Jim Byram

I do an image backup of all drives on the computer to an external hard drive once a week. All is done as specified in one Backup Definition File and one backup file of everything is created. It is simple to mount a drive from a backup file to recover any folder or file that is in the backup image. The Macrium Reflect UI Watcher runs in the background all of the time. That is used to prevent deleting backups except from within Macrium Reflect. There is no real time backup process going on so the program has no effect on running TMG or on TMG data (other than backing up). I used Acronis but got irritated at how it backed up the Windows partition on my iMac. Acronis took about 3.5 hours. Reflect took about 30 minutes. The backup was the same data in both cases. I still use Acronis on my wife's two computers. btw... I never had any issue with TMG using Acronis.

Karen, I'd suggest using the free version of Macrium Reflect to backup. https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree Download with the blue [Home Use] button down the page on the left. Jim

Ghost person. This still happens after optimize and VFI... and reindex? No REF_ID after the name? I'm guessing there is a link to a person that doesn't exist.

Karen, I have no idea whether this is the installation or the project or some external application causing a problem. Run the TMG installer and select [Repair] and see if that makes a difference. I can do an in-depth check of your project if you wish. Jim

Have no idea. Have you run optimize, validate file integrity, optimize in that order?

Karen, The project index files are the .CDX files. With TMG closed, those 29 .CDX files can be deleted. When TMG is run and the project opened, TMG will create new index files. There are also index files in the Repeat_files and Slideshow folders. Very rarely, an error can come from one of those index files. Jim

I don't understand what you are asking. TMG must unlocked by adding the registration information in order to run with all features after the 30-day trial period.

You need to enter your registration twice... once running as a Standard user and once running TMG as administrator. Run TMG normally and enter your registration information. Exit. Run TMG by right-clicking on the shortcut and selecting 'Run as administrator'. Respond affirmatively to the security prompt. Enter your registration information and exit afterwards. Then use TMG by running normally.

A TMG project database consists of 48 files. 1 .PJC file 29 .DBF files 18 .FPT files The project can be recovered only if you can retrieve all 48 files. A single file is of little value although some useful things could be done. You could recover the _$.DBF file (the person table) and open it and sort by the user ID (the 6th column). When those user IDs are compared to the person table from a backup, you could determine how many people have been added since the backup. You could then use the person ID (the 1st column) for those missing people to recover the names of the missing people from the _N.DBF file (the name table) assuming that it was recovered. This is considerable work and not something undertaken without proper tools although these steps could be accomplished using Excel. Ultimately, you would still need to add all of the missing data to the project backup that you restored going person-by-person from the sources as was originally done.

A PDF is a document file and like all document files (.PDF, .DOC, .DOCX, etc.) can be added to the exhibit log and can be viewed with an associated external application by clicking [View/Edit] or by right-clicking on the exhibit and selecting View/Edit. TMG has no internal support to view/edit such documents. If you are trying to use a PDF as an image file in TMG, that won't work since a PDF is not an image file but rather a document containing an image and can't be viewed by the image library in TMG. For this reason, a PDF file can't be used as the primary image for a person.

To run TMG as administrator, you right-click on the TMG shortcut and select 'Run as administrator'. Then click [Yes] on the prompt.

Under Windows 10, to print a PDF report using the Wholly Genes PDF printer driver, you need to temporarily run TMG as administrator and print the PDF report. The AmyUni PDF printer driver used by TMG is long out of date for Windows 10; however, running as administrator to print a PDF report gets around that. Alternatively, as Terry suggested, you can use an external PDF printer driver. (I currently get an error trying to use the Microsoft Print to PDF driver from TMG and that's been the case for some time.)

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