Archive Backup Wizard
Macula offers an option to back up any recordings from any server manually, in the proprietary Macula archive format. Video, motion information, audio, VCA data streams, as well as external serial data can be extracted from the original archive and saved elsewhere, with an option to include the portable player tool so that the downloaded recordings can be played on any Windows-based computer, even if it has no Macula installed.
The wizard is included with any Macula installation, including Macula Console management application and Macula Monitor application, and allows connection to local and remote servers.
Start the Archive Backup Wizard from the Windows Start menu: Start -> All Apps ->Macula - > Archive Backup Wizard (in Windows 7 and older versions, use Start -> All Programs -> software installation folder -> Tools -> Archive Backup Wizard); alternatively, use Search to locate Archive Backup Wizard in the programs menu.
From the Macula Monitor application, the wizard can be launched via main application menu by opening View -> Archive Backup Wizard and choosing the server (one of the connected ones). The address of the server, and also the username and password, will be taken from the currently configured server connection.
Using Archive Backup Wizard
First, you will be asked to log into the target server: your user account must have an administrative permission to make archive backups plus permissions to back up footage from individual channels/channel groups. You can create archive backups from the local server or from any remote server (login procedure is analogous to Macula Console login), including individual recording servers. If you run the wizard from the Macula Monitor application, you will not be asked to log in; instead, your configured server connection will be used.
After you log in, you will be presented with the list of available recordings, grouped by channel. Select the channel(s) you need by putting a checkmark next to each one; specify the required time range above the channel list and click Next.
Depending on the number of selected channels, their footage size, storage speed and connection latency, it may take a few moments to retrieve the stream information. Once it is done, you will be presented with a list of streams for each of the selected channels.
The following tracks can be backed up, depending on the channel recording settings and, therefore, stream availability:
main video stream, substream and edge recordings
video motion information
audio stream
VCA metadata
external serial data from Data sources
Archive bookmarks and external service data (e.g., LPR/FR recognition results) are not available for backup.
Additionally, you can append the portable player tool with the copied part of the archive so that you can play the archive without having to install Macula server on another machine. Guidelines on the portable player usage are available in your Macula Monitor user guide.
Here, you also need to specify a directory for the archive to be copied to: it may be a local hard disk, a shared network storage, or an attached USB drive. You are asked to choose an empty folder as a backup destination, so you may need to create a new folder from the standard Select folder dialog.
When ready, hit Next for the wizard to proceed with backing up the selected information. Depending on the size of the selected archive, the backup procedure may take some time and its progress will be displayed in the wizard window. When it is finished, you will get a confirmation with a short description of what has been done.
If you wish to back up more recordings, start the wizard again and follow the described procedure once again.
Postpone Your Archive Backup
If, during the backup progress, you decide to stop it for some reason, simply hit the Cancel button in the bottom right corner. You will then be presented with several options of how the wizard can proceed:
save the task and files: save your current backup progress and preserve the wizard state until the next time you run it; you will be able to continue with the current backup item(s) then
save files only: leave the files that have been downloaded so far but discard the wizard settings so that the next time you run it you will be presented with default choice
remove files: discard current backup task completely and remove the downloaded files
continue to download: go back and continue with the selected backup
If you have chosen to save both the task and the files, next time you start the wizard you will be reminded of the unfinished backup job and offered to continue with it. If you click Yes to proceed with the unfinished task, it will be started automatically right after you provide your user credentials for the server login.
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