Resmed VPAP - How to write Data from PC to SD Card

Running Rescan software v4.2.08.5438 on Windows 7 Ultimate machine with years of data in computer. Ran into problem with SD card needing reformat and I erased data on VPAP machine by mistake. Is there a way to write computer data to card so I can bring it to doctor in the future?
BR,
AJ

Caveat: I don't have a ResMed machine.
I believe that the ResMed machines create a pseudo file system on the SD card in which every piece of data is in a particular place on the card. The format is compatible with PC file systems but is not identical to that which a PC will create. That is why the card needs to be reformatted when the PC writes any file to the card and why it is necessary to have the write protect tab on whenever the card is in the PC card reader. Some versions of PC operating systems and most (all?) versions of Mac OS do write files to the SD card when they are inserted into the card reader slot.

The short answer is NO you can't write a SD card in ResMed format using ordinary software available on the PC. It is possible that a program could be written to do it but it would have to operate on the operating system level and bypass the normal file system software to get the job done. I don't have the skills to do it.

Once the therapy data has been erased from a machine it's gone. No way to get it back that I can think of.
How does one accidentally get into the clinical menu area where the "erase data" prompt is? That takes a lot of steps and confirmation of the erasure.

What was the initial problem that caused you to do this anyway? What model machine are your using? Is it a S9 and did you get the message from the S9 that the card was invalid?

Best thing I can think of is use your software and make a hard copy of old data reports and save them some place safe just in case they are needed. Most docs won't be looking really deep into old reports though. They will mainly glance and hours of use and maybe summary AHI stuff. Then start over again and while the old data may not be on the machine itself it is still in the software.

There is a newer version of ResScan available...we are up to 5.4 now. All the past versions I have used simply upgrade the old version to new version and all of my old reports are still available.

I don't know of any way to take the software data and put it back on the SD card and not have the machine reject the SD card. S9 machines are simply extremely picky about the file structure on that SD card.
I once made a copy of my SD card because I needed to use it for something else and when done I put the copied files back onto the SD card in the exact order and nothing else was on the SD card that I could find and the S9 still rejected the SD card. Even if you could find all the files and rebuild things...I doubt the machine would accept it anyway.

ajbid wrote:Running Rescan software v4.2.08.5438 on Windows 7 Ultimate machine with years of data in computer. Ran into problem with SD card needing reformat and I erased data on VPAP machine by mistake. Is there a way to write computer data to card so I can bring it to doctor in the future?
BR,
AJ

I don't think he wants to put the data back on to the machine, I think he wants to put it on a card to take to the doctor. That should be possible, though I've never done it. As an alternative, ajbid could simply print the relevant reports and take them with.

I will play with ResScan later to see if there is some option in there to put anything back onto the SD card.
I don't remember ever seeing such an option but then I haven't gone over ResScan with a fine tooth comb either.

Now the report(s) from ResCan can easily be put on SD card...but the raw data that the reports are pulled from....I don't know that it can be done at all. It's just something that really isn't ever needed once the software has the data off the SD card and ResScan does its calculations.

OK, I fooled with this a little. The patient file can be transferred to an SD card (or other media, see edit below) and then imported into ResScan.

First, find the patient files. (The path for Vista, Windows 7 and above is C:\Users\Public\Documents\ResMed\ResScan3\Patients)*
Then, open the Patients folder and copy and paste the appropriate patient file to a card or USB drive.

At the doctors', they would:
Put the card in the computer
Open ResScan
Under "File", select "import from"
Navigate to the SD card in the "import From" box
Select the Patient file to import
Choose the "Import to" location
Select "import"
After importing, Select the patient group (location) and patient from "Open patient" to view the file.

Once this file is imported into ResScan, it can be updated by data downloaded from the machine via the standard SD card method. If the doctor keeps your file in ResScan, it would only need to be imported by the above method once and is only needed for the history prior to the reformat.

You can try this yourself by copying one of the existing patient files in ResScan (actual or example) and importing it back into ResScan. Changing the patient name of the copied file and/or patient group (location) makes it easy to follow and prevents overwriting the same file when testing this.

* The path for Windows XP is C:\Program Files\ResMed\ResScan3\Patients

Edit: To be clear, the SD card used to transfer the file would not typically be the same card used to download data from the machine, though it could be, but it would require another reformat when placed back in the machine. Perhaps less confusing would be to simply use a USB drive as the media to transfer the file.

JDS74 wrote:Caveat: I don't have a ResMed machine.
I believe that the ResMed machines create a pseudo file system on the SD card in which every piece of data is in a particular place on the card. The format is compatible with PC file systems but is not identical to that which a PC will create. That is why the card needs to be reformatted when the PC writes any file to the card and why it is necessary to have the write protect tab on whenever the card is in the PC card reader. Some versions of PC operating systems and most (all?) versions of Mac OS do write files to the SD card when they are inserted into the card reader slot.

The short answer is NO you can't write a SD card in ResMed format using ordinary software available on the PC. It is possible that a program could be written to do it but it would have to operate on the operating system level and bypass the normal file system software to get the job done. I don't have the skills to do it.

Not exactly. The SD card is formatted in an old PC format (I think it's FAT32, but might be FAT16, it is NOT NTFS), so you have to be careful if you want to format the card in a PC, but the Resmed CPAP will format it correctly.
Windows like to write an index file to all disks so it can find files faster, this index file is what Resmed has a problem with and if it finds one on the SD the CPAP machine will reformat the SD
this can be "fixed" by someone that understands the insides of computers-if you don't understand the following then you need to find someone that does
open a command prompt window
change to the SD card
change to the index folder
delete the contents
exit the index folder
rmdir the index folder

The SD card will now work in the Resmed and not reformat your data

I don't know about ResScan, but sleephead does save a copy of your data, however it is not the same format as used on the card
I do make a copy of my SD card with file explorer and this files can just be copied back to the SD card as long as the index folder is deleted you can recover the data