synchronizing data files

[Dianne 0]

I asked this question in the wrong forum and am posting here with the "official" response. I would appreciate more discussion of the subject.

 

My 1st Question: "I have TMG v6 Gold and have never really used it; I was considering migrating from FTM. Now, I'm seriously interested in switching to TMG and would upgrade to v7 before I start the process. One big question that I can't find an answer to is about keeping my files current. I travel a lot and so would have it installed on a home PC, a laptop, and an office PC. Is there a synch function (or a utility available) so that I can work on a data file (by adding or editing information) whereever I am when I have time to work on a project and then synch the file when I am at another location.

 

I don't mean backup and restore; that is a separate topic. I want to actually synchronize two slightly different versions of the same data/project file. Thanks, Dianne"

 

This was the response from one of the Moderators:

" If I understand your question, the answer is no. If you edit project A on PC 1, and then you make a different edit to project B on PC 2, there is no automated way to synchronize the two projects such that project A and project B are the same.

There are various ways to move project A to PC 2 (or vice-versa) but that's different.

 

Many TMG users migrate their project from one PC to another but it's up to the user to know which version is "current" and then restore the current version to a PC before editing the project there."

 

Now, my next question:

What tips or techniques do TMG users have to know which version of a project is "current" if they use multiple computers?

 

Thanks for any advice you can provide. Dianne

[nbradley 0]

As a general rule I only make changes on my home desktop computer. I use the laptop as a reference when I am visiting relatives or travelling. Occassionally I will expect to pick up so much data that it will make more sense to update the laptop and then backup/restore that data to my home pc. As I would only do this rarely it is not difficult to "remember" which machine is the master.

[John Cardinal 0]

First, a disclaimer: my "moderator" status doesn't make my answers official. Being a moderator means I can help administer the forum. I am an experienced user, and I think I gave you the correct answer, but official answers can only come from Wholly Genes employees, and I am not.

 

Like Diane, I don't switch back and forth that often so it's relatively easy for me to remember which PC has the current version. I also backup quite frequently and so I can use the date of the most recent backup on one of the PCs as a guide. Typically, however, if I forget which version is current I use a folder comparison utility I have that lists all the files in two different folders and detects which ones have different dates and/or different sizes. That usually is enough for me to know which version was changed last.

 

Each person in the TMG database has a "Last Edited" field and you can run reports to show which people have changed. The Last Edited field is not all-inclusive because it is at the person level, so if you change a source record only, no Last Edited field will change. On the other hand, in most of your editing sessions you will change something about a person and so Last Edited can be useful as a way to see which project changed most recently.

 

Clearly, none of the above methods is fail-safe. If you are careful, you can avoid trouble, and I have done so for many years. I did get messed up once, but I detected the problem pretty quickly and manually re-did some changes that I had to abandon.

[Dianne 0]

Thanks, John, for your quick response. I certainly didn't mean to imply that your answer was not correct. I accepted it and when I realized that I couldn't reply to your message to ask for more advice, I moved to this forum section. One of my frustrations with FTM is lack of a synch function so anything in TMG that helps identify the most current version will be helpful to me. Is there a place in the forum to request enhancements?

Thanks, Dianne

 

First, a disclaimer: my "moderator" status doesn't make my answers official. Being a moderator means I can help administer the forum. I am an experienced user, and I think I gave you the correct answer, but official answers can only come from Wholly Genes employees, and I am not.

 

Like Diane, I don't switch back and forth that often so it's relatively easy for me to remember which PC has the current version. I also backup quite frequently and so I can use the date of the most recent backup on one of the PCs as a guide. Typically, however, if I forget which version is current I use a folder comparison utility I have that lists all the files in two different folders and detects which ones have different dates and/or different sizes. That usually is enough for me to know which version was changed last.

 

Each person in the TMG database has a "Last Edited" field and you can run reports to show which people have changed. The Last Edited field is not all-inclusive because it is at the person level, so if you change a source record only, no Last Edited field will change. On the other hand, in most of your editing sessions you will change something about a person and so Last Edited can be useful as a way to see which project changed most recently.

 

Clearly, none of the above methods is fail-safe. If you are careful, you can avoid trouble, and I have done so for many years. I did get messed up once, but I detected the problem pretty quickly and manually re-did some changes that I had to abandon.

[Virginia Blakelock 0]

There have been several discussions on this subject on the TMG Rootsweb mailing list. Search the TMG archives for 'synchronize files' at

 

http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?path=TMG

 

Virginia

[Robert Jacobs 0]

I have to synchronize quite a few files -- manuscripts, Quicken data, TMG data and others -- between my home, office and laptop machines. I have found that using batch files and a USB flash drive works very well. Both XCOPY and ROBOCOPY have functions which permit only newer files to be copied over. There's no danger that an older version will overwrite a newer one, though there is always the remote possiblity that one of the files will become corrupted and propagate through the system. To guard against that I perform regular conventional backups.

 

ROBOCOPY is particularly powerful and flexible. It is Microsoft's replacement for XCOPY, which is now being denigrated. "ROBOCOPY /?" will show all the commands. ROBOCOPY was not shipped with all versions of XP; if it's not on your machine you can download it from Microsoft.

 

One of the advantages of my system is that my most crucial data always exists in four different places and at least two different physical locations. I'd be happy to provide copies of my batch files to anyone who is interested.

 

Good wishes to all.

 

 

formerprof

[Dianne 0]

Thanks to both of you for your responses. The various threads on the ROOTSWEB site were very helpful to me.

I am less concerned with the backup issue; I use multiple external hard drives (stored in different geographic locations) and the freeware Karen's Replicator for most of my backup work. I plan to look at ROBOCOPY also.

 

Because of the multiple file structure of TMG project data, a synchronization utility might be somewhat more complex to design. However, it is high on my "wish list". Life is complicated enough and the less I have to remember with my aging brain, the happier I'll be. In the meantime, I'll use a personal "cheatsheet" and concentrate on getting my data cleaned up after I migrate from another application to TMG v7.

 

Regards, Dianne

[Michael Hannah 0]

Dianne,

 

Note that ROBOCOPY requires that Windows have a folder or disk of the "other" system "shared" on Windows so that it can simply find that other computer's folder as a folder on this computer. Thus the two computers must be networked together along with the security implication of exporting a share. If you do not or cannot network the two computers together, then the existing capability of TMG is really the most reliable. Except for possible changes in external exhibits it is a simple three step operation: 1) create a backup file on the active system, 2) copy that one file to the other computer, 3) restore that backup on the other computer. You can even configure TMG to always create a backup file whenever you exit TMG so you don't have to remember to do step 1.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,

[Robert Jacobs 0]

Dianne,

 

Note that ROBOCOPY requires that Windows have a folder or disk of the "other" system "shared" on Windows so that it can simply find that other computer's folder as a folder on this computer. Thus the two computers must be networked together along with the security implication of exporting a share. If you do not or cannot network the two computers together, then the existing capability of TMG is really the most reliable. Except for possible changes in external exhibits it is a simple three step operation: 1) create a backup file on the active system, 2) copy that one file to the other computer, 3) restore that backup on the other computer. You can even configure TMG to always create a backup file whenever you exit TMG so you don't have to remember to do step 1.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,

 

Dear Michael (and Dianne),

 

I think I understand your point about ROBOCOPY. If you want to use it between computers which are networked together at least one of the directories has to be shared (the one on the the remote machine). But ROBOCOPY works perfectly well with disk to USB disk transfers, with unshared directories and files. That is how I use it. If using the file encryption system, as I do with my Quicken files, they can be moved in encrypted for with ROBOCOPY with the /EFSRAW switch. It's really very handy once set up.

 

In moving TMG files this way you can avoid the extra steps of backing up on the source machine and restoring on the target machine -- which opens the danger of overwriting a more recent version of the data accidentally. The downside of my method, of course, is that you have to be much more careful to catch all things you want to backup -- layouts, reports, exhibits and all the other impedimenta that Vista and TMG between them scatter throughout the machine.

 

All good wishes.

 

 

formerprof

[collybs 0]

Dianne

 

Another simple way is to keep your TMG project data files on a portable hard drive and plug this drive in everytime you want to use TMG.

[John Cardinal 0]

CAREFUL, CAREFUL, CAREFUL!

 

If you use any non-realtime, automated facility to synchronize the folders you are opening yourself to a significant data corruption issue. Imagine this scenario:

1. Add event "A" on PC #1
   
2. Add citation to event "A" on PC #1
   
3. Add event "B" on PC #2
   
4. Synchronize folders using Robocopy or whatever
   

Note that event "A" will be lost, and it's possible that the citation to it will be connected to event "B". The citation file from PC #1 will be newer than it's counterpart, but the event file from PC #2 will be newer than it's counterpart. The citation added on PC #1 will survive the merge of the files even though the event to which it applies does not!

 

The database files for TMG projects must be treated as a set. You can not reliably mix files from two different sets without the risk of data corruption. I strongly urge anyone who moves files to always review the list of files that will be moved. Basically, if any file from PC #1 is newer than all the files from PC #2, then you have to accept all the files from PC #1 as most recent, even if there is a file on PC #2 that is newer than its counterpart.

[Robert Jacobs 0]

Dear John,

 

That's an excellent point. Since I only work on one machine at a time I've been able to avoid trouble as I am indeed being careful. What I'd really like is a script or macro of some kind that will back up TMG files on one machine, and copy the backup to my flash drive. A similar script or macro would then take the backup from the flash drive and restore it on the other machine. I've been wondering whether Vista's scripting language would enable me to do that. Any suggestions very gratefully received.

 

All good wishes.

 

 

formerprof

[pktropics 0]

This is how I do it:

 

I run both an office PC and a laptop. When in the office, I have the two machines networked; when away from the office I use the laptop. I use a shareware program called Second Copy to synchronise all my data (including TMG) between the PC and laptop. This serves two purposes. First, it means when I'm working away from the office, I have the same data files and can continue working, then when I get back, the first thing I do is network the computers and run Second Copy. Secondly, it acts as a backup so that I always have the same set of data files on two computers (I also backup onto two external hard drives using the same program, so I have data in four places).

 

As John Cardinals' comments indicate, you have to be a bit careful. You can't work on both machines at the same - when changing from one machine to the other, you MUST do a synchronisation before moving from one machine to the other. As a matter of course, I ALWAYS back up when closing down the program, as an extra precaution in case I muddle things (touch wood, I've not done so yet, but I'm sure it will happen one day). When in the office I have the program set to synchronise every few hours, that way it's very quick (ie it's not having to deal with loads of data changes each time) and it means I can take the laptop at the end of the day and work on it in the evenings.

 

Because I'm constantly changing between PC and laptop, I find this system much easier and quicker than the "orthodox" back-up and restore option; but it does require networking and CARE; I'm not sure I'd be so confident using it through the medium of a USB drive to make the exchange between computers, though I believe Second Copy could be set up to do it this way by running it on both computers.

 

pktropics

[Ron Dobree 0]

I have been using the Briefcase mode to synchronise files between my laptop and a desktop for several years now. It has the advantage of simplicity, but does need care to ensure that the files are updated BEFORE switching computers.

 

I have the data files in a shared directory on the desktop and in a briefcase on the c drive on the laptop. On the one occasion I forgot that I had used the laptop, I had to make the decision which set of files to treat as master and to ensure that all the files were updated in the same direction.

 

This has been on XP but I note that Vista has the same facility if I can get the programs to install! but that's another story.

[CMowrey 0]

I must say I am very surprised there is no synchronization tool and it needs to be added to the top of the wishlist.

 

In todays mobile world it is unthinkable that recently added or modified data (say on a laptop) should not be synchronized to the PC, or vice versa. These are ages old functions of any data base. I've read the some of the Forums that such a tool would be too complex to program?

 

I hope it's not necessary to weld wheels to my PC and tie down my monitor.

 

At a family reunion I collected an entire new branch of data on the laptop, and am now faced with manually retyping the entire update as it has been noted there is no assurance of preservation of the existing data on the PC once I do a merge, import or restore.

 

I'm looking forward to a synchronization function in future editions.

[GenerationGoneBy 0]

If both copies were the same when you left home (assuming laptop had the latest copy) then just do a back up of the laptop, and restore on the desktop. Perhaps I am missing something, but I don't see what the big deal is. Is it really that hard to remember which data you edited last? If you take the laptop and you've just done a restore on it, then the data is exactly the same, so even if you don't do any data entry, making a back up and then restoring shouldn't be any big deal. It takes seconds on my machine to do, copy to a flash drive, restore, and you are synchronized again.

[Terry Reigel 0]

I must say I am very surprised there is no synchronization tool and it needs to be added to the top of the wishlist.

I'm curious about what you would expect such a tool to do. If you copy your project to your laptop, make some changes on the laptop but none on your desktop, the backup/restore process works reliably. I would agree that a function to do this more automatically would be helpful.

 

If you add new people to the project on your laptop, and also do edits on other people on your desktop, in theory it would seem quite possible for a feature to incorporate these changes into a single project. In fact, you can do that yourself by merging the two Projects, then copying the new people from the laptop project to the main one.

 

However, if you are editing information about the same people on both machines, I don't see how an automatic synchronization function could deal with it. When you have edited the same fields in the same tags for the same people, how is the system to decide which to keep? Would you want it to automatically always keep the last-entered, without considering the possibility that the two independent changes might each have merit? I see this as an issue especially for Memos, which might contain several independant bits of data.

 

Even if this rule were accepted, it would require significant changes to the data structure. Currently, last edited data is kept only for each person. Implimenting such a rule would require keeping last edited date not just for tags, but for each field within a tag.

 

There are of course other areas where changes might be made and would need to be addressed in any synchonization function. They include Sentences; Source data and templates; adding, deleting, and sorting Citations and Witnesses; and editing Citations, Source Types, Tag Types and Styles, to mention those that occur to me. In order to develop a fully automatic syncronization function rules for resolving conflicts in each would have to be developed, then a means of tracking changes would need to be developed. I don't see either as simple to resolve, but I'd think it's the "rules" part that is more difficult.

At a family reunion I collected an entire new branch of data on the laptop, and am now faced with manually retyping the entire update as it has been noted there is no assurance of preservation of the existing data on the PC once I do a merge, import or restore.

If you have made no changes on the copy of the data on your desktop, it's a simple matter to copy the revised data from the laptop to the desktop. Even if you have edited the desktop project, there is no need to re-enter a new branch. You can copy them from the laptop project to the desktop project. To do that, you need to move the project to the desktop (unless you have a network connetion), merge the two projects (which results in two independant data sets in your desktop project, then copy the new line from the laptop data set to the main project. Finally, delete the data set that came from the laptop. Details for the merge process are in my article on Merging and another article talks about copying people from one one data set to another. The main point there is copy them all at once to avoid breaking the links between them.

[robmoff 0]

Dianne, I have been doing EXACTLY what you wish to do for two years using a small portable hard drive. No problems whatever. Simply copy your project to the new drive and then open it from there on each machine.