ChemStation can export the .d files as cdf files. Look for export ANDI format in ChemStation. ANDI format file is a CDF file, so you should be able to open it in XCMS. HTH. Also, why you are using XCMS?, why not use AMDIS-SpectConnect idea, see my paper here. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6750/10/40

Thanks for your suggestion Dinesh. I received the .d files from a third partner and I do not have ChemStation available in the hospital. You have written a very interesting paper, thank you for the link. However, I have some experience with XCMS and support the open access format thus would like to stick with that.

Gaetan, thanks for giving the precise instructions. This is exactly what I wanted to say. Leiuwe, I assume by "open access" you mean open-source, as AMDIS and SpectConnect both are freely available software. AMDIS can process .d as well as CDF format. Just wanted to clarify.

Gaetan and Dinesh, thank you both. You're right, I meant open-source. The problem was I do not have Chemstation at the hospital. AMDIS can read but cannot convert file types.

I got another possibility through Carlos Bustos (The Australian National University; credits). He pointed out that the newer versions of openchrom (www.openchrom.net) have a batch wise conversion option. For a guideline, please see: http://www.openchrom.net/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=chromatogram_batch_format_conversion

For me this solved the problem and has the advantage that it can convert hundreds of files batch wise.

I've done this on Chemstation version A.09. It SHOULD work with later ones as well.

If your chromatograph has 2 signals, like an FID on the front and an NPD on the back, it loads and saves them together. (If you have not looked in explorer, there is not actually a .d file, but a .d folder that contains several other files. The one your interested in is the .ch file that typically looks something like 010F0101.ch . So long as the directory has a .d file extension Chemstation will open and export any .ch files together.

Heres what to do:

Open a dos box and navigate to that directory with the .d directories your interesting in. Its usually something like C:\HPCHEM\2\DATA (where that number is the number of the instrument.)

The directory name "aiaexp.d" could really be any name you want, so long as it ends with the .d. In later versions it may even be able to be a long filename, but I have not tried it.

run the following commands.

mkdir aiaexp.d

for /D %i in (*.d) do (copy %i\FID1A.ch aiaexp.d\%i)  & ren aiaexp.d\*.d *.cf

If you had two injections, 001F0011.d and 002F0021.d ,each containing FID1A.ch and NPD1A.ch,it would take the FID1A.ch file from the 001F0011.d folder, and make a copy of it in aiaexp.d named 001F0011.d and rename it (in fact it will change  anything else in the the aiaexp.d directory with a .d extension to a .ch extension) to 001F0011.cf. Similarly it would make a copy of FID1A.ch from 002F0021.d in the aiaexp.d folder named 002D0021.cf.

Now open aiaexp.d in Chemstation. They will come up as stacked chromatograms on your screen. Then simply save as AIA format where the individual signals will be saved as signal1.cdf,signal2.cdf etc.

No special software or difficult to write macros. Just some old school command line action.

This does not work in my MSD 6890 files. Field "sample" from *.D files do not convert to any field in *.CDF files.

Dear Lieuwe D Bos, we want to do exactly the same as you did (.d-file to .cdf-file conversion). OpenChrom works for examplary D.-files (4MB) but not for our D.-files (400 MB to 1.19 GB) generated with the 7200 GC-qTOF from Agilent. Any idea, why this is the case? File formate or size (e.g. du to high mass accuracy)? Would be great, if you could share you experience with us! Best wishes, Tabea

I have run Fatty acid methyl ester on GCMS-TQ-8050. By mistake, I entered wrong sample name while loading the sample for analysis. Now I want to rename it correctly. Please guide me to rename the file so that the report will display the correct name.

Lieuwe D Bos Have you solve your problem with GC MS ( Agilent ) .D file to.AIA file, so i am also facing the same problem , could you please guide and help me

Thanks

Chemstation, open « Enhanced Data Analysis »

Hi Lieuwe D Bos

This is very interesting conversation . I am wondering if I have the opposite situation that I need to convert cdf files to .D. How i can do this? any hints?

Thanks a lot for your help and guidance.

Best regards,

Islam