Data File, Backup, and Setup Migration Issues

[elliots]

Mark,
Still learning. I wanted to set up FM on my Netbook computer for a trip I'm about to take. Installed FM on the netbook and stopped the portfolio wizard from setting anything up. Backed up my portfolio on my desktop computer and put the backup file on the netbook and tried to restore. Restore failed because of duplicate .dat files. I found that a bunch of .dat files got saved in a different directory than my main data directory, and did find about 5 files with identical names across the 2 directories. Tried "renaming" the duplicates by "files/save investment as" to give them unique names and deleted the old files (the duplicate ones I just resaved with unique names). Now when I tried to do a new backup, I get a "backup failed" error message with no indication of what's wrong.

First, will this method (backup on old, restore on new) work to get my data and setup on the netbook? The netbook is WinXp and the main computer is Vista -- will the registry entries from the backup be OK?

If so, then it appears that I need to:
1. Do a backup. Any suggestions on what's wrong? I do have a current backup before I started renaming and deleting .dat files so I could start fresh if you think that's best.
2. Restore on the netbook.
3. I'd like to get all the .dat files together. How do I move the 20 or so from one directory to another?

If not, I still need to get a backup going and clean up the .dat files. What's the right way to duplicate the setup on a new computer.

I was planning on using backup/restores to keep both machines in "synch." I guess another way to go would be to put a single set of data on a flash drive and move it back and forth? I would only use the netbook on infrequent trips (maybe 6 or 7 times a year).

[elliots]

Mark,
Wrote the previous late last night, then closed FM. When opened this morning, got traffic about missing investments, then a series of ERROR 13942. I've obviously seriously messed up the data so I think it's clear that I'll restore from a backup prior to my messing around. That leaves the questions about consolidating all the data into 1 directory, and moving it back and forth to the 2nd machine.

By the way, a suggestion. On the error 13942 you should provide a way to abort/cancel -- I had to click my way through a few hundred windows before I could get out.

[Mark]

Hi elliots,

Sorry to hear about the troubles... Your idea on how to transfer is correct. I'm guessing what went wrong initially is that your source computer had the same named investment files in multiple directories, and when you restored, you chose the option to restore to a "Specified Folder" instead of "Original Location". When you choose a Specified Folder, all investments will be put in that folder, no matter where they were originally. That would cause the error you described.

To put all your investments into the same folder, you do this from within Fund Manager. In the Portfolio Editor, select the investment in the wrong folder now, and do a "File / Save Investment As..." and assign it to be saved in your desired folder. You may need to give it a new filename if there is a conflict. It sounds like this is exactly what you did.

The error 13942 is not something I would expect you would ever be able to get. It is an indication that something internal to FM is not going right. If you haven't restored yet, and you are willing to share your data, I'd like to take a look into how you got that. If you are okay with sharing your data, please send me an email, by going here:

http://www.fundmanagersoftware.com/email.html

I can give you further instructions on sending your data in reply to your email.