46 replies to this topic

[Muppet81]

Since you have copies of your media files on your old computer and since your old computer still works, the files definitely can be recovered, even if you have no functional USB ports on your old computer. Even though you are leery of  Dropbox after your OneDrive experience, I would still suggest using Dropbox as a temporary measure to get your files moved. It should be extremely safe if you do it as follows.

1. You can create a Dropbox account for free on your old computer that will hold 2GB of data. It would be wonderful if all your media files will fit within the 2GB. If not, the files could be moved from the old computer to the new computer in batches that do not exceed 2GB in each batch. Creating the Dropbox account will create a Dropbox folder on your old computer.
2. Copy (DON'T MOVE) your media files on the RM media folder on your old computer to your Dropbox folder on your old computer.
3. Wait, wait, wait until Dropbox copies all the files from the Dropbox folder on your old computer to the cloud. It can take a while, depending on how much data there is and on how fast your Internet connection is. It could be a few minutes or a few hours. If it's a few hours, don't sit and watch it. Dropbox will create an icon in your task bar. If you hover your mouse over the icon, you can see how far along it is and you can see when it is done.
4. Install the same free Dropbox account on your new computer. Don't create a second free account. You have to use the same free account. This will create a Dropbox folder on your new computer.
5. Wait, wait, wait until Dropbox copies your media files from the cloud to the Dropbox folder on your new computer. Again, it could take a few minutes or many hours. It should take roughly the same amount of time as it took to go from the old computer to the cloud in the first place. Again, the installation of Dropbox will place a Dropbox icon in your task bar and you can monitor progress by hovering the mouse over the icon.
6. Copy (DON'T MOVE) your media files from the Dropbox folder on your new computer to your RM media folder on your new computer.
7. You should be done at this point because you have already made the file path on your new computer the same as on your old computer. But even if there were a file path problem at this point then Fix Broken Links should now work because the file names in your RM media folder should now match the file names in the RM media gallery.

I have been trying to think of any gotcha's that could cause you to lose the original good copy of your media files on your old computer if you follow this procedure. The only point of danger is step #2. If you were to MOVE instead of COPY by accident at that point, you would no longer have your original media files in your original media folder. The files would still exist in your Dropbox folder, but it's safer to preserve the original copy. So be sure to COPY and not MOVE at this point. The reason I emphasize this issue so much is that I don't quite trust Windows File Explorer or myself in this situation to use the drag and drop feature of Windows File Explorer. I'm never quite sure when it's going to do a MOVE vs. when it's going to do a COPY. So I always right click in the source location and choose the COPY option. Then I right click in the destination location and choose the PASTE option. If you do it in that fashion then it should be extremely safe.

 

The process should be extremely easy if your total amount of data is less than 2GB. If it's more than that, you might want to enlist some help from somebody with computer expertise to help you copy the files as I have described in multiple batches.

 

Jerry

Thanks Jerry.  Have now got a good copy of my old laptop data, on an external hard drive.

I am going to have a careful look at this, but am assuming that I just delete the contents of the Media folder and replace with the copy contents.

Or am I better removing the folder and copying ta new folder into my new laptop?

[Muppet81]

Happy New Year to you all.

 

I am certainly very happy. 

 

Picked up the clean copy of the data from my old laptop from my PC chap

 

Removed data with the dreaded UTC timestamp from my new laptop

 

Removed and reinstalled RM7 just be absolutely sure.

 

Copied media folders onto new laptop

 

NO RED CROSSES!  I had to do nothing else.  What a brilliant piece of software Roots Magic is.  

 

So very happy and relieved.

 

Thank you all so much for your amazing help.  I feel I have learnt such a lot from you.

[Rooty]

Occam's razor - keep it simple!

 

Just put rootsmagic 7 program and all data files including media on your new laptop. Work in one place!

 

Since you do not understand files, folders and directories very well you probably had all your media files in one folder so a backup on the old laptop WITH media would work fine for you. Many people set up multiple folders nested inside a media folder to organize by family, data type etc.

 

your backup approach needs to be simpler. Just have an external drive that backs up all your files and folders or also a cloud service but do not use either as the place with the master copy of your media or other files. Eggs in more than one basket versus only in one. Microsoft and Google will not be more careful with your data than you.

[John_of_Ross_County]

Since you have copies of your media files on your old computer and since your old computer still works, the files definitely can be recovered, even if you have no functional USB ports on your old computer. Even though you are leery of  Dropbox after your OneDrive experience, I would still suggest using Dropbox as a temporary measure to get your files moved. It should be extremely safe if you do it as follows.

1. You can create a Dropbox account for free on your old computer that will hold 2GB of data. It would be wonderful if all your media files will fit within the 2GB. If not, the files could be moved from the old computer to the new computer in batches that do not exceed 2GB in each batch. Creating the Dropbox account will create a Dropbox folder on your old computer.
2. Copy (DON'T MOVE) your media files on the RM media folder on your old computer to your Dropbox folder on your old computer.
3. Wait, wait, wait until Dropbox copies all the files from the Dropbox folder on your old computer to the cloud. It can take a while, depending on how much data there is and on how fast your Internet connection is. It could be a few minutes or a few hours. If it's a few hours, don't sit and watch it. Dropbox will create an icon in your task bar. If you hover your mouse over the icon, you can see how far along it is and you can see when it is done.
4. Install the same free Dropbox account on your new computer. Don't create a second free account. You have to use the same free account. This will create a Dropbox folder on your new computer.
5. Wait, wait, wait until Dropbox copies your media files from the cloud to the Dropbox folder on your new computer. Again, it could take a few minutes or many hours. It should take roughly the same amount of time as it took to go from the old computer to the cloud in the first place. Again, the installation of Dropbox will place a Dropbox icon in your task bar and you can monitor progress by hovering the mouse over the icon.
6. Copy (DON'T MOVE) your media files from the Dropbox folder on your new computer to your RM media folder on your new computer.
7. You should be done at this point because you have already made the file path on your new computer the same as on your old computer. But even if there were a file path problem at this point then Fix Broken Links should now work because the file names in your RM media folder should now match the file names in the RM media gallery.

I have been trying to think of any gotcha's that could cause you to lose the original good copy of your media files on your old computer if you follow this procedure. The only point of danger is step #2. If you were to MOVE instead of COPY by accident at that point, you would no longer have your original media files in your original media folder. The files would still exist in your Dropbox folder, but it's safer to preserve the original copy. So be sure to COPY and not MOVE at this point. The reason I emphasize this issue so much is that I don't quite trust Windows File Explorer or myself in this situation to use the drag and drop feature of Windows File Explorer. I'm never quite sure when it's going to do a MOVE vs. when it's going to do a COPY. So I always right click in the source location and choose the COPY option. Then I right click in the destination location and choose the PASTE option. If you do it in that fashion then it should be extremely safe.

 

The process should be extremely easy if your total amount of data is less than 2GB. If it's more than that, you might want to enlist some help from somebody with computer expertise to help you copy the files as I have described in multiple batches.

 

Jerry

Jerry,

 

I take one little exception to your time analysis.  It applies to a DSL connection.  At least with our provider, download speed is ten times faster than upload.  I have no experience with home fiber connections or cable connections.  The local cable company that does not go by our house advertises a connection speed 10 time faster than our DSL speed.

[Rooty]

connection speed: normally down is 5 to 10 x up speed.

 

DSL is faster than dialup but still makes grass growing look fast. Fiber and cable speeds are usually orders of magnitude better.

 

One can always go to a good public library or perhaps a computer club and use their wifi for better transfer speeds. 

 

One easy but slow option is to have both old and new laptop on the same home wifi network and just copy files via wifi (probably overnight).

[Jerry Bryan]

I'm on cable for Internet. Sorry, I forgot about the DSL speed issues.  And really, I'm just very pleased this problem is solved.

 

Jerry

[Muppet81]

I'm on cable for Internet. Sorry, I forgot about the DSL speed issues.  And really, I'm just very pleased this problem is solved.

 

Jerry

Thank you very much Jerry.