15 replies to this topic

[Searcher]

This is probably already in the message board but I am unable to find it. I want to continue to keep version 4 on my computer while also running version 6. I do not want a "no return" situation where I don't have version 4 databases anymore to open in the version 4 program. I have multiple databases.

When I installed version 6, I clicked out of the automatic database conversion by selecting "cancel". I was successful (somehow) keeping version 4 available. Now i can't figure out how to open version 6 and get a version 4 database opened there. I thought I could do a restore from a duplicate RM4 backup which would convert in the process, but found out not.

Simple please. Thanks.

[Alfred]

Set upypur version 6 folders for data, GEDCOMs, backups and reports,(You can share the same folders for your media items)
-- (Tools - Program Options -- Folders ) ---


Open RM6 and Restore the backup of your version 4 database, it will leave the backup file as it is and create a new Version 4 database from it. You will get a warning that it is an earlier version, but that won't change the backup or the version 4 database a bit.

I have versions 3,4,5 and 6 along with a few Family Origins programs installed so I can check them out when people havve problems.
There are no problems having all of them installed on one computer except that I sometimes forget which I am running.

=====
OH, by the way, You get this warning about overwriting an earlier version every time you update to a newer subversion, It isn't asking if you want to overwrite version 6.0.0.1 with 6.0.0.3, it is asking if you want to overwrite version 4 or 5 with version 6, SO always answer NO! if you want to keep both versions handy.

[Searcher]

Alfred, I thought I was doing what you said but I think I am really screwed up now. When I said "simple please" I meant simpler than what you said, I guess!

So now when I open RM4 and select my file I get the message "This database was created with a more recent version of RootsMagic than you are running. You will need to upgrade your copy of RootsMagic in order to open this file."

When I open RM6 and select from the list of files I see the one named "C:\Users\myname\Documents\RootsMagicDatabases\(name)RM4.rmgc. That's the place where I collect my backups. I guess that indicates it now thinks that "RM4" is part of the name of the file.

Where we are is that I have my file now available in RM6 but no longer available in RM4. I don't want to jeopardize anymore of my RM4 files, so lets go back to "simple please". Can you give me a step by step of what I need to do to get my database files available in both versions of RM? Thanks.

John

[Renee Zamora]

In the Windows Explorer create a different set of folders that you will store only your RM6 files. So you will have a folder for RM4 and one for RM6. Inside those folders I break it down even further to Data, Backup, Gedcom, Report, media can be share between the versions. You don't have to create the extra internal folders if you don't want to, it's a personal preference. What you can't do is mix the RM4 database files in with the RM6 database files in the same folder.

Then inside RM6 go to Tools>Program Options>Folders and click on the three dots (...) to open the Windows Explorer to locate the folders you created earlier. Set the default folders.

Make sure you do this same things for RM4 and set the default folder locations. Keeping separate folders and setting the defaults will insure you keep things separated.

Like Alfred said you can then go into RM6 and open an earlier backup (File>Restore) made from RM4 and it will restore it in the RM6 data folder. Now you can just use that database file.

If you messed up earlier and converted your RM4 database to a RM6 file then you can use File>Restore of the RM4 backup to get that correct version database file back.

You will also want to go to Tools>Program Options>General and check "Open database from last session". Then you won't get mixed up on what you are using.

[Alfred]

But, if he thinks an rmgc file is a backup file he is going to mess it up by opening it.

rmgb is the extension of the backup file and as Renee seid you go to Files and choose Restore.

If you opened a version 4 rmgc file with RM 6 you will have to export a GEDCOM from RM6 and import it into RM4 to get it back there again.

[Searcher]

I did get my version 4 file restored back to availabilty in version 4 without doing a GEDCOM. Don't ask me to describe how I did it because I can't.
I do know that .rmgc is an "active database file" and .rmgb is a backup file, I just don't know why there are separate files and what their separate functions are except that we restore backups, not databases. Are backups not databases???
It will be a couple days before I can try what Renee described, but I have hopes now!
Thanks to both of you for the help.

[Laura]

A rmgc file is the database file.

A rmgb file is a zipped file which contains a copy of your database file. When RootsMagic creates a backup file, it copies the database file and zips it. When RootsMagic restores the backup, it unzips the copy of the database so it can be used in RootsMagic.

You can also zip and unzip a copy of the database file with any zip program you have installed on your computer. And you can unzip the RootsMagic backup file with any zip program. RootsMagic's backup feature just does part of the work for you.

The only advantage to making a backup file instead of just saving a copy of the database is the zipped file is compressed and smaller in size.

[TomH]

...
The only advantage to making a backup file instead of just saving a copy of the database is the zipped file is compressed and smaller in size.

other advantages:
- the backup file can automatically be renamed with the date; copies are merely renamed serially "Copy (n) of..."
- backup files do not show in the File > Open dialog; if they did, it could be terribly cluttered since there can be many backup files for the one database file.
- backup files can be written by default to a folder separate from the database which can be a separate drive or a cloud-synced folder; by default, copies are written to the database file's folder requiring extra steps for safe keeping

[Jerry Bryan]

Are backups not databases???

In the whole general world of computers backups can be databases, but they do not have to be. In the case of RootsMagic backups are not databases.

Let's assume that we are back in the world of typewriters and paper and copying machines, and that you have a draft of a book you have written on paper with a typewriter. But you are nervous that your dog might eat your manuscript or that your house might burn down and burn your manuscript with it or something like that. So you make a backup copy of your manuscript on a copying machine and keep your backup copy at your brother-in-law's house on the other side of of town. At this point, your backup looks just like your original, except maybe for some quality issues with the copying machine.

The analogy here to computers is that if you copy a database, the backup copy is a database. If you copy a Word document, the backup copy is a Word document. If you copy a text file, the backup copy is a text file. Etc. And under normal circumstances, there are no quality issues in copying a file on a computer. A backup copy is a faithful representation of the original.

Returning to the days typewriters and paper and copying machines, suppose you were really worried about preserving the manuscript of your book. After all, your dog could eat your copy and your brother-in-law's dog could eat the backup copy at your brother-in-law's house. So you hire someone with the appropriate equipment to come in and microfilm your manuscript, and you store the microfilm in a safe deposit box at your local bank. Now let's suppose the worst possible thing actually does happen and your dog eats your copy of the manuscript and your brother-in-law accidentally throws away the backup copy of the manuscript. (You didn't really think I was going to let your brother-in-law's dog eat the backup copy, did you?)

At this point, you still have a backup copy - namely, the microfilm - but you can't read it with your own eyes. So you hire someone with the appropriate equipment to print out the contents of the microfilm on paper, and you can work with the restored paper copy with your own eyes just like you could with the original manuscript that you had typed.

A Rootsmagic backup file is analogous to the microfilm in my little fable. All the data is there, but it's not a manuscript on paper that you can work with using your own eyes. Just like the microfilm backup has to be restored to paper before you can use it, a Rootsmagic backup has to be restored to a database before you can use it.

Jerry

[Searcher]

I got back to this issue and report that when I went into Explorer to set up separate folders for RM4 and RM6 as explained by Renee I found them already there. Apparently done by the installation process automatically.

For as long as I have had RM4, when opening the program to the screen to select which database I want to open the links appear in the path: C:\Users\John\Documents\RootsMagicDatabases\(Filename)RM4backups\(Filename)RM4.rmgc. These are folders I established myself for holding my backups under Win7>Libraries>Documents. I have no idea how this path got to where it is in RootsMagic. However, the database paths appearing now in RM6 are mixed. One of them is the long version as I have in RM4 and one of them is simply (Filename)RM6.rmgc.

I'd appreciate theories about how I probably caused the long path both originally in RM4 and when a database was copied to RM6, and how I can change them to the shorter path. I suspect that a long time ago I must have created the database with the long path name, but can't imagine why. It seems to me that I would have to delete the database with the long path, which scares me to death because of risk of losing a database, and create a new file with the shorter path. I am fairly computer literate and have used this software every version since FamilyOrigins5, except that I skipped RM5, but when I think about losing a RM database by some careless move on my part my knees turn to jelly! File name management is not a strong suit. Input eagerly welcomed.

[Renee Zamora]

I am not exactly sure what you mean by a shorter path. The full path should appear in the default folder locations. RootsMagic doesn't make any folders when you install so they must be something you did at one time.

Here is an example of what I have for my default folders

RootsMagic Data file:
C:\Users\Renee\Documents\~DB Programs\RootsMagic-6\Data

Backup files
C:\Users\Renee\Documents\Dropbox\~DB Backups\RM6-Backup

If you have files that are not in the correct folders then open the Windows Explorer and drag or copy/paste them to the correct folder. I wouldn't recommend deleting anything.

When you open a database file it should give the full path name at the very top of the program window.

[Searcher]

Renee, in response to your last posting to this thread:
Longer path is several segments between backslashes. Shorter path is few segments between backslashes. FilenameRM6.rmgc is as short as you can get (no backslashes).

What is the purpose of the tildes in your examples?

In your RootsMagic Data file example I interpret “Data” as one of your subfolder names to contain only a rmgc file?

In your Backup files example at the very end of the path you have “RM6-backup I suspect that the dash should have been a backslash?

I can’t wrap my brain around the concept that the subfolders (Data, Backups, GEDCOM, etc) are supposed to be within the “C:\Program Files\RootsMagic 6" folder in Explorer. Am I misunderstanding? I don’t see “Program Files” in your example paths. What I do see is a Documents path originating under Libraries. (Win7)

In the “Welcome to RootsMagic what would you like to do?” screen I have two “open” choices. One appears as
“C:\Users\John\Documents\RootsMagicDatabases\RM6backups\FilenameRM6.rmgc”
The other simply appears as “FilenameRM6.rmgc”.
When I click on the “open FilenameRM6.rmgc” choice, across the top of the screen of the opened database appears “C:\Users\John\Documents\FilenameRM6.rmgc”. What steps should I take to get the first one changed so it appears same as the second in the “Welcome” screen? (Shorter path)

[Renee Zamora]

In Windows Vista, 7 or 8 computers you cannot put your database inside of the Program Files. That is why you don't see me suggesting that you do so.

RootsMagic Data file:
C:\Users\Renee\Documents\~DB Programs\RootsMagic-6\Data

Backup files
C:\Users\Renee\Documents\Dropbox\~DB Backups\RM6-Backup

The Tilda and dash are just naming options I want. I use ~DB Programs or ~DB Backups so that file sorts to the top of my list instead of alphabetical order. You can eliminate that. The dash in RootsMagic-6 is again just a naming system I have.

In my examples I did not end with the file names you just put it inside that last folder. With the short file name it sounds like you are just looking at the file name only and not the full path. There isn't anyway to shorten it so just make sure you set up your folders correctly. Then put your file inside it. By setting it up correctly it really means DON"T put your database file or backups inside of the Program Files.

[Searcher]

New wrinkle in this thread. I have created all the separate folders within Documents and then went to Program Options to point to those appropriate folders as defaults. I established my folders separation for RootsMagic4 and RootsMagic6. I have shortcuts on my Desktop for RM4 and RM6.

The new wrinkle is that if I go through the RM4 shortcut on the Desktop I get to the Welcome screen that asks what I want to do and I can open all the RM4 databases therein successfully. However, if I follow the Documents\RootsMagic4\RM4 Data\filename.rmgc path, RM6 opens leading to the conversion warning about the older database and I don't see a way to open RM4.

What am I doing wrong now? Doesn't make sense to me that I can click on a version 4 .rmgc file via the shortcut path on my Desktop and go where I intend to go but yet if I click on a version 4 .rmgc file in the Documents path I get taken to RM6 with a warning that I can't get to version 4. Ultimately It's the exact same version 4 .rmgc file.

[Alfred]

Open the program first, then open the database file.

Since the last few versions of RootsMagic use the same file extension Windows associates the files with one version and doesn't know that the difference between RM4, RM5 or RM6 files.

DO NOT USE SHORTCUTS TO RM FILES, ONLY TO THE RM PROGRAM!

[TomH]

There is a way using a batch or command file. For example, I have a RM4 database named Hol-Wil.rmgc so I create a command file named Hol-Wil.cmd with the following content:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\RootsMagic 4\rootsmagic.exe" "C:\MyDocs\FamilyTree\RM4\Hol-Wil.rmgc"

When I run the command file, RootsMagic 4 opens on the RM4 database.

An alternative would be to create a shortcut to RM4 and add the database filepath to the Target which would end up being identical to the line in the command file. Rename the shortcut to the database name.