Jim Byram

This is not an rare issue. One (or more) of the exhibit files has a problem. It's best to manage your exhibit files outside of TMG. Making sure that both your project backup and your exhibits folder are stored remotely is an excellent practice. The restored path is not a concern since TMG includes a tool to update the exhibit paths in the exhibits table when they have changed. You should be doing a system backup to an external drive at a regular frequency... for example once a week. That will cover your TMG data. When I'm doing serious data entry, I copy a TMG project backup to a USB flash drive at the end of each days work.

Grady, Just to note. Sometimes, when you close TMG, the process persists (when it shouldn't). In those cases, you will find the 'The Master Genealogist' process in the Background processes list in Task Manager. It doesn't hurt to end the persistent process. One symptom of this is that you try to start TMG and get a message that it's already running. Jim

Open the Task Manager (CTRL+SHIFT+ESC) end all TMG processes... not only at the top under Apps but also in the list under Background processes. Alternatively, restart Windows .

You import a data set from the TMG project files in their folder, not from a TMG backup .SQZ file. One of the 48 project files is the .PJC file and the .PJC file is used to determine which TMG data set to import.

You seem to be saying that you are running TMG v9. You need to back up your project(s) on the current computer and copy the backup(s) to a USB flash drive. Install TMG v9.05 on the new computer. If you don't have the TMG v9.05 installer, you can download it using the appropriate link in this topic... You then copy the backup(s) to the new computer and restore the project(s). You can include external exhibits in the backup(s) or copy the external exhibits folder to the USB flash drive and copy the folder to an appropriate location on the new computer. On the new computer, make sure that the paths in the Preferences current project settings are correct. The only one likely to be incorrect might be the backup path assuming that the other paths should be the default paths. If the exhibits are in a different location on the new computer, run Validate File Integrity and use the external exhibits feature to update the paths.

List of Sources using the filter... Repository... Number Equals (some repository number) END

You mean not a valid .PJC file. The .PJC file can be damaged. I can examine it if you send it to me. You can contact me by email by clicking on the link below... Jim Byram

You mean 15,000 people? Make a GEDCOM, then you can determine its size. Also, after you make the GEDCOM, examine it with a text editor such as Notepad. Compare a person in the GEDCOM to that person in TMG. You can see what exported. TMG v9.05 has an option that will export witness links and sort dates. A new installation of TMG9 gives you 30-days with all features. When you are ready, you can install it and make your GEDCOM exports. Copy or restore your projects to the TMG9 user folders. DO NOT update your TMG8 projects (in the TMG8 folders) to TMG9 if you want to continue to use them in TMG8. btw... I'll do the GEDCOM exports with v9.05 for you if you wish. I have the optimal settings for GEDCOM export set up. That way, you'll not need to try and figure out the settings that you'll have trouble understanding.

From TMG8... While the base data would be exported to the GEDCOM... Only shared events with two spouses or the parents of a child would be exported. You would lose event witness links. You would lose sort dates. You would lose History tags. All names will be exported and most programs consider the first name to be primary. Source data would be exported but you would lose the structure. If you have source of source links, those would be lost. There are probably other things lost.

There was no point to the multi-step install. You should have simply installed v9.05. Any project will be updated as necessary when first opened. There is no TMG9 program 'upgrade'. When you install a newer version, the current installation is removed and the newer version is installed. The registration information for TMG9 applies to any version of TMG9. You should unlock running TMG as standard user (the normal way you run TMG) and also by right-clicking on the TMG shortcut, selecting 'Run as administrator' and unlocking that way.

Working ideas... Only backup what you change. For example... the language files. If you haven't customized a language, there is no point to backing up the language files since you are using those from the TMG installation. Be selective about what you back up. If the new computer and the old computer have the same (or similar) operating system version and use the same TMG paths, backing up and restoring the program settings shouldn't cause problems (Preferences > Program options). Make sure the backup path is correct on the new computer.

Sure. If you make a system backup on a regular basis (and I really hope that you are doing this), exhibits can always be restored from that. And your system backup utility should be able to backup the exhibits folder (or tree) separately from anything else. Most system backup utilities have the ability to backup selected files.

Michael... Good idea. We've also seen a backup issue where one of the exhibit files was the issue and not including exhibits resulted in a successful backup. Jim

The exhibit file (_I.dbf and _I.fpt) (letter 'eye') contains the links to external exhibits and any internal exhibits. It's best to manage your external exhibits outside of TMG. It really complicates things if you want to create a manual backup like I've described and want to include the external exhibits. btw... I'd think that the problem with making backups originated outside of TMG and had nothing to do with anything that you did or didn't do. The issue can be as simple as a corrupted file or as complicated as an action by an external application.

John, A TMG project is comprised of 48 files. Only these 48 files absolutely need to be in a backup. .PJC file x1 (a text file with essential project version and configuration data) .DBF files x29 (FoxPro database files) .FPT files x18 (FoxPro database memo files) Total = 48 .CDX - index files (don't add to the backup) .ACC - accent files (include in backup) .FL* - filter files (include in backup) Other files (.txt, .log, .doc, .bak, etc.) (don't need to include in backup) You can include all files, if you wish, but omit the index files. This is what the TMG backup procedure does. When a project is restored, it is indexed and new index files are created. I was really hoping that the fresh install would fix things. Jim