Lost all play counts etc...

[markgribby]

Opened WinAmp last night only to find it set to default...all my play counts and customizations have gone. It said that there was a corrupt database? It had none of the 6500 tracks in it. It will let me re-scan to reinstate the tracks, but means all play counts are back to zero.
Tried system restore to the previous day, when it worked fine but no change.
I only use WinAmp indepedent from online activity.

This happened 4 years ago and i ended up starting from scratch!
It even survived my XP pc crash 2 years ago and transferred successfully to new Windows 7 pc
Why does this happen?
I've only ever downloaded the free version as i don't require the extras.
Can i prevent this in future?

[DrO]

What release version are you using ?

The general reason is either antivirus / security software preventing Winamp from closing properly / quickly enough which on windows shutdowns can cause it to not save everything correctly and so data loss / corruption can happen.

Can also be if using an older Winamp release and there's bugs which cause the database to corrupt if there are memory allocation issues. As work was done with v5.64 / 5.65 to resolve such issues (hence asking what version is being used).

And then other software on windows or 3rd party plug-ins not behaving properly can lead to settings getting corrupted if doing things that mess up how Winamp tries to do things.

Other than being on a current Winamp release, that any 3rd party plug-ins are compatible with the version and OS being used and that Winamp is allowed to close fully if running before shutting down windows.

[markgribby]

Not sure on the version i have...it was downloaded in 2009. I'll find out when i get home tonight.
The only virus software i have is Microsoft windows essential.
I don't use plugins to my knowledge.

i'll try to system restore to last week...see if that works
then i'll probably download latest version.

Is there anywhere where my customizations are saved on the pc?

[DrO]

system restore won't work - app settings generally are not included in such things.

the usual settings folder is %appdata%\Winamp. and http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=317153 may be useful in future.

[markgribby]

found the version it's V5.622 (x86) 26 oct 2011... later than i thought...

i have noticed that the last time this happened was 4 years ago also in October
and the top of my most played was with 63 play counts... as it was before this problem, coincidence or contributing factor?

i'm going to download new version ...start again i guess ....its very soul destroying
i would have thought WinAmp would automatically keep the last settings on file...stupid that it just overwrites them... the info must be somewhere?

[Aminifu]

Hi markgribby,

You can use the Winamp Backup Tool (link below) to backup your important data files on a regular basis to protect you from data loss (or reduce it to what was done since the last backup) in the future.

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=317153

[DrO]

Originally Posted by markgribby

i would have thought WinAmp would automatically keep the last settings on file...stupid that it just overwrites them... the info must be somewhere?

alas not, there's been a number of things done as part of v5.64/5.65 to improve handling of things though it's not quite made it to the db files at the moment (with work instead being done to better ensure the files are only re-written if needed than generically as the version you've mentioned would do + improving closing time and memory issues which could have caused it).

it's definitely something that can always be improved on, though if playcounts are that important, then keeping regular settings backups is the best thing to do (not ideal but it's better than nothing).

[markgribby]

Thank you all for your time and advice.

Hopefully shouldn't happen again,...just have to remember to back up regularly