I have DOpus 9.1.1.6 installed on both my desktop and my laptop, both running WinXP Pro SP2. Last night, I very stupidly managed to zap most of the files in my Documents and Settings directory (don't ask! ). Fortunately, I had a pretty new full image backup, and I was able to transfer the thousands of missing D&S files back onto my desktop. However, before I did that, I think I tried to open a directory and DOpus acted as if this was the first time I had used it and asked a few preliminary questions. I'm not sure whether that's why DOpus didn't find the old configuration information once I transferred it to my desktop, but it didn't. All my settings are gone: Toolbar configurations, configurations about how I want specific directories organized, appearance, everything.
Since I also have DOpus 9.1.1.6 on my laptop, I thought I would simply find the appropriate files and transfer them. However, I can't figure out what and where these files are. I looked in the User's Manual and was told the info is now all in XML format in files with names like dopusdata, dopuslocaldata, and dopusglobaldata. But I can find no such entities on either of my computers.
I'd be most grateful if someone could tell me exactly what I have to do to find the information on my laptop. If there's anything special I need to know about transferring these files to my desktop, I'd greatly appreciate that information as well.
Directory Opus 9 has a full Backup & Restore Configuration Wizard. This lets you export all of your Opus settings, including Preferences configuration, Toolbars, Images, Sounds, File Types and more, and then re-import them at a later date or on another machine and to a USB Key.
Thanks VERY much, Christiaan, for your prompt and very helpful response. I don't think it would be a good idea to do a backup and restore, since the folder organization on my laptop is different from that on my desktop. However, the information provided in the link you posted gave me pretty much what I needed to know. Just to be sure before I do something (else) stupid, let me double check the following. The /dopusdata file is actually called userdata.omd and the /dopusglobaldata is globaldata.omd, right? These are the files I found on my laptop. Is that correct? I'm a little uncertain, especially since the files on both computers are the same size and both carry today's date. Are these files created on the fly when they're requested?
No, /dopusdata and /dopusglobaldata are directories, not files. They normally contain many sub-directories (with many files below them) in addition to the two you mentioned.
Thanks, Leo, for your response. So should I move these directories from my laptop to my desktop to replace all the lost configurations, or is there something else I should move instead?
Thanks to the information supplied by Christiaan and Leo, I've succeeded in transferring my DOpus settings from my laptop to my desktop. I was reluctant to use the export feature, since the username on my laptop (and thus in lots of Documents and Settings paths) is different from the one on my desktop. Instead, I copied the contents of /dopusdata, /dopusglobaldata, and /dopuslocaldata to my flash drive, and then selectively transferred the contents to my desktop. I suspect it would have been just as fast to start from scratch and redo all the settings, but.... Anyway, I'll now be sure to back up this information just in case .
Copying the config files from machine to machine is the same as doing a backup & restore, except you can be a bit more selective about what you copy, of course. So what you did wasn't wrong but it may have been more complex than neccessary.
Except for things like Folder Formats (ones which are saved for particular folders) and the folders pointed to by Favourites, Layouts, etc., there shouldn't be any direct reference to usernames or Documents and Settings paths.
All of those things are easy to modify and won't stop Opus from running (you'll just get an error message if you open a layout pointing to a folder that doesn't exist, then get to navigate to a different folder, etc.).
So, generally, importing your config between machines/users is safe and, for most configs, it's easier to clean-up a few paths afterwards than to manually copy/merge the config files.
You can make the import/export more seamless by using aliases which point to machine/user-specific folders so that when you import a config you only have to update the aliases you made. (There are lots of built-in aliases which automatically work out the correct path and may mean you don't even need to create additional ones of your own.)
Thanks, Leo, for your very helpful follow-up message, and thanks to Jon as well. I guess I'm glad to know that I could have used the Backup & Restore feature even though the paths are slightly different on the two computers. Thanks too for the suggestion about aliases. I suspect that won't be necessary, since I plan to back up both computers' configurations, just in case I need to restore them.
Glad it's working for you - and I'll admit to NOT having read every post and response here - but I'm MASSIVELY confused why you'd think that the built-in Backup & Restore feature wouldn't "exactly" fit the bill here...
What "path" differences do you care about? If you're logged on as a different user from old to new computer - do the settings go to the WRONG place? I don't think so, but I could be wrong - since I use "shared" configuration... otherwise - HEY JON, couldn't the RESTORE feature use %USERPROFILE% or whatever rather than a user specific path to copy in the config files?
@mulberry:
Just so you know, the Backup & Restore .OCB file is really a ZIP file with a different extension. It's good practice to get comfy taking regular backups of your config this way... especially if you TINKER with your config regularly trying out new things, it gives you an easy way getting back to your "golden" stable config without manually reversing out changes.
[quote="steje"]
Just so you know, the Backup & Restore .OCB file is really a ZIP file with a different extension. It's good practice to get comfy taking regular backups of your config this way... especially if you TINKER with your config regularly trying out new things, it gives you an easy way getting back to your "golden" stable config without manually reversing out changes.[/quote]
Thanks, Steje, for this helpful piece of advice. As for the questions you asked earlier in your message, I explained my reasoning earlier in this thread and others pointed out where I was probably needlessly concerned. So if you're curious, it's all there.
). Fortunately, I had a pretty new full image backup, and I was able to transfer the thousands of missing D&S files back onto my desktop. However, before I did that, I think I tried to open a directory and DOpus acted as if this was the first time I had used it and asked a few preliminary questions. I'm not sure whether that's why DOpus didn't find the old configuration information once I transferred it to my desktop, but it didn't. All my settings are gone: Toolbar configurations, configurations about how I want specific directories organized, appearance, everything.
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