

...2 notes for mac users...

-- On a mac you take a screenshot by holding down shift-command-4 (which you may think of as command-$ because you are holding down the shift key). (The command key is sometimes called the "splat" key because ⌘ looks like a bug that hit your windshield.) To take a screenshot of a rectangular area, you click-hold-drag over the area you want. To take a screenshot of an entire window, hit the spacebar and the window under your cursor will highlight and then if you click it will screenshot the entire window. HOWEVER -- I have noticed that if you take a screenshot of the entire OSCAR window with spacebar-click vs click-dragging to get virtually all of the window, the spacebar-click image is significantly larger in file size. Oh, and on a mac the screenshots show up in your Desktop with date and time on the screenshot as the file name.

-- On a mac the easiest way to eject the card is to click the eject symbol next to the device name in the Finder sidebar. If you are using a file on the flash drive the mac won't let you eject it. (It brings up an error panel) If you just rip the flash card out of the drive slot then you might damage an open file -- and the mac will scold you with an alert panel if you do this. However in my 35 years as a mac user I've never actually damaged a file that way -- and if you have write-protected your flash drive I thinks it's also safe. (The standard advice here is to slide the write-protect door on the flash drive before connecting to your computer. A modern mac won't write any files on the drive without you explicitly doing the write, so it's safe to put the drive in without write-protecting it. I have a stupid habit of forgetting to make the drive writeable before putting it back in the CPAP, so I don't generally write protect it. )

Modern macs don't have flash drive ports so you will be using a dongle or series of dongles to read your card. (I've got a USB-C to USB-A adapter and then a 4-port USB3 hub plugged into that, and then a USB-A flash drive reader plugged into one of the four ports and my USB-A from my contec 50F plugged into another port. Looks like Frankenstein hanging out the side of my laptop, LOL.)

[Ratchick]

Re: A full SD card - it depends on the machine. Some will just erase the older data in a rolling pattern. Others might wipe the whole card and start over. This is why, for safety sake as well as monitoring my health, I make sure to copy my data over every day.

As an example, my stepfather has severe COPD and is on BiPAP at night and sometimes during the day. He had to send his data card to the hospital during the pandemic and they were supposed to return it within a few days. It went missing and a card was finally returned over 6 weeks later. I finally persuaded my parents to install OSCAR this week - turns out they sent them someone else's data card complete with their data prior to the start of this year. So all of the previous data is gone now (not to mention we've discovered a MASSIVE privacy violation). Definitely back up your data, ideally in more than one place.

[cathyf]

I second Ratchick's advice about the backup. And as far as taking the card or sending the card to the doctor, you should definitely make a copy onto a new card and send a different physical card. Since most computers only have one SD slot, the way that you make a copy is to copy the original to the computer, put the original back in the cpap, and then put a new flash card into the computer and copy from computer to new flash card. That way you end up with a 3rd copy on your computer!

A little trick is after you've made your copy, put the copy into the cpap as a test to make sure that the cpap is happy with it. On a ResMed, this will update the settings and the files will have the latest timestamps.

[Ratchick]

Yep, that too. Thankfully, my mother did put a second card in, at least, and so they didn't lose the data from the period it was sent off. But next time, at least I know that they will have at least two backups of it now!