Extract Files From Backup

[HonestOpinion]

There is a kind of cool feature in the 'File' menu in HX Edit named 'Extract Files From Backup'.  This command will allow you to go back to a previous backup and extract the individual presets from any of your setlists. That means if you just need a specific preset(s) from an old backup/setlist but never extracted the presets individually you can still go back and get to it easily.  Ever wanted to go back to a previous firmware's backup and see all the Factory presets? Now you can. You can also use it to make additional backups of all your presets individually before every firmware upgrade. Something I always do out of an abundance of caution. This allows you to rescue a setlist that isn't loading from your previous backup by using it to extract all your presets from a setlist in that backup and load them individually until you figure out what is breaking when you try to load that setlist.

 

If you just leave all your setlists checked the 'Extract Files From Backup' command will create multiple separate directories(on your hard drive, not on your device) under your backup directory. Each directory named for each setlist with all of your presets extracted there individually. It also extracts your IRs and Favorites if you leave those checkboxes selected. Btw, it is noninvasive in that it does not overwrite any presets/IRs you have loaded on your HX device(at least not so far in my testing) so feel free to experiment with it. It even prompts you when the process completes with the link to open the directory where your presets have been extracted. Nice!

 

I did notice at least two bugs in this utility but they are not showstoppers.  Don't know whether everyone will observe the same bugs that I did as my setlists are now almost six years old and have been through every firmware upgrade. Maybe this utility is more bug-free on setlists full of presets created only with newer firmware versions?

 

One bug is that it does not seem to be working consistently if you just try to extract only one setlist. When you do that you may just get an empty directory with a file named "info.txt". Or, you may get a proper extraction but depending on which setlist you selected you may get additional setlist extractions that you did not select. The workaround is to just leave all the checkboxes checked and extract all the setlists. This seems to work properly.

 

The second bug is quite minor. For some reason some of the empty presets named (by default) 'New Preset' don't seem to follow the naming convention properly and just end up as files named with only the preset number. I suspect this could be related to if the slots for those blank presets were previously populated and then had a blank "New Preset" copied back to them, but I am not sure.  Again, not a showstopper but a consistency bug nonetheless.

 

I will list the bugs over in the bugs topic so hopefully others can confirm them but overall this is a very handy capability in HX Edit that I had not used previously, nor did I find it documented in the 'HX Edit Pilot's Guide' or any firmware's release notes. If it proves reliable(Update: currently it is not, see bug two posts down) and I am assuming it will 'Extract Files From Backup' provides a much easier method of backing all your presets up individually into their own directories. That is something I have always done before a firmware upgrade by creating a directory for each of my setlists(I eventually set up a blank directory template on my hard drive for this) and then going through each setlist individually, highlighting all my presets at once and clicking 'Export'. A real PITA. This however turns backing up all your presets as individual files, sorted into directories named after their respective setlists, into a hassle-free single click affair. It also executes and completes shockingly fast. I like it, a lot!

[HonestOpinion]

I could see it being handy to have an additional option to the  'Extract Files From Backup' command that could extract individually all the current presets located on your HX device rather than those located in a backup file on disk.  It could use the current process(all your presets as individual files, sorted into directories named after their respective setlists)  but also allow a destination directory for the extraction to be selected. The current process uses your selected backup file's directory as the root directory for the extraction so it doesn't require you to select a destination.

 

Granted you can use this command as it is now to extract the current presets loaded on your device by creating a current/new backup first and then extracting from it. It just requires an extra step to use it with the setlists on your device so no tragedy if this proposed option never gets added. Using this two-step method does have the additional advantage of providing you with a current backup. Never a bad thing. Still, having the option to point at a backup or your currently loaded setlists would be convenient but as suggested above easily enough worked around and that functionality does already exist as well in HX Edit's librarian section. Just more kludgy using the old method. Ideascale(or not :-) ).

[HonestOpinion]

UPDATE: After doing more testing thanks to the user AgFx's  topic it has become apparent that the 'Extract Files From Backup' command does have an additional showstopping bug. The presets it extracts fail when you try to import them with the following message: "-8103 - Target is incompatible". This makes the extracts currently unusable. At least on HX Edit 3.10 and firmware 3.11. I have opened a ticket with Line6 with this major bug and also including the more minor bugs I already reported. Hopefully others will open a ticket on this utility as well. Would like to see it fixed soon as it is as already commented on very useful.

 

Dissapointing but until Line6 fixes it I would encourage those who make backups of their setlists or presets to keep using HX Edit's old export functions until this utility is dependable.