[Elecraft] Contesting with logging software on a PC (not MAC)

[Gary Hinson]

> No actually I meant use the flash for the actual live log. 
> Flash based drives are far more reliable then traditional platters.

True, probably.

> Flash has a life expectancy for ~10K read/writes far less 
> then what would be used in a 24hr contest :)

Is that so?  

> I have had many platter drives fail in my career and as of to 
> date never had a flash device fail (knocking on wood).

Me too, Lee, but the key point remains: if you only have a single copy of your log on one device,
you're putting a lot of faith in that one device.  Mechanical reliability of the device is not the
only concern.

> I am also a huge believer in off-site backups as well, we are 
> seeing newer technologies like dropbox where it acts more 
> like a local drive then a backup device. I use that service 
> to create corporate wide shared folders across large 
> geographical locations and its been very reliable. 

Agreed!
 
> I don't want to wander off topic here, but John was specific 
> about contesting scenarios and I think we have him covered :)

Yes but other forumites might have interepreted it in a more general sense.  If between us we help
someone avoid losing their entire log, I think we've done a good deed!

> Also, does LOTW allow for "restoring" your log? I thought 
> they once frowned upon that at one time.

I don't know about "them" but yes you can retrieve your whole log, or rather the data they have
retained from the log you submitted to LoTW.  There are hints on how to do this in at least 5
different ways on my website, if anyone needs it: http://www.g4ifb.com/html/lotw.html#UsingLoTW

73 Gary  ZL2iFB