There are two of reasons why we might need to regenerate the database:
- For some unknown reason, the database file has been deleted or damaged. This file is located in the folder (user)/Library/Application Support/Mastock
- You just downloaded an application upgrade and this upgrade included a significant structural modification of the data model implying the data base needs to be rebuilt.
In any case, the program is going to proceed in 3 steps:
- Clean the database file if it exists or recreate one from scratch
- Load all backup data with the exceptions of quotes. The Backup data folder is located in the (user)/Library/Application Support/Mastock/Backup folder unless you manually changed this option. This backup folder contains XML file with your list of stocks, the associated splits, lines, fibos, investments, transactions, etc... Overall your entire set of data except, once again, actual quotes.
- Download all historical data for all your stocks from the provider you had selected. Regenerate the database using those data.
What can you lose?
The short answer to this question is usually NOTHING.
However, there are three cases where you might have to recreate some data manually:
- All stocks, lines, fibos,... are recreated from the Backup files. By default, all these informations are saved every time you quit the application. If you have modified this option manually, data restored will be those in effect the last time you did File, Save.
- Regarding the quotes, stocks with data not accessible from Internet (those with “Manual” provider selected) can’t be restored. For these ones, it is assumed you imported data from a file and will have to repeat this information.
- The splits are automatically regenerated. If there were some exotic splits ratios, not detected by the automatic generation, you might have to reenter them.