User Question - How to Backup EPF Search Database on PC?

[DrPhilGood]

Hi Maxim & Extreme Internet,

I have been a long-time user of EPF and would like to understand how to better use the software so I will post some questions today. I hope these questions can be easily answered and please note that I did try to search for it first and could not find the answers I was looking for... feel free to share a link if I missed a relevant post. Thank you.

Problem Statement:
I have noticed that after I run multiple Web Searches using EPF for large amounts of results each (ie: 200k+), even if I remove the images found... the search data (ie log data) seems to make EPF run slower over time. (I mean EPF seems to run slower with it taking more time to boot up and it tends to freeze more or run out of memory (even though there is plenty of memory available on the computer.

Unfortunately, I am not able to just uninstall and reinstall a clean version of the software as I would like to keep all of the EPF Web Search data for each of those Web Search Projects... because I will want to do an 'Update' search in the future (like 6 months or so) to stay current with the images available on the web by updating my collection to the latest images released (since my last search cycle).

Question:
My question is.. How can I backup the relevant data from the EPF software on my computer for prior searches so I can achieve the following:
1) Be able to delete the project ( and related images since I already moved the images) so the EPF software doesn't have to manage it.
2) Be able to copy back the data into a clean install of EPF in the future so I have the ability to do an 'Update' search where it knows where it last left off and can continue its search in pursuit for new image for my target niche that was released since my last search.

My ultimate goal is to hold onto the download data for each of the niche search by saving it to an external drive.... and then keep reinstalling the EPF software once I start experiencing memory issues / freeze ups or if it starts to slow down significantly. But have the ability to copy back the project data into a new instance of EPF so when I reload EPF, it will recognize the project and allow me to run an 'update search'.

For context..

My Current Routine:
When I have a business topic to search for related images, I will make a sub-category for the niche group under 'Web Picture Search' and then create multiple Web Search projects. Each project will have a list of 50 statick keywords + a targeted keyword that supports the niche I am searching for. This approach does well for me and I end up with about 200k in results using the 'Update' option frequently to expand the findings list.

I have learned to backup the download logs frequently as if / when EPF freezes... I will lose all of the download log for that Web Search project. :-(

Once the search is done or if I start to run out of room on the PC, I will move the images to a seperate storage drive before continuing my search activities

I tend to use the 'After Complete' feature in the Project Properties to use the 'Start Another Search' so that I can run through 1-3 searches before having it exit the Software. (I found that if I string more than 3 searches, the EPF software will freeze up and loose the Download info.) Once the search projects have achieved 90k+ each, then I can string more projects together to help automate the process.

In Summary:
I would like to backup each of my web search projects so I can remove them from the EPF software but be able to add them back in the future (6 months or so) to do an update search. I want the software to be lite and only handling the search projects that are active to ensure the software not having memory issues or acting sluggesh (which has been the observation when I have multiple old projects remaining on the software.) I hope your team can help. I am sorry if this is a feature and I am not aware of it.

Best regards,
Phil Harvey

PS... I am keeping all those affected by the ongoing war in my prayers and pray that the madness stops soon. Please be safe!

[Maksym]

Hello Phil,

It's pretty easy to backup EPF projects and searches. All projects, searches, and templates are stored inside the [ Data folder ], so all you have to do is to backup its content, excluding the Cromium120 sub-folder that has the built-in browser's cache. You can see the location of the [ Data folder ] in the software settings, [ Advanced ] section:

[DrPhilGood]

Hi Maksym,

Thank you for your reply and guidance. I had anticipated that was the folder to backup... thank you for the confirmation. I was just worried that there might some other config files or something that I would also need to back up or modify if I want to 'add' some old projects to a clean version of EPF to do a refresh update for the search. Thank you for confirming that is not the case!

You can consider this topic as resolved. Thank you again!

Best regards,
Phil