In Depth: Archive Traces

A problem that may be encountered when using Auto PeakTrace™, is reprocessing traces that have not been moved from the input folder since PeakTrace was restarted.

This can be avoided by using the archive traces options. When selected, archive traces automatically moves all input trace files into a sub-folder of the Input folder called “archive” after they have been processed (Figure 1). This option is off by default, but can be selected using the Auto PeakTrace options menu.

Windows Explorer showing the Input folder with an archive sub-folder and a current trace file — **Figure 1. An example input folder.** Note the archive folder, which will store all previously run traces and prevent them from being reprocessed during a new run.

Auto PeakTrace does not look for new files located any deeper than one directory within the Input folder. This means that any .ab1 files that are not within the Input folder, or within a sub-folder of the Input folder, will not be processed by Auto PeakTrace during a run. This means that archived traces, which are stored two directories beneath the Input folder, are not processed again (Figure 2).

Windows Explorer inside the archive folder, two levels below the Input folder, holding an example trace — **Figure 2.** Inside the archive folder. Note that the traces are stored two directories beneath the Input folder.

Pitfalls with Archive Traces

All traces will be moved to the archive folder located within the folder of origin, not a single archive folder. This means that trace files located within sub-folders of the input folder will be moved to an archive folder within that particular sub-folder after processing.