I have moved the BOINC folder from machine to machine before with no issues.

Had a situation where a computer was getting shutdown and removed, it still had work on it so I moved the BOINC folder from it to the new machine that was to replace it.

I fired up no problem at all. It even updated to reflect the new computer in my computer list. I was thinking I would have to merge hosts, but nope, it did it all on its own.

I would stay with the same OS, Xp to Xp or 2k to 2k

My 2c

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Remeber. the Usb stick is flash and has only a certain number of write cycles

iam not aware of playing about like that with the windows client. I have a linux workstation that runs boinc of the stick. but its an archive that is unpacked into a ramdisk, so whenever the setiapp writes to disk, i dont use my usb stick. If boinc is finished, the client is stored back to usb stick archive

I showed my friend the SETI crunching data and he was amazed and wanted to get involved. One problem, he doesn't have internet access.

If I were to install BOINC and SETI onto a memory stick with his own account and download some work units for him to crunch on, can he just take it home, copy the program over to his hard drive then crunch the data. Then when he's done with the data and wants more, he just copies over the BOINC folder that he copied over (with the results) and hands me the memory stick. I shut my BOINC and load up his from the memory stick and upload results and download more etc.

Would this work?

Thanks
Jack

Hi Jack:

You may want to try a U3 memory stick. These allow you to to intall any program on them and run the program from any computer with the same OS.

Franz

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I think you should be able to. The only catch is that it might shorten the life of the USB drive. They have a limited number of writes that can be done before they "wear out". Granted, it is usually around a million but boinc tends to be rather chatty to the drive it is running from. It writes the client_state.xml file every few minutes plus the seti@home application also writes its status files fairly often. Depending on the size and make of the USB disk it might last a couple of years or a couple of months. Although at a price of $10 for a 1 GB I guess this may really be a non-issue :)

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A member of The Knights Who Say NI!
For rankings, history graphs and more, check out:
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Couldn't you run boinc and seti right off the stick? This would prevent the need for all that copying. Plus you can run it on other computers as well. The only catch is that you might need to have a copy of the registry entry to run on other PCs.

BoB

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Do you Good Search for Seti@Home? http://www.goodsearch.com/?charityid=888957
Or Good Shop? http://www.goodshop.com/?charityid=888957

thats right i do that as well. install boinc in a different folder like boinc-friend/ and make your settings there. make sure not to run 2 boinc at a time.
copy the client to the stick. Set the network access times to 10 days in order to recieve enough WU's. If finished, start the boinc off the memory stick and upload the results. ( set network mode to always)

No it would not. To prevent some of the easier ways to cheat Boinc does not currently support this, it has been asked for, many times, but the security issues are still paramount. Work units are tied to the pc thay downloads them. There are work arounds, but you will have to find them on your own.

Are you sure about that?

WUs are tied to the client installation that crunched them.
You can move a client to a different host and continue crunching there.
Just don't run 2 copies of the same installation in parallel, this will create problems.
The host you copied the data from may not continue crunching before you return with your usb stick!

I don't know if the GUI supports being moved around, but the command line client (boinc.exe) doesn't care.

Just do a "boinc -update_prefs http://setiathome.berkeley.edu" to trigger an update and upload/download new WUs.

Regards Hans

P.S:
Don't move installations around between windows and linux!
The client detects a platform change and resets the project, causing a loss of all crunched WUs.

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I showed my friend the SETI crunching data and he was amazed and wanted to get involved. One problem, he doesn't have internet access.

If I were to install BOINC and SETI onto a memory stick with his own account and download some work units for him to crunch on, can he just take it home, copy the program over to his hard drive then crunch the data. Then when he's done with the data and wants more, he just copies over the BOINC folder that he copied over (with the results) and hands me the memory stick. I shut my BOINC and load up his from the memory stick and upload results and download more etc.
Would this work? Thanks Jack

No it would not. To prevent some of the easier ways to cheat Boinc does not currently support this, it has been asked for, many times, but the security issues are still paramount. Work units are tied to the pc thay downloads them. There are work arounds, but you will have to find them on your own.

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I showed my friend the SETI crunching data and he was amazed and wanted to get involved. One problem, he doesn't have internet access.

If I were to install BOINC and SETI onto a memory stick with his own account and download some work units for him to crunch on, can he just take it home, copy the program over to his hard drive then crunch the data. Then when he's done with the data and wants more, he just copies over the BOINC folder that he copied over (with the results) and hands me the memory stick. I shut my BOINC and load up his from the memory stick and upload results and download more etc.

Would this work?

Thanks
Jack