Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Transferring to new computer

I am upgrading to a new computer, and want to transfer all my files including Amazing Charts and Dragon. The new computer will be the "main computer" for small network. The old computer uses XP Professional. I have an external drive with 300 GB storage. Do I individually pick the program files, document files I want to transfer, and R click to send to the external storage drive? Is there any way to just send everything without picking through the C drive?

Moving AC is a little more difficult, you cannot just copy the files. It depends on whether this is your "Main" computer or connects to an AmazingCharts database on a different computer. If it is your Main computer there is an option inside AmazingCharts to move the database. As far as upgrading to a new PC, the easiest thing to do is use PCmover from laplink.com. This automatically moves the documents, pictures, programs, etc. to a new computer with minimal fuss.

Kevin - The new computer will replace the older computer as my Main AC computer. How do I move the database?

Do a backup off the "old" computer and a restore on the "new" computer.

Then you have to go to AC utilities on each of the other computers and change where to look for the database.

This question has come up several times, I was able to successfully complete it with the method Wendell mentions above.

I started up a new section on the Amazing Charts Wiki, with detailed steps.

There is actually an option under Amazing Utilities to detach and move a database. I'm exploring this pretty soon so I'll let you know. I think I would prefer to restore a full backup so that I can always go back to the old computer.

I also want to transfer Amazing Charts files etc to a
"new" main which already has Amazing charts installed
on it as a client.

I assume the first step is to uninstall client AC from
this soon to be "main" and do a fresh install of AC
so that, using ryanjo's Wiki instructions, I can then
designate it as the new main, correct?

Correct, the new "main computer" has to have the full installation of SQL Express. The full installation means choosing "This will be the main computer" or "This computer will be taken off site..." at the start of installation.

I haven't tried this, but it may be possible to reinstall AC with the "main computer" setting over an existing installation (I have noticed this is an option when upgrading from 5.024 to 5.026 for example). So you may want to try this first, before uninstalling AC and starting over.

ryanjo

Well, first tried "overinstall" and no luck. Then did uninstall
(as best as could as it's not a simple one step process) and
then reinstall and follow your procedure. Unfortunately, this
also didn't work. Either I screwed up or your instructions work
well with a new install on a new "main" but not when AC client
previously installed. In any event, will schedule AC tech help.

Thanks

Bob

Post back on what eventually works so we can get it right.

1. Install AC on new computer
2. Use AmazingBackup on old computer to make a backup
3. Restore this to new install on new computer.
4. Go home and watch hockey.

The detach databases and reattach is basically for moving SQL databases on an existing computer to a different location as just copying and pasting them is not a good idea, although it can be done.

To just copy the whole computer and cloning it is possible, but you will be cloning to different hardware and hard drive sizes, which can take special software.

In the end, you will need SQL Express installed and you will want the MachineName\AmazingCharts instance to be connected correctly.

So, I always look at it this way. You have a new machine. So install a brand new AC. Completely clean. Then restore a backup copy.

I used Ryanjo's Wiki instructions and they worked well except you have to reset the path to the new computer before starting the Restore program, otherwise the program uses the last known path and restores to the old computer. I edited the directions to add this step. Works fine. I have a lot of things in the Imported Items so the backup took hours. It may have been faster to backup without the Imported Items and just copy the directory over after you restore.

Kevin

Ryanjo's instructions were logical but indeed I was stymied
by the transferred file wanting to restore back on the old
computer. Question before I tackle it again. Your addition
states..

1. double click on "Backup Restore Utility".
2. Click the Restore Database button, and select the ".enc" file created on your desktop to begin the restore.
3. After the restore is complete, open the AC folder (located in C: Program Files) and double click on "Amazing Utilities".
4. At the bottom of the window, click on Reset Paths,

The "click Restore Database.....begin to restore...after
restore is complete" as I remember is when it restored
back to the old computer. Shouldn't one go Amazing Utilities
and click Reset Paths (on the new computer) before clicking
Restore Database .enc file ??

Thanks

Ches,

If you want, I can remote into your server and set it up for you.
Anytime after 7PM tonight.

Bert

Your offer is above and beyond! I have scheduled a
AC tech call/appointment for next Friday. OTOH, If
your expression of generosity is also a desire for a
(minor) challenge, then sure. I like the hands on
approach. Okay, watch you work the magic.

Tonight after 8 PM would be fine for me or I'm free
a lot of the coming weekend too.

Thanks

I just did this and it was a breeze.
I Installed AC onto the new computer. Called it the main computer and created a dummy practice with one user.
Backed up AC on the old computer to a thumb drive and put it onto the desk top of the new computer.
Found the backup and restore utility on the new computer.
Restored.
Pointed the other computers on the network to the new computer's AC folder.
done.
Going home to watch the Redsox.

I'm glad several of you have found the Wiki steps useful. I'm hoping to get this method down accurately, since when I tried it several months ago, it was quite daunting without any info available (thanks to Steven, who really helped me though at that time).

I added letters to the paragraphs, so that anyone referring to the procedure could specify the paragraph letter & line number (ie: "step B-2").


Thanks Kevin & Ches, I changed this step in the Wiki.


This is a good observation. I included this in the Wiki as an optional step.


Also, has anyone tried to install AC on the new computer using "This computer will be taken off site..." option? I thought that doing this type of install, and then connecting to the old "main computer", and then doing a restore from .enc file on the new computer, would bypass the dummy practice step.

Another question for those of you trying this procedure -- if the new "main computer has the AC client already, must this be uninstalled before using the steps in the Wiki? Please post if you had to do that so I can update the procedure.

No. It just gets overwritten when you restore.

Bill, are you responding to my dummy practice question?

We're getting close to perfecting, or idiot-proofing, a better transfer protocol but of course a better idiot can always come along.

re setting up a dummy practice with one high level user. As I recall you are asked to name the practice as well as the high level user. My fear was this would usurp the practice and subscription description. Can we assume that "Restore Database" populates the "new main" dummy account with all of your original practice details (e.g. true practice name, address, other staff etc) as well as, of course, patient data?

(Bert- sorry I misinterpreted your post as a offer to "remote".
Thanks for updating the Wiki)

I might have misunderstood but I had AC running on my New computer but using the data base on the old computer. But I realize now that I had initially downloaded the SQL server using the "this will be the main computer" choice but then pointing it to the Old computer to find the data base. Then when I made the switch I just essentially copied the database from the old computer and restored it onto the new one. But before I restored it I pointed the AC on the new computer to the Amazing charts file on the new computer and created a dummy practice and dummy user just to get started. Then when I restored it all that dummy stuff was overwritten. I do not know whether I would have had to uninstall an AC that was downloaded initially without the SQL server or not. I am sure Joe or someone at the Guardian Angels could answer that question if that is what you are asking.

Yes, no matter what data you put in the dummy practice, Restore will overwrite it with your practice data.

Final question

Regarding my "old" main computer remaining on the network as a client. Does Reset Paths give you the option of finding the main location on the network. If automatic can I assume the "old" main won't find itself, not that there's anything wrong with that, but rather "Reset Paths" commands it to only look elsewhere on the network.

Always use Amazing Utilities "Reset Paths" on each "local computer" anytime you change the "main computer". So if you want to use your old "main computer" as a client, you do have to "Reset Paths" and direct it to use the database on the new computer.

When you log into AC, it displays the database location in the first window that opens.

Ches,
There is something dramatically "wrong with that". You must point your new client computer to the new data base or you will be working off of 2 data bases. All your computers MUST be pointing to the same database!

John & Bill

This will become clear to me when I go to "Reset Paths" on the old main computer. By this I mean, apparently I will be given a choice where to find the (new) main and can select it. My worry was if it's automatic it could select itself. Either that's not possible or you actually have command input at the "find" stage.

Anyway, thanks for all the input. This evening I'll go at it and report back.

Ches,

But......from what I have read, you are making this change path thing WAY too difficult.

Say you have x amount of clients and the old "main computer." The ONLY computer any client could connect to would be the main computer. Period. You could try all you wanted to connect to any of the other computers but you couldn't, because while they would have an AC folder and databases, the computer would not have SQL.

Now, you have purchased a new "main computer." So far, all clients are pointing to the old one. Fine. So, you install v5.x to the new computer:

We have talked about this above. Install v5 with SQL Server, run AC until it connects to database at the point of showing a brand new practice, restore latest backup, run Database tuner. You should be finished.

**Note: When you first connect to the SQL database, you will come to a screen that shows the green fields where you enter your practice data. You do NOT have to do anything there. At that point AC is connected to a database. All you have to do is restore which will save you all the time of setting up all those fields.

AT THIS POINT, you have two computers that have Amazing Charts, SQL Server and data. They are EXACTLY the same. Also at this point all of your clients are directed toward the old computer. So, the last step is to reset the paths. I think we are making this too difficult. If lightening, or a spilled cup of coffee on the computer can do it, I think we can do it.

The part where I hear you are having a hard time is "after I reset the database, how do I know it won't go back to the old computer?" Because you WON'T set it to the old computer. When you reset or take the client off the path to the old computer, it is now in never never land. It has no idea where the databases are. When you restart the client, it will ASK you where the database is. You then browse to the new computer.

There are a few ways to reset the path. One is to go into the folder on that computer, open Amazing Utilities, and choose reset paths at the bottom. This is confusing because of the plural as you are only resetting one path. This will ONLY reset that path. The next time you open it, it will ask you where to browse to, and you browse to the new server.

Another method which is must less known, is when you open AC and it opens to the first window where someone logs in, you can right click between your company name in bold black letters and Electronic Medical Record System just below it. This will ask you if you wish to reset the path. The one advantage to doing it this way (while admittedly a very small advantage) is it will first tell you what computer you are connected to and then the path where the Utilities method will only give you the path. Not much of a difference since the path generally starts with the name of the server. But not always.

Another method which really isn't another method, but it is helpful if you are changing the path of 20 computers is to share the Amazing Utilities file on your server so you can quickly browse there each time where it will be easy to locate.

Now, once you have connected all of the computers to the new server and since users should have the basic knowledge of how to reconnect if their coffee spills, you should do something to put the other computer out of commission. You can certainly still use it, but you don't want it do be available as a database. Granted, there are many ways to accomplish this, but I would simply suggest 1) unsharing it or 2) deleting its .xml file or 3) stopping and disabling the SQL\AmazingCharts service. Probably the easiest way would be to rename any of the three databases (either the .mdf or .ldf) to anything else such as meds.mdf.old. That makes that computer unusable as a database at least for that folder.

So, in summary again, install, open to new practice, restore, run database tuner and done with installation. Then simply reset or, more correctly, unset the paths on each client and browse to the new server.

Hey Bert, great tip. I didn't know that one.

Yeah, I only share it with the techies like you.

That's meant to be a compliment.

And taken as one!

BTW, I think most or all of the posts above are very good and make helpful points. There is certainly more than one way to accomplish this. I was hoping to sum it up. Not saying my way is any better than anyone else's.

Bert et al

Well, apparently I was able to mess it up again. Set up a dummy account on new computer of course, no problem. Then when went to step

C. On the old "main computer":

1. Run Amazing Backup (located in the AC folder at C:\Program Files\Amazing Charts).
2. Choose Step 2 "Backup In Vitro".

The "Old main" gave me an error message "Not connected to database".

Wonderful, since this was when I was supposed to next do an In Vitro backup to the new main. No database connection ergo no back up/transfer of file.

I suspect that under Wiki instructions B2 "reset paths" with Dummy practice, somehow this created a problem. Should have transferred old main files as in vitro backup to new main or thumb drive right from the get go?

At this stage I'm time limited and will let the AC tech guide me through the transfer Friday AM. I appreciate everybody's help and perhaps some understanding for future main transfers has come out of the thread.

Go to AC utilities on Old Main. Select connect to database and find your old database. At that point, you should be able to do a backup.

You do not need to reset the path unless you changing to another database on a different computer.

Then take the backup to another computer and use the restore program located in the main AC folder.

Mission accomplished. Transferred database from “old main” Windows XP computer to new Windows 7 computer as a “new main”. Bert remoted in and did a yeoman’s job. Switch accomplished without creating a dummy account. A few glitches encountered along the way such as.
1. After exporting “back up” file to new computer and then running “restore” on new computer AC program, the new program kept trying to restore back to the old main. (Clinging to the past?) Solution- temporarily unplugging the old main from the network then do the restore on the new main.
2. Could not reset paths of clients to new computer even though “shared files” were visible and all user permissions etc set correctly. Problem was firewall on new main. Had to make an exception for MSSQL$AMAZINGCHARTS instance and open port 6107. Once this was accomplished clients searched pathway, found and accessed new main database.
3. At this stage suggest checking each client to make sure it’s really connected to “new main”. On Amazing Charts go to Help then About then in the window make sure path listed is to new main computer. This might avoid some surprises later on.
4. Finally, I have subscribed to AC offsite backup. On the new main the Amazing Automator wouldn’t do it’s thing. I could manually back up off site from the new main but couldn’t set the automatic back up. I once again disconnected the old main from the network and then I could rev up the Amazing Automator on the new main setting a daily backup. Subsequently uninstalled Amazing Automator from old main. All is well.
If this makes sense, perhaps someone could add or edit the “How Do I” WiKi instructions accordingly.

Robert,

Great post. I was thinking why not just see if they connected, but the Help | About is a great idea. I just tried it. Very nice. Just to make sure others don't get confused, I think it is Port 61067.

Robert was great in picking up the firewall issue. He kept asking, and I kept saying it couldn't be it. The reason: All clients could "see" the folder and .xml file, just got error message. Plus, didn't even think of firewall on main server. But, the problem wasn't being blocked from the AC folder. It was connecting but being blocked from Port 61067. And, since it was incoming connections rather than outgoing, the firewall likely didn't open it automatically. PLUS, WIN7's firewall is VERY, VERY good compared to XP Pro. Bottom line is, my expert friends always tell me firewall, firewall, firewall.

The only thing I can think of as to why the restore file kept restoring back to the old computer over the network (which seemed very weird) was that maybe the .xml file was still contained in the backup and it followed that path. I am going to check that this weekend. But Robert's solution of "cutting the cord" so to speak (unplugging the Ethernet cable) or disabling the NIC card was perfect. I thought for sure we would get an error message.

Thanks again Robert.

There are a few ways to make a computer your "New" main computer. I'm going to go over the different ways step by step and throw in a few shortcuts along the way (We can always use shortcuts. anything to make life easier and less stressful).

Here is Scenario 1


New main computer is a brand new computer:

Get the installer for AC on that computer and make sure it is the same version as the main you already have. Whether this means downloading one or finding the one you saved from when you installed on the main.

Lets assume your downloading it, while it is downloading, start to make a backup of your database on your original main computer. We usually say that you should include your imported items and images with this backup but that is not always the best thing to do. This really depends on the size of your imported items folder. Rule of thumb is if your folder is larger then 10 gigs in size, your better off just copying the folder and pasting it on the new main computer. The backup would take longer to create then it would take to get it and move it to the new PC.

OK, shortcut number 1, when making the backup, for step 2, select a folder on the new main computer as this then relieves you of having to move it so many times. This also depends on the size of your backup and the speed of your network. You would not want to move something that is 10+ gigs in size over a slow network. It would be faster to just copy it to something like an external drive.

So now you have the backup and the installer on the new computer. You now need to install it onto the new main computer. when you are asked if you want to make this the main computer, select yes. Then pretty much click next through everything else.

Once you have installed amazing charts on the computer, you can't just go right to the backup restore utility. SQL has to be attached to something to restore or override something. So the first thing you do after installing is to start amazing charts on your new main computer. This will have you first find the XML file. The XML your looking for is the one located on your new main computer. Your essentially setting the path to itself. You want to restore to this computer so do not select the XML file on the old main computer. Remember, restoring will override the information of the computer that SQL is attached to. So if your attached to your old main computer which has the information you want, it would then try to override that information.

After setting the path to the new main computer, you will find that it is asking for you practice information. Basically you need to create a dummy database. so you can just type in a bunch of gibberish. nothing will remain from this dummy database after you have restored to the backup file. you do need to put in an admin password and create a user. Just put in the minimum requirements in there(everything that is red). when you hit next it will ask if you want to ad another user. don't add another user, only one is needed. Then you will be at the schedule screen. You do not have to add a schedule. Just hit next and it will take you to the finish button.

Now you've created a dummy database and are ready to restore. the restore utility is located in the amazing charts folder. Usually the folder can be found in C:\Program Files or for 64 bit computers C:\Program Files(86). If you selected a different location when installing, then it would be in there. Once in the folder you will find the backup restore utility. it will have an icon of a life preserver. when you start it up it will ask you to select the .ENC file(this is your backup you made earlier) you would like to restore to. browse to the file and it will start to restore.

Now there is a slightly different way of doing this for this scenario. instead of making the backup and moving everything over to the other computer, you can install on the new main computer and still chose "Yes, this is the main computer" then continue to make the dummy database. You can just sync, which does the exact same thing as a restore. It will override the dummy database with the correct information. Now this also depends on your database size and the speed of your network. If your database is very large, you can exclude your imported items and move them over like we did above and sync just the database.

Now if the computer you want to make the new main computer already has amazing charts on it, the steps are just slightly different. You do not have to uninstall the version you have. Just run the installer and select the "Yes, this is the main" option. This will install SQL and when you get to the installation of amazing charts, select the repair option. The rest is either going to be the backup restore option or the sync option above.


-Joe

Ches -- great news, thanks for the update.

Joe -- thanks for the official response

I updated the Wiki article with the tip to disconnect the old computer before Restore, and made a link to this topic for problem-solving.

@John Thanks for the work.

@Joe I thank you as well, but I still don't see the need to type something in the practice fields and enter a patient. Maybe I am missing something or will have a problem down the road, but once the program comes up ready for practice information, you can restore. It just seems like a waste of time to do otherwise. Please let me know if that isn't correct.