In Mission Planner, on the Flight Data screen > ‘Data Flash Logs’ > ‘Download Data Flash Logs ..’ ,
I selected several log entries (check box) and then clicked ‘Clear Logs’.
However, it cleared ALL the log files and not just ones I selected.
Now I don’t see any log files, but I was intending to examine the current flight.
Since I didn’t intend to clear all log files, how do I recover them ?
What is meant by “Clear Logs” and that there are check boxes next to each Log File ?
Clear Logs clears the logs. The check boxes are for “download selected logs”
But “Clear Logs” isn’t “Erase Logs”. The logs are cleared from the view window in which a normal interpretation is that they are still available (not literally erased).
In case, I checked the Recycle Bin in Windows but didn’t see anything such as a data flash log file. (Is it a *.bin file ?).
I also checked in Mission Planner > Config > MAVFtp where the SD card of the flight controller can be accessed. I didn’t see anything in the folders ‘log’ nor ‘APM\LOG’ but these may be the folders that got cleared. Is there an equivalent to a recycle bin in the @SYS directories ?
It seems a mere mouse click of “Clear Logs” (without warning nor confirmation) is too volatile in causing loss of all the flight logs. Aren’t the flight logs the “stuff” engineers study, and the equivalent to a black box recorder ? How can it all disappear in a blink-of-an-eye ?
There is a confirmation prompt when clearing logs from the SD card; I agree, however, the wording could be improved. Instead of simply stating “Are you sure?” the message should be more descriptive and clearly warn the user that they are about to permanently clear/delete the log files from the flight controller. I’ll add that text to the confirmation prompt.
Note: Clear logs instructs the flight controller to delete all log files, so it won’t go to your computer’s recycle bin.
If you remove the SD card from your flight controller, there is a chance that you can recover the files with any file recovery software (WinFR or Recuva), If you did not fly with the vehicle after the deletion. The file system is FAT32.