OK. I'm busted. I don't have Dropbox, but made my comments based on extensive review of the documentation. I am very interested in implementing it or a similar program to keep my home system and netbook in sync for genealogy files. I have clearly misunderstood how it works.
I thought that Dropbox worked by having all of the files in a special Dropbox folder. In other words, for it to work the .fdb file, and any multimedia files, needed to be in the Dropbox folder on all connected machines. The 'result' of that would be that the files would not be in C:\Legacy\Data or anywhere else other than the Dropbox folder. Clearly, you have the files in three different places, none of them a Dropbox folder (I don't see Dropbox in the path anywhere) folder, and it works. I'll defer to the experts from this point on. Paul Gray -----Original Message----- From: Ron Ferguson [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: November-03-10 1:12 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] multimedia/pictures storage Paul, Leon is correct. I have DropBox installed on 3 machines: a Windows7 with my Legacy data placed in the User folder; a Vista Laptop with it placed in C:\Legacy\Data and and XP PC where it is in F:\Legacy\Data, F being an external drive. It works perfectly. The point is that Legacy is installed on each of the machines, and all one is changing is the content of the .fdb file and not its position in the Windows tree, i.e. its path on each machine. Ron Ferguson http://www.fergys.co.uk/ -----Original Message----- From: Paul Gray Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 2010 6:44 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [LegacyUG] multimedia/pictures storage Hi Leon, I think what you are saying is that my statement that the DropBox folder needs to be 'high up' in the folder structure is inaccurate. If I understand you correctly, when you installed the Dropbox folder in the (default) My Documents, Legacy worked equally well even when one computer was XP and the others Windows 7. That is great, not what I would have thought, but great nevertheless. As you know, the 'full path' to My Documents (or anything user specific) is different between XP and Windows 7. So, just for final clarification. If on the Win7 machine you create a link in Legacy to some multimedia file in My Documents/My Dropbox, it works (or worked) equally well in your copy of Legacy on the XP machine. True? Paul Gray -----Original Message----- From: Leon Chapman [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: November-03-10 9:34 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] multimedia/pictures storage I have been using Dropbox for both my database and multimedia files for about a year. I have had no problems on my Windows 7, 64 bit machine. I set up the Dropbox folder in its default location: c:/My Documents/My Dropbox/ I have three computers that I sync the files across with no problem. One machine was an XP, but I have since converted it to Windows 7. Dropbox files are also accessible on my iPhone and iPad. Dropbox provides an automatic (via syncing) backup of your critical files to other computers. You can also share files with family members by making folders public. I do this to share pictures with my family. I couldn't do without DropBox - I love it. Try it, you will like it. ___ Leon Chapman [email protected] ----- On Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 7:31 AM, Paul Gray <[email protected]> wrote: > I believe the best result will be achieved if both the working database > and multimedia are in Dropbox, That way, all of the data (fdb file and > multimedia) are kept in sync across two (or more) computers. Consequently, > the links to multimedia would be to the Dropbox folder. > > I also think for this to work, the Dropbox folder needs to be 'high up' in > the folder structure, much like C:/Legacy is. If it were at the user > profile level (i.e. where 'My' Pictures, 'My' Documents are) there are > more problems ensuring that the links are the same across two machines. > For example, I think even if you have identical user names on two > computers, the path to the user profile is slightly different in XP vs. > Windows 7. That would be enough for the links to not work on one of the > computers. > > A suggestion: > > Create the Dropbox folder in the root directory e.g. C:\Dropbox > > Move the following folders from C:\Legacy to C:\Dropbox > Data, Docs, Pictures, Sounds, Videos > > If you set up the same structure on both computers, any changes to your > Legacy file (including multimedia links) or the multimedia files > themselves the Docs, Pictures, Sounds, and Video files should be reflected > on both computers. > > You would need to tell Legacy that the location of the FDB file is now > C:\Dropbox\Data.......whatever, and redo any multimedia links that you > already have to the Dropbox folders, but after that should stay in sync > between the two computers. > > Of course, I welcome any comments on this proposal. > > > Paul Gray > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Kathy Meyer [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: November-02-10 11:12 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] multimedia/pictures storage > > Good point. The way I am setting it up now, my working database is in > my Dropbox but I'm planning to copy all my multimedia to the > c:legacy/docs (or pictures) folders. I would still keep my multimedia > in backup folders in dropbox but the link would actually be to the > C:legacy/folder Maybe it would be better to simply link to the > dropbox? Of course, either way will work; the main point is that if > you restore your backup at some point, the links will point to certain > folders that may not exist on the "new" computer. If you have the 2nd > computer set up exactly the same way, it should be fine; i.e., if > everything is set up in dropbox, it seems like it would be ok. > > Hope to hear from others on this. Kathy > > On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 8:44 PM, Roger Grua <[email protected]> wrote: >> Sherry, >> Could you comment on multimedia storage in light of the recent Dropbox >> thread? I am strongly considering Dropbox to sych my desktop and laptop. >> It sounds very easy, but what about the multimedia links?? Is there a >> need to do a backup/restore to the Dropbox folder to preserve the >> multimedia links?? Also, if the path to the Dropbox folder is different >> on each computer will that cause a problem? >> >> Thanks for your help (and anyone else). >> >> Roger Grua >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Sherry/Support [mailto:[email protected]] >> Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2010 3:37 PM >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] multimedia/pictures storage >> >> Kathy, >> >> There is a c:\Legacy\Docs folder for documents as well as >> c:\Legacy\Videos and c:\Legacy\Sounds for those files. >> >> You can make sub-folders to further organize your pictures, documents, >> sounds and videos. >> >> This really does keep everything together nicely if you have to >> restore a backup or move files to a new computer. >> >> Files in the multimedia backup will be restored to the folders they >> were in when you created the backup. This can pose a problem when >> you're moving to a new or different computer and if you've kept those >> files in the Documents folder because the file path will be different >> on a new or different computer. You can relink the pictures but why >> go to all that work if you can just save them in the respective >> sub-folders in c:\Legacy? >> >> Only those files which are linked to in Legacy will be in the multimedia >> backup. >> >> Some people like to save their data files and linked files to their >> Document folder for easier backup, but you should have no problem >> setting the c:\Legacy folder to backup also. That's how I handled my >> Windows backup and the restore went just perfect after my recent >> crash. >> >> >> Sincerely, >> Sherry >> Technical Support >> Legacy Family Tree >> >> >> >> On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 1:58 PM, Kathy Meyer <[email protected]> wrote: >>> I want to make sure I am understanding this properly before I progress >>> much further. >>> >>> 1 - It is best to store all of our multimedia (pictures/documents) in >>> the C:Legacy/Pictures folder >>> 2 - We can store all of these things somewhere else on our HD but if >>> we use Legacy on another computer, those items will need to be in an >>> identical folder/file (i.e., Documents/Family History/Brown family or >>> however we file our docs) >>> 3 - If we back up our file, including multimedia, it is stored as a >>> .zip file that we can unzip if necessary and all of our multimedia >>> items will be salvaged there >>> >>> Is this correct? Thanks, Kathy >> > -- > Kathy Meyer > "To reach a goal you have never before attained, you must do things > you have never before done." > --Richard G. Scott, "Finding the Way Back," Ensign, May 1990, 74 > > Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting > different results. ~ Albert Einstein Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
