* Macbook using Crossover linking data from partition

[plantheaven]

Hi,

Me again! I had a major hard drive failure which I have now replaced. Instead of using a USB using Fat32 to keep my family history documents/images etc. I split the hard drive making one part a Fat32 drive on which to store all the data however, I cannot find the z: drive when trying to remap the links in FH. I asked Crossover but they said 'in FH click on open file and find the z: drive'. I cannot find anything that looks like this (am sure there are some eye rolls out there ) to make the connections. If you are wondering why I am bothering with Fat32 it is because it is :an easily accessible format when out with friends/family and they are using Windows and transfer of documents is easier (I am sure someone is going to laugh at this) at least that is my understand. Any suggestions?

Using Mackbook Pro running Mavericks on Crossover (latest edition) and Family Historian 6.2.

Jacqui

[Valkrider]

Jaqui

I use Crossover on my Air and have never bothered with a Fat32 partition and have no problems using Finder to drag and drop files to any memory stick. Portable drives are a different matter though.

As to your problem mapping the drive I don't bother mapping a drive I just use the browse function to browse my computer to find the Family Historian Projects Folder and then just map that as the project folder.

I think that you are making life complicated for yourself due to this fat 32 partition.

[mjashby]

Jacqui,

You won't see a "Z:" Drive on your Mac. It purely exists (or more properly is virtualised) within the Crossover (Wine) installation of Family Historian and points to your Mac System which it sees as part of a Computer Network. It replicates what would exist within a real Computer Network with Crossover applications being individual computers on a Network, and your Mac (including the virtualised "Z:" Drive) being the rest of the Network that it needs to communicate with. See Example Screen Grab below: (right-click on Grab.tiff and View Image.)

Grab.tiff (113.44 KiB) Viewed 15834 times

As far as your use of FAT32 for formatting this is only necessary for external USB Sticks/Drives; and is only useable with Drive/Partition sizes of up 32 Gb. The more common format for sharing data between Macs and PC' using larger external Drives is "exFAT", which can be read natively by both Mac OSX and Windows and was created to work with Drives larger than 32 Gb. The only recommendation that is generally made when preparing drives for sharing between Macs and PCs is usually to perform the initial disk formatting on a Mac rather than a Windows PC, as Windows systems seem to read/write to exFat Drives formatted by Macs much better than Macs tolerate Drives similarly formatted on PCs. It's not necessary for internal Drives on Macs or PCs to be formatted with FAT/exFAT unless the other system is physically accessing those Drives to read/write data directly and quite probably less efficient for performance and/or disk management, especially on a Mac.

Mervyn

[tatewise]

See http://www.howtogeek.com/235596/whats-t ... -and-ntfs/.

[tatewise]

In a recent discussion regarding GedSite with John Cardinal it seems that tiff files don't display on any web pages.

[mjashby]

Oops my error - But John is not 100% correct. They appear perfectly in my default Browser (Safari) but not in any other so, unfortunately, it's a Browser based limitation. The also the default image setting in Apple's 'Grab' application, but I'll reset for the future use. Here's the jpeg version which should help make sense of the thread:

Grab.jpg (108.01 KiB) Viewed 15804 times

[Valkrider]

@mjashby is that Crossover or Wine? I get the mapped drives like that in Wine but not in Crossover.

[plantheaven]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the advice and I have worked my way through everything. I have reformatted my split drive to exFAT but of course it still reads as Z: drive. Now when I try to remap FH closes completely???????? I really struggle with FH on the Mac and am unwilling to give it up but this could drive me to having to find another program. In the meantime I will have to go back to using a USB which is not ideal. Thanks again for all the advice.

Jacqui

[Valkrider]

Jacqui

As I said earlier you don't need a separate drive for this under Crossover your normal Mac drive is accessible and is the best solution.

My advice would be to let your Mac have all the disk space and then just have a Family Historian folder on your Mac in documents and then put your FH projects there.

[plantheaven]

I partition my Mac for several reasons, FH being only one, so will have to reconsider how much space I can give up to put FH on C: drive. In the meantime I seem to have completely messed up FH with the re-mapping because I cannot even get FH to remap to my USB, every time I click on the remap button it closes FH.

Jacqui

[tatewise]

Some of these questions may be irrelevant, but sometimes a new perspective helps.

I presume FH opens OK and displays your Project as normal, but simply shows all Media as X unlinked?

Usually if the Media use relative paths to the Media folder within the Project, then wherever the Project gets moved to, the Media folder and the paths follow, and should never need to use the Tools > External File Links > Re-Map button. Do you know if you usually use relative paths for Media or is this all just mumbo jumbo?

Does the File > Project Window > Location refer to the correct current path for all Projects and list them correctly?

If you use File > Project Window > More Tasks > Samples > Reset Sample Project does that yield a pristine Family Historian Sample Project with all its Media?

[plantheaven]

Hi Mike,

I cannot get any link in either GEDCOM or Project to remap. In fact just trying to add a new link to any media closes the FH program I have a separate folder with all my media in but is not contained within the projects folder. Please remember that although I have used computers since their inception they are still somewhat of a closed book to me! You would think that after all this time using FH I would have sorted all this out but it always seems to be the simple things that cause me the most trouble. Today I have seriously looked at buying a Windows laptop just for FH but cannot justify using two machines. Will I need to reload FH as something has obviously gone seriously wrong?
Thanks.
Jacqui

[tatewise]

Hi Jacqui,
It would help if you could confirm my assumptions and answer the questions I posed.

I presume FH opens OK and displays your Project as normal, but simply shows all Media as X unlinked?

Does the File > Project Window > Location refer to the correct current path for all Projects and list them correctly?
Can you open those listed Projects via that Project Window by using the Open Project button?

If you use File > Project Window > More Tasks > Samples > Reset Sample Project does that yield a pristine Family Historian Sample Project with all its Media?

If you can answer those successfully, then we can move onto the Tools > External File Links options.

[plantheaven]

Hi Mike,

I went through everything you said and reset the project but the links are still not there. Also, I tried to add media to see what would happen and again FH closed! I am going to use Time Machine to go back and see if that makes a difference.
Thanks.

Jacqui

[tatewise]

Jacqui, stop slow down - PLEASE just answer my questions explicitly one by one, as your general statements do not help me to help you.

It sounds like some setting more fundamental than media links is incorrect, and my questions are trying to discover what that might be. The more you fiddle with the system the worse you may make it.

[plantheaven]

Hi Mike,

Answers as per your questions:

• FH opens project as normal.
  Media as X unlinked
  File>Project Window>Location is correct
  I can open Projects using open project button.
  File>Project Window>More Tasks>Samples>Reset sample Project shows project NO media.
  
  Jacqui

[tatewise]

Thank you Jacqui.
That shows there is something very odd with simply copying the Family Historian Sample Project folders & files.
The master installed structure of its folders & files resides at:-
C:\Program Files (x86)\Family Historian\Samples\Family Historian Sample Project\...
That whole structure should simply be copied to your My Documents\Family Historian Projects folder, or whatever your File > Project Window > Location: happens to be.

In the Family Historian Sample Project.fh_data sub-folder alongside the Gedcom file should be the folders:-
Books
Cache
Charts
Media
Plugin Data
Settings
and apart from Plugin Data should all contain at least one file or folder.
So using Windows File Explorer can you identify which folders & files have not been successfully copied?
The whole Family Historian Sample Project needs about 13 MBytes most of which is the Media files.

[plantheaven]

OK Mike, time for a good laugh on your part - cannot locate C:\Programs..... etc. so thought I would open the project and see where it is saved but the project window will now not open. I swear I am cursed, everything I touch (electronic wise) goes wrong, my husband laughingly calls it my 'magnetic personality'. Perhaps I would be better off going back to paper and pencil.
Anyway, if you have any suggestions (through gritted teeth no doubt) as to where I might locate said sample project that you would like me to copy across I would be grateful. I then suggest you pour yourself a stiff drink!
Thanks.

Jacqui

[tatewise]

Jacqui, we are considering two very different folders:-

1. C:\Program Files (x86)\Family Historian\ or maybe C:\Program Files\Family Historian\
   is where the Family Historian program is installed, so take great care not to modify anything here.
2. ...\My Documents\Family Historian Projects\
   is where your Project data, Gedcom, Media, etc, is stored.

A Crossover expert may be able to better advise the exact paths for those two folders, and whether the Programs Files folder may be hidden, and how to reveal it. I presume you have to use the Crossover file Finder dialogue.

Do NOT copy anything. I did not suggest you copy anything. Just identify what files are or are not present.
I am trying to discover what FH cannot completely copy from the installed Sample Project to your Project folder..

[Valkrider]

Mike & Jacqui

I am running Crossover v16 on my Mac Air.

The location of my projects is in My Documents\Family Historian Projects. This folder is physically located on my Mac in Documents/Family Historian Projects.

The C drive is physically at 'username'/Library/Application Support/Crossover/Bottles/Family Historian 6/drive_c

I hope that this helps. If you need more let me know.

[plantheaven]

Thanks Colin, located it straight away!! Mike, the Family Historian sample project fh data file contains all those listed BUT the GEDcom file has only 85 bytes the size of the other files is - (or none).

[tatewise]

OK, so now you have found the two Family Historian Sample Project.fh_data sub-folders.
One in the .../Program Files\Family Historian\... installation folder, and one in your Documents/Family Historian Projects/... folder.

What I would like you to do is look in each folder and sub-folder, and investigate what has been copied from the installation folder to your projects folder, and what has not, by carefully comparing them side by side. Do NOT copy anything.

The size of the Family Historian Sample Project.ged or Gedcom File should be 143,958 bytes.

I suspect you are not looking at that Gedcom File, but at the Family Historian Sample Project.fh_proj or Family Historian Project File that is only 85 bytes, but it is NOT inside the Family Historian Sample Project.fh_data folder, it is alongside it in the parent Family Historian Sample Project folder with the Public folder.

Please take care you are comparing each item in the installation folder against the matching item in your project folder.
I understand it is slightly confusing that there is a Family Historian Sample Project folder and a Family Historian Sample Project.fh_data folder inside it, plus two files with the name Family Historian Sample Project one in each folder. However, they should have different coloured icons to distinguish them, and they have different file extensions and descriptions.

Just take you time, and check you are comparing like for like, and remember to check each folder and its file contents.

[plantheaven]

Hi Mike,

Just to be sure of what I am looking at I have taken a screen shot of the files inside the FH Sample Project file. I believe this is where you want me to look but I see no GEDcom file there and the project file is not openable. The second screen shot shows the files inside the project data file. Not sure what exactly I am looking for I am afraid.

[Valkrider]

Jacqui

Adjust your screengrab to get png's or jpg's not tiff's then they can be seen without downloading. Instructions are at http://ce4.theturninggate.net/2012/08/2 ... -mac-os-x/

[tatewise]

Yes, those are the correct files, but do NOT open anything except a Folder.
The Gedcom File is the one ringed in red with .ged extension and labelled Gedcom File on the right!

Screen shot inside project data file.png (29.42 KiB) Viewed 15553 times

You should be able to find two almost identical listings just like that:-
1) within the .../Program Files/Family Historian/Samples/Family Historian Sample Project/... installation folder.
2) within your .../Documents/Family Historian Projects/Family Historian Sample Project/... project folder.
The one in 2) should be an identical copy of 1) but I suspect it is not.

Open each Folder in turn in both 1) and 2) locations:-
Books
Cache
Charts
Media
Plugin Data

and compare whatever is listed for 1) with whatever is listed for 2).
If possible use screenshots to illustrate any differences.
I suspect at least the Media folder contents will differ, but maybe some others too.
I am trying to discover what did not get copied from 1) to 2).