* New PC - No Cd Drive

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David_Lewis
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New PC - No Cd Drive

Post by David_Lewis »

Unfortunately my 8 year old Sony Viao laptop died on me over Christmas requiring me to purchase a new laptop. Unfortunately I didn't notice that new laptops don't have CD drives anymore. seems everything has to be downloaded via the web these days.
I have been running FH version 5 and was wondering if it is possible to download a version from the web and enter the original registration key? or is perhaps time to upgrade to version 6.
Fortunately I don't have any media files to worry about and I regularly backed up my projects on to a USB stick so I'm hoping the recovery will be just a matter of restoring the backups.
any advice gratefuly received.
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tatewise
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Re: New PC - No Cd Drive

Post by tatewise »

David, could you explain exactly what FH installation media you have. The lack of CD drive is not a problem.

See the how_to:reinstall_family_historian|> Family Historian Installation Advice.
The how_to:family_historian_installation_details#installation_process|> Installation Process explains how to cope with no CD drive.
Note that you now do NOT have to install from FH V2 upwards, but simply install the FH Upgrade V4 to V5 with both the V4 and V5 licence keys.

Although you have Project Backups, they do NOT include any preference or customisation settings for Diagrams, Reports, Queries, Plugins, Facts, etc, etc. So if you have not used the Backup and Restore FH Settings Plugin you will have to recreate those settings from scratch.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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David_Lewis
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Re: New PC - No Cd Drive

Post by David_Lewis »

Hi Mike, Thanks for the speedy reply. I don't have any Media to worry about I.e no photos or scans of certificates or census records.
I purchased a complete version 5 (not an upgrade) so have the CD and of course the registration Key.
I'm hoping I can download the 30 day trial version from here http://www.family-historian.co.uk/downl ... ad-archive and then insert my registration Key. Will this work?
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David_Lewis
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Re: New PC - No Cd Drive

Post by David_Lewis »

I tried downloading the 30 day trial and then entering the 36 character registration key that came with my original purchase. unfortunately that didn't work :cry: :cry: :cry:
Any suggestions or is it a case of purchasing and downloading the latest version?
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LornaCraig
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Re: New PC - No Cd Drive

Post by LornaCraig »

David,
Did you follow the links Mike gave you in his reply? In particular the second link, which as he said explains how to cope with no CD drive. This is the relevant paragraph:
If you only have an Installation CD, but your new PC is a Netbook/Laptop with no CD drive, then on any PC with a CD/DVD drive, copy the entire contents of the Installation CD onto a USB pen drive memory stick and install from that instead by running the Setup file.
So you will need to get access to another PC/laptop temporarily to copy the contents of the CD onto a USB stick.
Lorna
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David_Lewis
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Re: New PC - No Cd Drive

Post by David_Lewis »

just a quick update
the 30 day free trial of version 5 downloaded without problem
I saved all my projects to a usb stick under a folder called Family Historian Projects so changed the location to this folder and the trees loaded in the main correctly.
The one small snag is that I use a lot of Flags in my projects and use icons on the trees to indicate if that Flag is present. One of my projects is the line of succession to the british throne. There are many descendents of other nations thrones in the line of descent and I use flags on the trees to help trace those lines.
For example the present king of Norway and his ancestors have a flag called Norway set up.
Now the Flag is set on their records but the icon on the charts is missing. I think this is because the icons were stored on the old c drive under family historian rather than on the usb.
is my understanding correct?
its no big deal recreationg the icons again but if I could recover them from the old pc it woyuld save a bit of time.
many thanks
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David_Lewis
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Re: New PC - No Cd Drive

Post by David_Lewis »

hi Lorna,
That seems like a way forward. My daughter still has a CD drive and I have a spare usb stick so will give that a go.
Many thanks.
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LornaCraig
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Re: New PC - No Cd Drive

Post by LornaCraig »

Now the Flag is set on their records but the icon on the charts is missing.
It is the customisation of the diagram box conditions that is missing (although the icons themselves may well need to be restored/re-created as well). The problem is that you have in the past created a customised diagram type in which the display of the icons is conditional on the corresponding flag(s) having been assigned to individual records. The flags are stored in the Gedcom file so they are still there. But the free trial version of V5 comes with basic installation settings and does not contain your specially tailored diagram type.

It is recommended that you regularly use Mike's plugin Backup and Restore Family Historian Settings, which backs up all such customisations. Have you ever run that plugin? If so, did you keep a copy of the backup file it created anywhere other than on the old (defunct) laptop? If you did, you can use the plugin to restore your settings once you have a fully operational version of FH on the new laptop. (The trial version does not support plugins). Otherwise I'm afraid you will need to re-create the diagram type from scratch.
Lorna
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tatewise
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Re: New PC - No Cd Drive

Post by tatewise »

David, as Lorna says, you will need more than the Icon files, as you will also need the Boxes Flag Conditions for the Diagrams.

You say you can recover from the old PC.
If it can run, then use the Backup and Restore FH Settings Plugin to create a backup of all customisations.
If you only have access to the C:\ProgramData\Calico Pie\Family Historian folder, then take a copy of that across to the new PC, but it may NOT include the Boxes Flag Conditions for the Diagrams if you only customised the Standard Core Diagrams that are held in the Windows Registry.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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David_Lewis
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Re: New PC - No Cd Drive

Post by David_Lewis »

Many thanks Mike and Lorna.
I followed the advice above and managed to copy the cd on to a memory stick. I then managed to install version 5 on my new laptop.
I can access my projects and all looks ok apart from the issue with the flags and ive lost a custom query I had created which generates my line of succession to the british throne. neither is a huge problem as they can easily be recreated.
my old lap top is having the data recovered and put onto an external hard drive so I should be able to try the remedies above to recover the flags and custom query.
I did make regular backups of the whole projects to memory stick. I was hoping that recovering the last back up may also have restored the flags and the custom query but if I have understood correctly that may not be the case.
I notice that when I did a back up of the whole project in the past something like 14 files are copied. I can understand one being the gedcom file but wonder what the others are?

many thanks for your excellent support. much appreciated.
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tatewise
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Re: New PC - No Cd Drive

Post by tatewise »

David, there are potentially many files in the Project folder structure.
See how_to:v4:understanding_projects#project_structure|> Project Structure.

You are correct that Project Backups do NOT include custom items such as Icons, Diagrams, Queries, Reports, etc.
See how_to:move_settings|> Move Family Historian Settings and Projects.

Have you checked which FH V5 was installed, and if necessary installed the free upgrade to V5.0.11 from the http://www.family-historian.co.uk/downl ... ad-archive.

BTW: Save the memory stick copy onto your hard disk drive to form an archive for future use.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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victor
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Re: New PC - No Cd Drive

Post by victor »

Years ago I bought a netbook. This had no DVD drive but I bought an external DVD drive which I could attach to the netbook. Such a drive may still be available. If so that could solve your problem.

Thanks for the reminder. I am now wondering where my external DVD drive is! I still have the netbook but haven't used it for years.

Victor
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David_Lewis
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Re: New PC - No Cd Drive

Post by David_Lewis »

Sadly I cant get access to the original Family Historian program directory but that isn't proving to be a major problem.
The only thing I'm now having difficulty with is trying to locate the original icons (dots, Triangles, and arrows etc) so that I can use them with flags. I use a number of my own icons (mainly national flags) which are stored in separate Flags directory on my memory stick but I cant see how to get back to the original icons.
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tatewise
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Re: New PC - No Cd Drive

Post by tatewise »

David, by "original Family Historian program directory" do you mean the glossary:family_historian_program_data_folder|> Family Historian Program Data Folder on your old laptop, usually found at C:\ProgramData\Calico Pie\Family Historian\ but often hidden, and revealed by the method given in the above advice.

Was your old lap top data recovery onto an external hard drive successful?

If you have successfully installed FH V5.0.11 on the new laptop, then all the standard icons will be in the C:\ProgramData\Calico Pie\Family Historian\Icons folder as they always were. Can you explain what commands you are using to try and locate them and associate with flags.

Perhaps the problem is not so much the icons but that you have not migrated custom Diagram Types from the old laptop C:\ProgramData\Calico Pie\Family Historian\Diagrams\Custom folder to the new laptop, and thus the Box Conditions for Record Flag features are missing.

The process for dealing with your own flag icons in a separate directory is covered in how_to:move_settings#diagram_icons|> Diagram Icons and require those Record Flag features to reselect their icons. You may also be suffering from missing custom Diagram Types here too.

Maybe you have forgotten how Record Flags and Icons are associated in Diagram Options.
See how_to:using_flags_and_icons_and_expressions#using_icons_and_other_features|> Using Icons (and other Features).
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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