Quickest way to reinstall add-ons

[Dunk]

Hi,
My computer died last week, so I had to reformat it and reinstall BW.
At the same time I have just got another computer and am installing BW on that at the same time.
My question is, what is the quickest method of installing all of the add-ons to both computers?

Originally I had installed a bunch of modules by using Robin_Song's master installer which was a very fast way of installing all these modules. That isn't available anymore, and many more modules have been made since then anyway.

I am hoping there is some fast way to install and compile all the modules.
Does anyone have a fast method they can tell me?

Also, once I have set them up on one computer, is there way to then clone what I have done onto my 2nd computer?

Thanks
Dunk

[richardsugg]

Well, you're stuck this time, but I keep a "source tree" for user modules. I install the module or database twice: once to BW, and once to this source tree. The source tree is backed up so that if I have to reinstall BW, I can do it from the source tree.

[Dunk]

Thanks,
How does one go about making a source tree?
Dunk

[richardsugg]

Just pick a convenient directory besides the BW directory and install the modules there as well as in the BW directory. For example, make the directory c:\BWModules. Whenever you get a user module, install it in Bibleworks as you normally do, but then install it/extract it again to the c:\BWModules directory. Note that you'll need to have directories under it like databases, init, userdb, etc.

[Dunk]

Thanks Richard,
once that's done, does that mean it only has to be dragged and dropped into any new installations of BW's, without having to compile them again?
Duncan

[richardsugg]

No, those that aren't distributed as compiled would need to be compiled again. Optionally, you can compile them in BW, then drag the .bww file over to your source tree. Then when you restore it, both the source files and compiled databases will be there.

[Michael Hanel]

Ultimately your best option is to keep back-ups of your computer files. I can't imagine working without a backup hard drive in this day and age when we keep so much valuable info on the computer and it can all be gone in a blink. If you do keep a back-up, simply add the BibleWorks directory to your back-up process. This is the quickest and easiest way to restore information. Granted it won't help you now if you've crashed and didn't have any back-ups, but for the future, it's the way to go.

[Michael Hanel]

Thanks Richard,
once that's done, does that mean it only has to be dragged and dropped into any new installations of BW's, without having to compile them again?
Duncan

You can accomplish this by making back-ups of your "databases" directory once you compiled. So for instance say I download the Ante-Nicene Fathers (ANF) module. Then I compile it. In the "databases" subdirectory in BW I now have 5 files that are labelled ANF.??? where the ?'s stand for different file extensions. If you make back ups of these files, all you would have to do to restore the ANF module would be to copy them again into the "databases" directory. Essentially this was all the zip-file did that song-robin uploaded.

[Dunk]

Thanks Richard and Michael,
That was helpful, I'm actually a backup up freak; I back up in triplicate, but Bibleworks is the one bit of software where I don't understand how the files work. Thanks to your advice, I will now be able to add the add-ons to my backup method (two copies pf everything at home, and one copy at my Mum's!).
Peace
Dunk

[Joan Korte]

Gentlemen,

I appreciate the dialogue and want to make sure I get this right. I am puzzled as to just what "databases directory" and "databases sub-directory" refer to? Is this the databases folder with BibleWorks 7 folder in Program files or is this reference to another location?

Thanks for your help.