This tip involves USB stick replacement for the station laptop. Currently, most stations in the network do everything using a USB stick plugged into the station laptop. The USB stick holds the data acquisition software, the station-specifc configuration file, and any scripts needed to transfer the data from the station to NOAA. Additionally the raw data are stored on the USB stick in /aer/{stn}/log/send (before they are sent) or in /aer/{stn}/log/sent (after they are sent). The data file storage involves repeated reading and writing to the USB stick. Unfortunately, as USB sticks have gotten cheaper in price they have also decreased in quality and now have a limited read/write cycle. This is a primary cause of USB stick failures.
Maintenance Tips related to USB sticks
(1) We recommending changing to a new USB stick at least once per year, but preferably every 4-6 months, especially if the station isn't visited frequently or if someone isn't checking station data daily. This will help prevent data loss.
(2) There should always be a spare copy (a "clone") of the current USB stick available in case the current USB stick fails (preferably two clones!)
(3) if the current USB stick fails, replace it with your spare USB stick and make a new spare USB stick right away!
How to clone the current USB stick
(0) You can do this procedure while the aerosol system is running in normal operating mode.
(1) Install a second USB stick into the aerosol rack system (now you have both the working USB stick and the second USB stick that will be your new spare both connected to the aerosol system). You can put the second USB stick into a spare port on the Edgeport serial hub (it has 4 USB ports) or onto a spare port on the laptop - that doesn't matter.
(2) Open a terminal window by clicking on the terminal icon on the desktop.
(3) At the prompt in the terminal window type:
sudo livecpd2.installusb
(4) Answer yes to prompts. Once the software stops asking questions it will start the cloning process. The cloning process could take 10-30 min.
(5) Once the cloning process is done, remove the second USB stick and put it somewhere safe and obvious so you have it if you need it.
Related notes:
When the system configuration changes (e.g., new instruments, new calibrations, etc.), that's a good time to make a clone of the current USB stick. that way your spare USB will reflect the latest configuration.
We use a wear-levelling process that creates a new data partition every month. Old data are still on the disk, but a bit harder to access. The
LiveCPD Readme file describes how to access older data (scroll down until you find the phrase "To access old archived data").
You can also send a back-up of the configuration to NOAA when there are changes to the system configuration. to do this:
(1) Open a terminal window by clicking on the terminal icon on the desktop.
(2) At the prompt in the terminal window type:
sudo livecpd2.sendbackup
Note: we recommend only doing this when there are a lot of changes to the configuration file because the backup is a big file. we tend to do this at the NOAA/GMD sites once year after annual maintenance has been completed.