Differences between ARCHIVE and PROJECT ?

The archive includes the project, programs etc so that's the one to go for.

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3 meg

archive includes all projects, not just current one... once you get 15 projects on a robot, taking archive takes a lot longer and file size is much bigger.

Yup, $machine.dat and other associated files. In the project tree click on files and have a look

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The project as viewed using Work Visual on a PC......

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Hello, i still have the same doubt.
I know the difference in files between archive and project, but i don't know the difference at the moment of make a restore using one or another.
Could i restart my krc4 robots from a disaster using only the project backup (NOT the archive)? Is there all the info needed? I also have an image of the robot made a few months ago.
Thank you!

think of project as container (sort of ZIP file if you like) that was compiled with work visual and deployed to the robot. beware - project may or may not be complete.

WHEN project is activated, its content is extracted and those extracted files are used as working project. if project is incomplete, robot will take missing parts from base project.
if you MODIFY any configuration on the robot using smartPad for example, you are modifying files that are EXTRACTED from project, but content of the project (container) is still old and unchanged.

example1:
suppose you deply project A to robot, then finish configuration on the smartpad. guess what happens if you choose to active project B, then later on, activate project A again (any changes done on smartPad on project A are lost since they are not in container).

example2:
suppose someone gives you project - are you really really REALLY sure this IS what runs on robot? I prefer to get current archive (fresh date) then I can see not only what is in project, but also what is used on robot and what other projects are....

finally, there is an option in WorkVisual plugin on the smartpad allowing you to save current state of machine as a new project. this will create new project (container) and update it with any modifications made on smartPad (such as AutoExternal configuration or whatever).

if you ask me, if you want backup, make archive. if you want to be really safe, take both archive and image of HDD and keep them in safe place.