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ASIAIR Pro Operating System Backup and Restore

Equipment
ZWO ASIAIR PRO USERS •7 replies•283 views
AstroCapture325 avatar
AstroCapture325 avatar
Hi everyone,

I think I have an easy question for the group.
I finally got around to backing up the OS from my ASIAIR SD card using a great tutorial from AstroBlender (OS Backup and Restore). Should I do this each time that ZWO pushes out a new firmware update, or is once good enough?

Wishing you smokeless skies.

Thanks,
Jim
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Bob Rucker avatar
Bob Rucker avatar
I'll let more experienced users correct me if I'm wrong but I think having any backup should suffice if you need to recover from a catastrophic failure. The most important thing about the backup is preserving your license file so that you don't have an extended delay from getting ZWO to provide the information. Once you restore your device you can then upgrade to the most recent firmware.
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SemiPro avatar
SemiPro avatar
I have the initial backup from when I bought my ASIAIR Pro. The most most important thing to keep is the registration file because I  believe you can download a copy of the OS from the ZWO website. You need the registration file that came with your ASIAIR to make it work though.

Can you wish harder for smokeless skies? I don't think its working right now smile

Edit: Bob beat me to it while I was typing mine out.
Bob Rucker avatar
Bob Rucker avatar
Down here in the Arizona desert I've managed to avoid the smoke but our monsoon season seems like it's never going to end. My new ASI294MM has probably only seen 15 hours of imaging in the past 6 weeks due to clouds. My mom is in Reno and it sounds as if the smoke is unbearable. Wishing you clear skies soon!
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SemiPro avatar
SemiPro avatar
Bob Rucker:
Down here in the Arizona desert I've managed to avoid the smoke but our monsoon season seems like it's never going to end. My new ASI294MM has probably only seen 15 hours of imaging in the past 6 weeks due to clouds. My mom is in Reno and it sounds as if the smoke is unbearable. Wishing you clear skies soon!

Don't want to derail this topic (of which I would also suggest keeping a backup of your ASIAIR OS before you update just in case) but I feel for you, all this new gear and it can't be used. The 294MM sounds great especially now that they unlocked the original 1x1 bin size of 2.something um pixel size. That is a lot of versatility!

You have solid pictures by the way!
Bob Rucker avatar
Bob Rucker avatar
Bob Rucker:
Down here in the Arizona desert I've managed to avoid the smoke but our monsoon season seems like it's never going to end. My new ASI294MM has probably only seen 15 hours of imaging in the past 6 weeks due to clouds. My mom is in Reno and it sounds as if the smoke is unbearable. Wishing you clear skies soon!

Don't want to derail this topic (of which I would also suggest keeping a backup of your ASIAIR OS before you update just in case) but I feel for you, all this new gear and it can't be used. The 294MM sounds great especially now that they unlocked the original 1x1 bin size of 2.something um pixel size. That is a lot of versatility!

I have backups for my backups just to be extra safe. So far I'm enjoying the 294MM since its like having 2 cameras. The only downside to bin 1 is the massive file sizes chewing up a lot of disk space and stacking seems to take a lot more time. This is my first mono camera and I wish I would have changed sooner. The sensitivity versus a OSC camera is impressive. Still sorting through the processing learning curve but it keeps me out of trouble in my retirement!
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Kapil K. avatar
Kapil K. avatar
I just backed up once, then made a copy of the backup in a drive (just like Semi pro suggested). I might refresh it again with a more latest one, but you really don’t need it as you will anyway update to latest version through the app after restoring.

seeing has been pretty terrible in CA too because of smoke and overnight clouds.

Hope things improve. Clear skies everyone !!
AstroCapture325 avatar
AstroCapture325 avatar
Thanks for the quick replies. Of course, one question leads to another. I looked at the contents of the Boot drive on the SD card and do not see the license file. I only have three files as shown below. According to the AstroBlender tutorial (2:47 timestamp) that I linked to in my original post there should be a file named "zwoair_license". Any thoughts? Is the file buried somewhere else?
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