Can't Backup

[SMotteshard 0]

Using TMG v8.0, Windows 7, 64x (version 6.1.7601 service pack 1 build 7601)

 

Until about a week ago I've been able to backup just fine, but now the following error code appears: "OLE exception error: Exception code c00000fd. OLE object may be corrupt."

 

I've read prior topics regarding this error and it seems to occur when external exhibits are backed up along with the project data files. I can't figure out how to uncheck the "External exhibits" box from the Project items when using the backup wizard. If someone can instruct me how uncheck that box I'll try backing up again.

 

I'd like to update to the latest v8.xxx, but want to backup before I update.

 

Thanks

[Robert Jacobs 0]

When the backup wizard first opens uncheck "use without saving changes" and then see if you get the full panoply of choices.

 

HTH

 

 

Robert

[SMotteshard 0]

Thanks Robert,

 

Tried that, but the choice to uncheck the external exhibits is still grayed out.

 

Steve

[Guest PhilDee]

Steve,

 

If the External Exhibits box is greyed out in Step 3 of the Backup Wizard then you don't have any external exhibits. How large is the last backup file you have?

 

Phil

Wholly Genes Tech Support

[SMotteshard 0]

Phil,

 

According to the TMG project summary, I have 3607 exhibits. They're external because they're all PDF or MS Word docs that I link to citations or events. If I remember right, TMG won't let these be internal exhibits.

 

My last backup was 11 Apr 2012, containg 415 MB.

 

Steve

[Jim Byram 0]

I suspect that the issue is that the exhibits are PDF and DOC files. Have to run a test.

[SMotteshard 0]

I never had any problems backing up until the last "batch" of Windows 7 updates. These updates are automatically downloaded to my computer and are inserted as I try to turn off my laptop. After the last Windows update batch I tried to backup TMG and either got the OLE exception error or in some cases I would get a large window of "Visual Fox Pro [sp?]" errors. I didn't make a screen shot of the Visual Fox Pro errors, so I don't know the specific errors that were generated.

 

Steve

[SMotteshard 0]

I just tried changing the backup compression to "slower" and got the same OLE exception error. However, after closing the OLE error window the TMG backup wizard window was still open, but nothing showed in the progress bars. I waited for about 10 minutes before closing the TMG backup wizard window. Now, as I try to close TMG a window pops up with "Cannot Quit Visual FoxPro". What do I do now?

[SMotteshard 0]

I was able to exit TMG by using the exit in the File drop down menu rather than using the red x in the upper right-hand corner of the window. I sure hope Jim Byram or someone in TMG technical support can help with this. I'd sure like to backup and update. I'm hoping that updating to the latest version may fix these problems.

 

Thanks,

Steve

[Virginia Blakelock 0]

Steve -

 

Have you tried Compression None for the backup? Or just make a copy of your project folder and external exhibits in Windows Explorer as a backup. The update should not affect your data in any event.

 

Virginia

[SMotteshard 0]

Virginia,

 

Tried compression none and got the same OLE exception error.

Copied the project folder and exhibits folder.

Updated to TMG v8.2

Tried to backup and got the same OLE exception error.

 

Calling it a day and will check this forum tomorrow.

 

Thanks,

Steve

[Jim Byram 0]

When you run Validate File Integrity using the External Exhibits feature, it isn't reporting any exhibit issues is it? As was said above, the only time that the exhibits checkbox should be grayed is when there are no external exhibits (or if they are not available).

 

%%%%%%%%%%

 

You can't back up because of the control issue. I am determining what control is involved based on the error message.

 

This error might have nothing to do with TMG and might be caused by some other program that was installer on your system before the backup failure began.

 

You did run the installer and select repair and see whether that fixes it? You also need to update to v8.02. You can download that from the Wholly Genes website and install it.

http://whollygenes.s...m/tmg8setup.exe (current U.S. version installer)

 

I would first uninstall the current version and delete any remnant program folder before installing the new version.

The default program folder would be:

"C:Program Files (x86)The Master Genealogist v8"

 

You also need to delete the remnant installer folder before installing the new version...

"C:ProgramDataThe Master Genealogist v8"

 

Uninstalling and reinstalling will not affect your data. You just need to reinstall using the same program folder name and path and your data will be in place after the reinstall.

 

If installing the new version doesn't correct the problem, something else is going on.

Edited April 21, 2012 by Jim Byram

[SMotteshard 0]

Jim,

 

Yesterday, I had already updated to v8.2 and it didn't help.

 

Today, TMG technical support suggested loading the Sample project and backing it up. It backed up normally. So, the problem appears to be in my working project.

 

Steve

[SMotteshard 0]

Jim,

 

I just ran Validate File Integrity using the External Exhibits feature and the following displayed in the TMG window:

 

"Validation complete. No problems found. 3627 external exhibit files were checked."

 

Steve

[doffutt 0]

As a thought, did you recently add any large exhibits, or change them after linking them to your source or event?

 

Where are your exhibits stored, in the default folder?

 

As a test, you could move all your exhibits to another folder, my suggestion would be to a folder closer to the root path and then nrun VFI, pointing it to the new folder to find mising exhibits and then rerun the backup attempt.

 

Dave O.

[SMotteshard 0]

Dave O.

 

What is the size of a "large exhibit"?

 

The external exhibits (PDF and MS Word docs) are stored in hundreds of individual folders. I maintain a "Windows" folder for each name and within that folder are stored the PDFs I created from online and microfilm images. I also create a short bio-sketch for each of those names using MS Word as required by my client. Within TMG I link the citation and the event to the PDF and then link the Word doc to a "note" tag for each individual. This way seemed to work just fine in TMG until around April 11, when I had approximately 3500 external exhibit links.

 

I could go back and move all of those PDFs and MS Word docs to just one folder, but that would require hours and hours of work that my client will not pay me to do. I sure hope having multiple folders is not causing the TMG backup problems I'm having.

 

Steve

[Jim Byram 0]

You should not use TMG backup when you have multiple exhibit folders. The backup works fine but you can't restore the tree. All files will be restored to one folder.

 

When you have an exhibit tree with multiple folders, you should manage your exhibits outside of TMG.

 

I believe that this resolves your backup issue?

[SMotteshard 0]

Jim,

 

I would like to be able to back up just the TMG project without the exhibit files using the TMG backup wizard, but how do I do that? I can't uncheck the exhibits in the backup options.

 

Instead of backing up TMG should I just "copy" the whole TMG folder, with it's multiple sub-folders?

 

Thanks,

Steve

[Jim Byram 0]

Let's try this.

 

Delete all BACKUP*.bkp files in the Configuration_files folder.

"C:Usersuser account nameDocumentsThe Master Genealogist v8Configuration_files"

 

Try backing up. Use the BACKUP PROJECT option and see if you can unselect External Exhibits on Step 3.

 

If that doesn't work, I'll make you a configuration with external exhibits unselected.

[SMotteshard 0]

Jim,

 

I just used Google search with the following search terms: "OLE exception error: Exception code c00000fd. OLE object may be corrupt" and found that this error is a Visual Foxpro issue. I'm surprised by how long this has been occurring with TMG. I also found another TMG thread that discussed this same problem back in 2007: http://www.whollygen...showtopic=7377. I wish now I would've done the Google search before starting this forum thread. It would've saved a lot of us a lot of time.

 

I appreciate your help and the help from everyone else in trying to resolve this issue, but rather than spending anymore time speculating what's causing the error and trying different things, I think I'll just try to get this problem resolved with Tech support.

 

Thanks,

Steve

Edited April 25, 2012 by SMotteshard

[SMotteshard 0]

Jim,

 

After conducting the Google search and reading through some of the hits, I found a Rootsweb TMG mailing list that I didn't know existed. You were/are a major contributor on that list along with this forum. You seem to know just as much as TMG tech support. I'd like to continue with your suggestions.

 

First of all, PhilDee from TMG tech support replied with the following:

 

<<

Posted 20 April 2012 - 09:45 AM

Steve,

 

If the External Exhibits box is greyed out in Step 3 of the Backup Wizard then you don't have any external exhibits. How large is the last backup file you have?

 

Phil

Wholly Genes Tech Support

>>

 

He's the person who resolved this same issue with another TMG user back in 2007, but he hasn't responded anymore to this thread. Since this error seems to be generated by exhibits I think that's the first thing I need to understand. Do I have external exhibits or not? If I don't have any external exhibits why does the VFI indicate: ""Validation complete. No problems found. 3627 external exhibit files were checked"?

 

Steve

[SMotteshard 0]

Jim,

 

While I'm waiting for your response I ask the second and third questions.

 

You said:

 

>>

Posted Yesterday, 05:07 PM

You should not use TMG backup when you have multiple exhibit folders. The backup works fine but you can't restore the tree. All files will be restored to one folder.

 

When you have an exhibit tree with multiple folders, you should manage your exhibits outside of TMG.

 

I believe that this resolves your backup issue?

>>

 

Are you suggesting that I don't use TMG backup? If not, should I just copy the whole TMG folder: My Documents / The Master Genealogist v8.

 

When you say "you should manage your exhibits outside of TMG" are you saying I shouldn't use the exhibit options in TMG? Should I be using TMG just for data and not linking to digital copies of sources, etc.

 

Thanks,

Steve

[SMotteshard 0]

I sure hope others are learning from this thread. It's a little disjointed on my part because I'm responding as I'm learning. I'm staying home from the FHL today to try find a resolution to this problem. It's costing me some billable hours, but I'm hoping this non-billable time will help me and others with this problem.

 

While I'm waiting for a response I'm reading as much as I can. Perhaps others don't know about the Rootsweb TMG mailing list, but here's a link to a year-old thread about this very issue:

 

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/tmg/2011-05/1306546836

 

If I understand correctly, and if the posters can be trusted with providing good information, it seems the TMG backup wizard is limited, only 2GB – 4GB. External exhibits, which I think my project has, along with the data can easily exceed that size.

 

For this particular client project I have to link every TMG event and citation to the digital image of the source. Then, I use Second Site to create an internal-use-only website. The client is a historical society and they dislike using computers and don't want to learn more than they have to about computers. So, the simpler I can make it the happier my client is. This client really likes the Wikipedia style website. So, I use Second Site to create a website that has basically the same display and linking style as Wikipedia.

 

The client likes to see each event linked to the source image and they also like to see each citation linked to the source image. They don't want images cluttering up the website, they just want to click on the exhibit link when needed. They also don't want to spend the time to search for the image using a "good citation", because as we all know even if you put the URL path to an image found online, that URL path is likely to change tomorrow. They don't want to have to search for a "census" image, even with a good citation, because after all that's what they already paid me to find. They certainly don't want to have to find the image in some other folder I supply to them. They want single click access to an image if they so chose. They also want to select the link to the MS Word doc so they can open the doc when necessary. I can't (as some suggested in the TMG mailing list thread referenced above) limit the amount of external exhibit links.

 

So, since the evidence indicates TMG backup wizard has size limitations, the work-around in my case seems to require that I make a copy of the whole folder located at: My Documents / The Master Genealogist v8. It's only 6.02 GB, so certainly not a storage limitation issue like we used to have with computers way back when.

 

Does anyone forsee a problem with making a copy of the whole folder to use as a backup rather than trying to use the TMG backup wizard?

 

Thanks,

Steve

[Virginia Blakelock 0]

Steve -

 

The first backup priority for all of us is our data files and exhibits. I have 4 projects, each in its own folder. Each TMG project contains 80-100 files. I make a backup of my project - including accents and filters if they have changed - after each work session. The quickest way is with the Backup Wizard (a problem for you at this moment). If for some reason I can't use the Backup Wizard, then it is simple to copy the project folder using Windows Explorer.

 

The second backup priority is any customizations we have made, for example custom toolbars or layouts,or custom report definitions. Those can be quickly and simply backed up in the Backup Wizard using the Customizations option. I make sure I have a backup of my custom toolbar and the custom buttons it uses, and of my report definitions - particularly box charts. Many people use a custom language like English2 - and that would call for a priority backup. If there have been no changes to the customizations, they can be backed up less frequently.

 

It is important - and helpful in a decision of what to backup - to understand the TMG Data File Storage system (Shared program data files, User program data files, and User Data files). You can view those folders and files in TMG Help / Access folders. I also have an article you can download here (written for v7 but applicable to v8) explaining the system in more detail, including an explanation of the file extensions. That article also includes a list and explanation of the dozens of filters included in the sample project. These filters can be copied to your own projects.

 

Re backing up exhibits outside of TMG. Most TMG users have external exhibits, linked as you do, and many of those users have hundreds of exhibits in multi-folder exhibit trees. The problem lies in the Restore. TMG does not maintain the folder tree in a restore; all exhibits end up a single folder. From Help / Restore:

 

"CAUTION: If your exhibits are stored in a multi-folder folder tree rather than in a single folder, you should not use the Restore Wizard with your exhibits. Maintenance of exhibit folder trees (such as backing up or moving the exhibits) should be done outside of TMG v8.

 

Hope this helps -

 

Virginia

[SMotteshard 0]

Virginia,

 

Yes, your comments are helpful and I hope to find the time to read your articles before I set up the next client project.

 

Since you said it was "simple to copy the project folder using Windows Explorer" and had no other comments about this option (at least as far I could understand), I assume you don't see a problem if I were to copy the entire TMG folder at: My Documents / The Master Genealogist v8.

 

Steve