Transferring data added to a laptop to my TMG on other computer.

[pbwelch 0]

How do I add data entered into my laptop TMG program (new info on people already on the other computer and the addition of new people entirely) to my TMG program on my desktop computer? I know I'm not supposed to do a backup/restore, but don't know how to transfer only this new data. Thanks...Pat

[johndweston 0]

What I do in a similar case, is to use the "Briefcase" folder feature of Windows. I store my TMG master files on my desktop and have a Briefcase folder created on my laptop. In this I've dragged a copy of the master data folder for the project in its entirety (I have one master folder for each project). On my laptop, I configure TMG to use the project database in the Briefcase folder.

 

When I connect my laptop to my desktop, via a simple LAN, I run a Briefcase "update all". This identifes the database files that have been updated and gives the option to copy them from the laptop to desktop, or vice-versa, depending on which is the current master. This works fine for my use of TMG and similar programs.

 

One warning, though, is that you must always remember which is the current working master, Laptop or Desktop. If you open the non-master database, even for a read-only action, then Briefcase will show that "both files are updated" and give the option to skip the copy. If you are certain the non-master open was a read-only, then you can manually override this "skip" to overwrite the read-only opened copy with the updated data. That's the advantage of Briefcase in that it doesn't automatically make assumptions as do other file synchronization programs

 

I also use Briecase to keep a backup copy on a thumb drive, and copies of the backup files... I've lost nothing yet

 

Regards, John.

[Terry Reigel 0]

How do I add data entered into my laptop TMG program (new info on people already on the other computer and the addition of new people entirely) to my TMG program on my desktop computer? I know I'm not supposed to do a backup/restore, but don't know how to transfer only this new data. Thanks...Pat

Sorry to say, you can't

 

There is no way to transfer only "new" data from one copy of a project to another.

 

If you have not added anything to the copy on the desktop since to made the copy on the laptop, you can simply backup the laptop copy, and restore it on the desktop. But if each copy contains data not on the other, the only solution is to manually transfer the data from one copy to the other. I gather that's the case from your question. There are at least two ways to do it, neither very easy:

 

1. Get both copies on the same machine, open both at once, and use Copy and Paste to transfer the changes from the copy with the fewest additions to the other copy.

 

To do that:

- Make a backup of one copy, and copy that backup to the other PC.

- Restore that backup, being sure you restore to a different folder and don't overwrite the existing copy.

- I'd suggest then giving the restored copy a different name (File > Rename Project) to be sure you know which is which in the following steps.

- Open one Project, then without closing that project, open the other in a new "instance" of TMG. (Just use File > Open Project, and answer No when asked if you want to close the current project.)

- Adjust the two copies of TMG so that you can see at least part of each on the screen.

- Navigate to the changed persons, find the changed or added tags, and use copy and paste to transfer the information in each field to the tags in the other copy. You will also have to do the same with any new sources you have created.

 

2: Copy the people with changes to the other project, then Merge each person, keeping the changes. Obviously, this method works best if the changes are limited to a few people.

 

To do that:

- Get copies of both projects on the same machine, as described above.

- Merge the two projects, so that you have two datasets (one having originated on the laptop and the other on the desktop) in a single project.

- Identify the people who have changes, and copy them from the data set you are going to discard to the one you are going to keep.

- For each changed person, merge the two copies, keeping only the tags that are unique.

 

Details for merging Projects, coping people, and merging people, are described in articles on my website (link below).

 

Of course, before doing either of these, be sure you have good backups of both copies.

 

To avoid this problem in the future, be sure to not enter data on two different copies of a project. John offers some suggestions on how to do that. the subject is also discussed in this topic.

[Morbius 0]

Maybe I am doing this wrong, but it has always worked. I use a laptop and a desktop; the laptop for most of the work, and the desktop for reports, etc. When I am done on the laptop, I do a back up. Then I copy the backkup file to a thumbdrive, and transfer it to the desktop. Then run a restore on the desktop. It taks a little time, but the result is two identical files on different computers, and at least three copies of the backup file on different media.

[Terry Reigel 0]

Perhaps I misunderstood the original question. I read the question to say that Pat had entered new data on the laptop, and also other new data on the desktop. If that is the case, there is no solution but manually transfering the new data from one copy of the project but the other.

 

But on re-reading the question, I'm now not clear on what happened. If Pat entered entered nothing on the desktop after the copy of the project was placed on the laptop, then doing a backup from the laptop and restoring that on the desktop will indeed place all the new data on the desktop as well.