FAQ  10/2015

Storage Concept and Data

Backup Mechanisms for
SIMATIC S7-300
SIMATIC S7-300

https://support.industry.siemens.com/cs/ww/en/view/109478260
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Contents
1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 3
2 Saving the Actual Values in the Offline Project ............................................. 4
3 Copying Data from RAM to ROM ..................................................................... 6
4 Saving and Read-back of Actual Values with System Functions ................. 8
5 Setting Data to Retentive ................................................................................ 10

FAQ-Save Actual Values

Entry ID: 109478260, V1.0, 10/2015 2
 1 Introduction

1 Introduction
During commissioning, certain values in the data blocks are changed for the plant.
These can be control parameters, limit values, etc. These changes are often made
directly in the CPU, in other words online. In order to retain these changes, the
data has to be saved beforehand.
This FAQ response illustrates the storage concept of a SIMATIC S7-300 CPU and
describes the options for saving data and actual values so that they are retained
after POWER OFF and restart.
Furthermore there is a description of how to save data before an overall reset and
reloading of the program.
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FAQ-Save Actual Values

Entry ID: 109478260, V1.0, 10/2015 3
 2 Saving the Actual Values in the Offline Project

2 Saving the Actual Values in the Offline

Project
You can save actual values of data blocks by copying the online blocks to your
offline project and loading the blocks once again into the SIMATIC S7-300.
This reloading means that this data is once again available in the load memory and
thus also after an overall reset.

Schematic diagram of saving actual values

Figure 2-1

PG (SIMATIC Manager) CPU (SIMATIC S7-300)

Offline
Load memory Main memory
(MMC)
Initialize (4)
DBs
DBs (Actual values) (Actual values)
Load (3) DBs
Copy (2)

(Actual values)
Non-volatile memory
(NVRAM)
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Online System memory

Retentive DBs
(Actual values) Bit memory,
Timers, Counters

DBs (Actual values)

DB online (1)

FAQ-Save Actual Values

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 2 Saving the Actual Values in the Offline Project

Procedure for backing up the actual values

1. In the SIMATIC Manager you open the dialog "Open Project" by selecting the
menu command "File > Open..." and then selecting the project whose program
is loaded in the CPU.
2. Then in the SIMATIC Manager you open the Online view with the menu
command "View > Online". For a better overview we recommend tiling the
windows one on top of the other (Online and Offline views) by selecting the
menu command "Window > Arrange > Tile Horizontally".
3. Now you can drag and drop or copy the data blocks from the Online view to the
Offline view. This then transfers the actual values to the Offline project.

Figure 2-2
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Note Make sure that the online blocks and offline blocks have the same time stamp;
otherwise the offline declaration view is lost!

Note If a DB block from the online project folder is opened and there is a difference in
time stamp (interface, start values), then dummy variables are also displayed
(STAT0, for example) for the variables.

Note If the blocks loaded by the controller into the project are loaded back into the
controller, the last actual values become the new start values.

FAQ-Save Actual Values

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 3 Copying Data from RAM to ROM

3 Copying Data from RAM to ROM

With the "Copy RAM to ROM..." function the actual values of the runtime-relevant
retentive and non-retentive data blocks in the load memory are overwritten with the
actual values from the main memory.
These actual values remain available after an overall reset, because after an
overall reset the actual values are transferred from the load memory to the main
memory of the SIMATIC S7-300.

Note Note that the actual values in the load memory are overwritten when the program
is loaded.

Schematic diagram of copying data from RAM to ROM

Figure 3-1

PG (SIMATIC Manager) CPU (SIMATIC S7-300)

Offline
Load memory Main memory
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(MMC) RAM to
ROM DBs
DBs (Actual values) (Actual values)
DBs
(Actual values)
Non-volatile memory
(NVRAM)

Online System memory

Retentive DBs
(Actual values) Bit memory,
Timers, Counters

DBs (Actual values)

FAQ-Save Actual Values

Entry ID: 109478260, V1.0, 10/2015 6
 3 Copying Data from RAM to ROM

Procedure for copying data from RAM to ROM

1. Open the project in the SIMATIC Manager and mark the controller.
2. Select the menu command "PLC > Copy RAM to ROM...".

Figure 3-2

Note The function is only permitted when the CPU is in STOP mode.
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Note The "Copy RAM to ROM..." function only works for data blocks that are not
designated as "unlinked" (DB only in the load memory).

Note If the function could not be terminated with power off, the load memory is then
empty. From the check sum the CPU recognizes that the data has not been
completely written. The program is recognized as invalid and has to be reloaded.
In this case the data blocks are overwritten with the new start values in the load
memory.
--> It is therefore useful to first copy the online blocks into the offline project.

Note No program blocks are copied to the load memory!

FAQ-Save Actual Values

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 4 Saving and Read-back of Actual Values with System Functions

4 Saving and Read-back of Actual Values

with System Functions
Using the system functions SFC 84 "WRIT_DBL" and SFC 83 "READ_DBL" you
can write the actual values from the main memory to the load memory (Micro
Memory Card) and read them back again. In this way you can save the data of
retentive and non-retentive data blocks before an overall reset.

Note Note that the actual values in the load memory are overwritten when the program
is loaded.

Schematic diagram for saving and read-back of actual values with system functions
Figure 4-1

PG (SIMATIC Manager) CPU (SIMATIC S7-300)

Offline
Load memory Main memory
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(MMC)
WRITE_DBL
DBs
DBs (Actual values) READ_DBL (Actual values)
DBs
(Actual values)
Non-volatile memory
(NVRAM)

Online System memory

Retentive DBs
(Actual values) Bit memory,
Timers, Counters

DBs (Actual values)

FAQ-Save Actual Values

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 4 Saving and Read-back of Actual Values with System Functions

Call of system functions for saving and read-back of actual values

With system function SFC 84 "WRIT_DBL" (write data block in load memory) you
save the data areas from the main memory in the load memory (Micro Memory
Card).

Figure 4-2

Note SFC 84 is not suitable for writing variables frequently (or cyclically) to the load
memory, because the micro memory card technology only permits a specific
number of write accesses (100,000 write/delete operations per cell).

With system function SFC 83 "READ_DBL" (read data block in load memory) you
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copy the data area as required back from the load memory into the main memory.
Figure 4-3

Note After "STOP/RUN", "Power off / power on" and "Overall reset" the data is
transferred automatically to the main memory. It is therefore not necessary to
read the data with the system function SFC 83 "READ_DBL".

FAQ-Save Actual Values

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 5 Setting Data to Retentive

5 Setting Data to Retentive

In the configuration you define which parts are to be retentive and which are to be
initialized with "0" with a restart (warm start).
If there is a power failure in the SIMATIC S7-300 or in the transition of the SIMATIC
S7-300 from RUN to STOP, the retentive data is saved from the main memory
(RAM) to a separate memory area of the CPU. The main memory (RAM) is "empty"
after a power failure. Upon restart the program blocks and the non-retentive data
blocks are loaded from the load memory into the main memory (RAM). The
retentive data blocks are loaded from the separate memory area of the CPU.

Note Note that with an overall reset the retentive area is also deleted. Then the
retentive data blocks are also loaded from the load memory into the main
memory (RAM). Data which has been changed by the process, for example, or
the HMI, is also initialized through the values of the load memory.

Schematic diagram of setting data to retentive

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Figure 5-1

PG (SIMATIC Manager) CPU (SIMATIC S7-300)

Offline
Load memory Main memory
(MMC)
DBs
Saving upon power loss

Initialization upon power on

DBs (Actual values) (Actual values)
DBs
(Actual values)
Non-volatile memory
(NVRAM)

Online System memory

Retentive DBs
(Actual values) Bit memory,
Timers, Counters

DBs (Actual values)

FAQ-Save Actual Values

Entry ID: 109478260, V1.0, 10/2015 10
 5 Setting Data to Retentive

Procedure for setting system memory elements to retentive

The system memory (RAM) includes memory elements like markers, timers and
counters. In the configuration under "Properties of the CPU > Retentive Memory
tab" you define for these elements which parts are to be retentive and which are to
be initialized with "0" with a restart (warm start).
Figure 5-2
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Procedure for setting data in data blocks to retentive

Data blocks are created by default as retentive. With the "Non Retain" property you
can also create non-retentive data blocks.
Figure 5-3

FAQ-Save Actual Values

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