System Crash - unable to restore Poppeeper from backup

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Cynyster
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Joined: Sat May 21, 2016 4:28 pm

System Crash - unable to restore Poppeeper from backup

Post by Cynyster »

Hello Gang. I am sad to report my main computer that I was beta testing PopPeeper has died this past weekend. R.I.P.

I am trying to set PopPeeper back up on my second system while I await my fancy new machine to be built.

I have Loaded the beta on my second system and I am trying to restore everything from a backup I made the day before the crash.

However it is not showing that I have the "PlusPack" Installed

Do I need to install version 4 activate the plus pack first... Then Install the beta... Then restore my backup?

Or is there something I am missing.

I know I purchased the triple pack v5 Beta Promo.

Thank you for you assistance
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Jeff
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Re: System Crash - unable to restore Poppeeper from backup

Post by Jeff »

One of the advantages of PPv5 is that you are able to install the Plus Pack as long as it's activated.

If you go to:
main menu: Tools / Activation
First, make sure that the "Plus Pack" says activated (if not, then you need to activate it);
then, at the bottom, make sure that "auto-update: check for missing and updated components" is enabled;
then, press Close and it should prompt you to update the Plus Pack within a moment or two.

Cynyster wrote: Tue Aug 25, 2020 5:40 pm from a backup I made the day before the crash.
Fortuitous or planning for the inevitable?
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Cynyster
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Re: System Crash - unable to restore Poppeeper from backup

Post by Cynyster »

Thank you for the quick reply.
PopPeeper is already activated
I have checked the box but nothing happens.
I have restarted the application but the box is unchecked on restart of the App.
(I also do not have any accounts set up if that matters I was hoping just to restore the all at once)

Sunday is my backup day. I backup setting for each and every application I have on my system (over 200)

I am an old school IT Admin. I have been burned far to many times by hardware failure to not take a couple hours every Sunday to make sure I not only have backups but my backups are backup to drives I keep in a fire-safe (in case the house burns down).

Again Thank you for the quick reply
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Jeff
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Re: System Crash - unable to restore Poppeeper from backup

Post by Jeff »

Ok, I think I've been able to duplicate this and it looks like it may be due to some bad caching of the new version info (good thing it was found now...).

So try doing this to fix it:
1) In PP, go to main menu: Tools / Options / Storage
2) Double-click on the words, "Data path" at the top -- this will open File Explorer to the appropriate folder
3) Exit POP Peeper
4) In the File Explorer window from step #2, find and delete the file named:
PPInfo.txt
5) Restart POP Peeper
6) Go back to my previous instructions of Tools / Activation and tick "auto-update: check for missing..." and press Close and it should work now
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Cynyster
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Re: System Crash - unable to restore Poppeeper from backup

Post by Cynyster »

4) In the File Explorer window from step #2, find and delete the file named:
PPInfo.txt
Sadly there was no file there to delete.

Also it should probably be noted that during the install, I chose the option to use the datafile in the program directory. Not in the user profile. To Accomplish this I had to give my User read/write permission to the folder.

BUT... I did do a complete search of my system and found that file in c:\programdata\Pop Peeper & c:\Users\All Users\PopPeeper Both of which disappeared when I closed PopPeeper.
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Cynyster
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Re: System Crash - unable to restore Poppeeper from backup

Post by Cynyster »

I have resolved the issue, but I think my creativity robbed us from finding out what was going on.

It occurred to me, that I am also running the beta on my USB "portableapps" drive with different accounts being checked. ( I use it to check 4 accounts while I am at work)

So I copied the directory off my USB drive to my computer location. Reactivated it.
Used the utility to restore from my back up.
I had to reactivate it again

But it is now running normally as I had it on the dead machine
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Jeff
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Re: System Crash - unable to restore Poppeeper from backup

Post by Jeff »

Also it should probably be noted that during the install, I chose the option to use the datafile in the program directory. Not in the user profile. To Accomplish this I had to give my User read/write permission to the folder.
I'd recommend not installing POP Peeper in the Program Files folder if you want all your PP files in one place. Granting read/write access is better than providing PP admin rights (which is what a lot of people do in that situation), so I won't try to push that recommendation too much in this case :) However, there's an indication it may not have been setup as you think...
Cynyster wrote: Tue Aug 25, 2020 7:30 pm BUT... I did do a complete search of my system and found that file in c:\programdata\Pop Peeper & c:\Users\All Users\PopPeeper Both of which disappeared when I closed PopPeeper.
POP Peeper (v5) will use the \ProgramData\ folder for the ppinfo.txt file if the provided data provider is not writable (hence my "however" in the previous paragraph). So this file was very likely being used and deleting that would have fixed it.

As for it disappearing... are you sure? I barely remember adding the code to use the ProgramData folder, so I could be wrong, but I don't think PP ever tries to delete the PPInfo file; and a quick check in the code supports this, too.

Also, I'm fairly certain that C:\users\all users\ is like a symlink to the ProgramData folder, so what you see in those 2 folders will always be the same. ProgramData is the folder that modern WindowsOS uses.


Anyway, glad you got it resolved, and there's still strong support that what I fixed today (regarding the cached ppinfo.txt) would have fixed the problem you had, so it's win-win (-win).
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Cynyster
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Re: System Crash - unable to restore Poppeeper from backup

Post by Cynyster »

I'd recommend not installing POP Peeper in the Program Files folder if you want all your PP files in one place. Granting read/write access is better than providing PP admin rights (which is what a lot of people do in that situation), so I won't try to push that recommendation too much in this case :) However, there's an indication it may not have been setup as you think..
My usual computer setup follows a rather specific model. (Of course that model is thrown out the door for this temporary setup here)

C-drive is setup as the OS Drive and I only install Microsoft related applications on it.
D-Drive is setup as my Application drive which is divided between 2 folders "Programs" and "Games"
(Pop Peeper lives in D:\Programs\PopPeeper)
E-Drive is an entire drive dedicated to "My Documents"
And last but not least
F-Drive ... My RAID (Drobo) Mass Storage Drive where all my backups and media Resides (Approximately 50 Terabytes)
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Jeff
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Re: System Crash - unable to restore Poppeeper from backup

Post by Jeff »

That is eerily similar to my own setup... I also put Games on D: (but other programs go on H:) and Media on F: and Documents on E:. Then I have another internal drive for backups; and another external drive for another backup. I won't go through all 15 drive letters I'm using... :|
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Cynyster
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Re: System Crash - unable to restore Poppeeper from backup

Post by Cynyster »

Well done :)
I tend to be a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to IT but the closest I get to being a developer is writing batch scripts.
(chuckles)

Databasing and Programing are out of my wheelhouse.

Again, Thank you for your help! and keep up the great work with this project.
I love the program and use it constantly.

Cheers =D>
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