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How Can I Move My SETI To A New Machine?
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Author | Message |
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Cruncher-American Send message Joined: 25 Mar 02 Posts: 1513 Credit: 370,893,186 RAC: 340 |
BIG32, one of my two crunchers seems to be having a disk problem - it gets scads of read and write errors, and certain programs fail utterly (wireless! and I have no Ethernet to where the machine is). So it runs SETI ok, but cannot communicate with Berkeley. (NB: SMART says the disk is ok, not even a caution from Crystal Disk Info, though it shows a high read error rate and write error rate (but no reallocation events or reallocation events or reallocated sectors). My question is, assuming I can get the data off the disk, what is the exact procedure to moving my BOINC program folder and data folder to a new hard drive - I am going to reinstall Win 7 on a new HDD, and then want to copy (as opposed to reinstall) as much of the SETI programs and data as possible. With emphasis on the data; I can reinstall Lunatics as before, if necessary, and then how do I copy the data? I plan on having the new machine also be BIG32, and use all default names for the BOINC directories, so naming should not cause a problem. Anybody have a procedure for doing this, in baby steps (because I am not so smart)? Thanks all... |
Joseph Stateson Send message Joined: 27 May 99 Posts: 309 Credit: 70,759,933 RAC: 3 |
I have used acronis true image in these exact circumstances to clone a disk. I think they have a trial version. As I recall Seagate (or maybe WD) provided a lame copy of Acronis that was good for cloning a disk in their retail version. You must run a surface scan to repair any file problems before booting the acronis (or whatever) CD and starting the clone process. Be sure to remove the old disk before rebooting. [EDIT] Just realized you want to reinstall 7. I highly recommend the following: First, fix any file problems, then download and run that still free upgrade to windows 10. You can select "keep my settings and programs". I have converted all my 7 machines to 10 even really old ones and they work fine. Windows 10 has a "reset" feature that reinstalls itself to a "clean machine" and where you get a new serial number and Microsoft remembers it for you (if you have a Microsoft account). That free 1 year upgrade seems to be good for life or until Bill Gates decides otherwise. |
Keith Myers Send message Joined: 29 Apr 01 Posts: 13164 Credit: 1,160,866,277 RAC: 1,873 |
Just copy the BOINC folder to some other media and put it back right where it was installed before on the new disk. For your Windows 7 machines that would be C:\ProgramData\BOINC as the default location that BOINC normally installs to unless you made a different choice during installation. After moving the directory, check that you have permissions to read and write to the directory and sub-directories just to be safe. Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association) |
Joseph Stateson Send message Joined: 27 May 99 Posts: 309 Credit: 70,759,933 RAC: 3 |
Just copy the BOINC folder to some other media and put it back right where it was installed before on the new disk. For your Windows 7 machines that would be C:\ProgramData\BOINC as the default location that BOINC normally installs to unless you made a different choice during installation. After moving the directory, check that you have permissions to read and write to the directory and sub-directories just to be safe. Are you sure you can still do that on a new installation? I recall classic SETI stopping people from transferring their project results to other users as some people were selling the results on ebay or trading between users. |
Keith Myers Send message Joined: 29 Apr 01 Posts: 13164 Credit: 1,160,866,277 RAC: 1,873 |
Just copy the BOINC folder to some other media and put it back right where it was installed before on the new disk. For your Windows 7 machines that would be C:\ProgramData\BOINC as the default location that BOINC normally installs to unless you made a different choice during installation. After moving the directory, check that you have permissions to read and write to the directory and sub-directories just to be safe. Absolutely, everybody does it all the time around here. Unless you are running BOINC << 5.0 or something. Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association) |
J. Mileski Send message Joined: 9 Jun 02 Posts: 632 Credit: 172,116,532 RAC: 572 |
BIG32, one of my two crunchers seems to be having a disk problem - it gets scads of read and write errors, and certain programs fail utterly (wireless! and I have no Ethernet to where the machine is). So it runs SETI ok, but cannot communicate with Berkeley. (NB: SMART says the disk is ok, not even a caution from Crystal Disk Info, though it shows a high read error rate and write error rate (but no reallocation events or reallocation events or reallocated sectors). I used to run an Enterprise Edition of Windows 7 and had to reload every 90 days. What I did was copy the BOINC folder from Program Files and ProgramData to a flash drive where I added 2 file folders I put the BOINC folders. Keep the 2 BOINC folders separate. I also added my video driver and BOINC install programs there too. Now you can install fresh windows (on a new drive if you need to) then you can drop the BOINC folders back into their respective directories. I then installed the BOINC installer like I'm upgrading. Now when you launch BOINC you start right were you left off. Make sure you install your video driver before starting BOINC. And if you have Lunatics installed, it will be still installed, you will not have to reinstall. |
Joseph Stateson Send message Joined: 27 May 99 Posts: 309 Credit: 70,759,933 RAC: 3 |
Just copy the BOINC folder to some other media and put it back right where it was installed before on the new disk. For your Windows 7 machines that would be C:\ProgramData\BOINC as the default location that BOINC normally installs to unless you made a different choice during installation. After moving the directory, check that you have permissions to read and write to the directory and sub-directories just to be safe. I guess when they let BitcoinUtopia provide humongous BOINC credits for bitcoin cash, that pretty much put an end to any credit trading morality. |
Keith Myers Send message Joined: 29 Apr 01 Posts: 13164 Credit: 1,160,866,277 RAC: 1,873 |
I'm not sure where you got the idea that there is lots of credit trading going on. It was never simple to spoof someone else's credit to yours because of the unique system identifier and user id in client_state and a few other files that had to be manipulated. Some projects alott a lot more credit per unit-time of BOINC processing. Nothing anyone can do about it as there is no mandate rule for credit awarding. And "credit-new"/"credit-screw" here at SETI certainly never helped. What the OP was asking for was a solution for a common problem where you have to install new hardware and simply want to preserve your work, system id and BOINC id so as not to make a new host and lose all your credit history for the original host. I had to do this very same thing when I corrupted my Linux installation and needed to completely re-install the OS. I saved the BOINC folders to a thumb drive and put them back after I was done with the re-install. Unfortunately, I missed a couple of file permissions on a few files and errored out some tasks before I could stop BOINC and fix the issue. Hence my warning about checking for executable status and file owner permissions. Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association) |
Bernie Vine Send message Joined: 26 May 99 Posts: 9954 Credit: 103,452,613 RAC: 328 |
Absolutely, everybody does it all the time around here. Unless you are running BOINC << 5.0 or something. I think you will find that Keith is saying that "everybody" transfers Boinc to new machines/HDD's in this way, NOT that everybody cheats. |
Keith Myers Send message Joined: 29 Apr 01 Posts: 13164 Credit: 1,160,866,277 RAC: 1,873 |
Absolutely, everybody does it all the time around here. Unless you are running BOINC << 5.0 or something. Yes, I can see now how my comment was transferred to a completely different topic. I was not saying everyone cheats, I was saying that is a very common procedure to re-install BOINC and your tasks. Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association) |
Cruncher-American Send message Joined: 25 Mar 02 Posts: 1513 Credit: 370,893,186 RAC: 340 |
Thanks for the suggestions, guys! For cloning, I have used clonezilla and Caspar in the past, both successfully. The problem is that cloning seems to take a long time. As a compromise between cloning and straight OS build + obnoxious app reinstalls, I have used PC Mover (after OS build, to move the apps over), and that has worked OK, too. And is overall faster than either cloning or build + reinstalls. And I don't have to worry about moving BOINC progs or data. Only problem is that I will have to buy (ugh!) a new license for it - hey, maybe they give a senior discount? |
Cruncher-American Send message Joined: 25 Mar 02 Posts: 1513 Credit: 370,893,186 RAC: 340 |
Here's an update. The problem was solved without any disk change/copy/clone. The problem was NOT with the disk "failing" - apparently, the wireless driver was somehow corrupted even though I deleted and reinstalled several times. Turns out that Seagate does its own thing with the SMART codes for seek errors, etc. that I was looking at (I Googled it), and uses them in an unorthodox manner. So the huge error counts meant nothing. So I decided to try a different wireless device. And when installed, I had (and have had) no repetition of the problems mentioned above. Computers can be so weird! |
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