Migrate BW10 files from SSD

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Dear All,

My SSD has only 10% free, so I'd like to migrate my resource files to my hard drive. How would I do this?

[now john]

Dear All,

My SSD has only 10% free, so I'd like to migrate my resource files to my hard drive. How would I do this?

Are you running Windows, Mac, or something else? What version? Running as adminstrator or not? If not, can you run as administrator?

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Are you running Windows, Mac, or something else? What version? Running as adminstrator or not? If not, can you run as administrator?

Ah, yes. Sorry I omitted that crucial info!
Win 10 64bit. Can run as admin if necessary.

What now?

[now john]

You could uninstall BW and reinstall it on the hard drive. It is recommended to download the ISO for that. The link is on the BW website home page at the bottom. It is a large file.

I would use a junction point if both drives are formatted NTFS. To check open File Explorer, right click on the name of the drive, click on Properties, find "File System:"

This link describes how a junction point can be used. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_junction_point

This is the tool that I use to create junctions. http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinks...ellExt_X64.exe

After that program is installed, copy your entire BW folder from the SSD to the HD. Rename the SSD folder to something else like BW SSD. Go to the HD and find the main BW folder that you just copied in File Explorer. Right click on the folder name. There will be a new entry in the menu, Pick Link Source. Click on that entry. Return to the SSD in File Explorer. Find the folder that contained the original BW installation, typically c:\Program Files (x86)\ with c:\Program Files (x86)\BibleWorks 10 as the installation folder for BW. The BibleWorks 10 folder does not exist now. Right click on c:\Program Files (x86)\, click on Drop As..., then junction. Open c:\Program Files (x86)\ and you will set that the BW folder has reappeared. While the files are actually on the HD, you can open the folder on the SSD and everything appears and works as if the files were there. After you are comfortable with the new method, the renamed folder on the SSD can be deleted and the space made available.

If you are not familiar with junctions, I suggest that you make a temporary folder on the SSD called Test. Go to the HD and Pick a Link Source or two and drop them as junctions into Test. Open Test and confirm that they work as if the files were really there. Files can be added, edited, or deleted on either drive and the changes are instantly made on the other drive. You could also try moving a less critical and smaller program from the SSD to the HD and confirm this procedure for yourself.

If you want to free up more space on your SSD, you can use junctions to move many files to the HD. But see "Limitations" in the wikipedia article. I would add a further limitation to that list. I never use this procedure with any file or folder that was created by Windows or Microsoft. I would not move c:\Program Files (x86)\ or c:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\ but I have successfully moved most of the non-microsoft subfolders of c:\Program Files (x86)\ to a different hard drive.

Files can even be moved to an external drive that is formatted NTFS and retains the same drive letter when connected. Usually file procedures are slower as the files are really on the external drive. That will be true with an internal HD as well but I tested BW once and found that searches took some longer, but it is not easy to tell when one takes a tenth of a second even if the second takes two tenths of a second. And it was not even that different.

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You could uninstall BW and reinstall it on the hard drive. It is recommended to download the ISO for that. The link is on the BW website home page at the bottom. It is a large file.

Hi John,

Thanks for taking your valuable time to provide helpful advice. I do have the BW10 installer flash drive, so would it be simple to reinstall BW10 on the HD, and then copy the BW databases data into the new database directory on the HD (skipping any identical files)?

Regards,

Peter

[Pathfinder]

Not exactly to the OP, and I know that this is somewhat old school when it comes to SSDs, but I NEVER install apps on an SSD, always on a hard drive. I use the SSD as my C: drive, but when I installed Windows on the SSD, I put its swap file on the hard drive.

This comes from the fact that consumer-grade memory drives (SSDs, the SD/XD cards and thumb drives) have a finite lifespan and writing to the device tends to shorten that lifespan. Thus, anything that writes frequently to the SSD needs to be allocated to the hard drive. Since most people don't have a clue whether an app is read-only or does writing, all go the hard drives.

More modern SSDs MAY have fixed this trait somewhat, but I still err on the side of caution.

[now john]

Not exactly to the OP, and I know that this is somewhat old school when it comes to SSDs, but I NEVER install apps on an SSD, always on a hard drive.

I value the increased speed that they give enough to use them exclusively for internal drives. I still use hard drives for external storage and backup. I use my computers intensively and the increased efficiency makes the extra initial cost and a possible shorter life span worth it. Though I don’t remember having an SSD fail yet either.

On the other hand, I still prefer driving a car with a manual transmission. My grandson was with me a few days ago. He said that he had never been in a car with a window crank before.

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[now john]

Hi John,
I do have the BW10 installer flash drive, so would it be simple to reinstall BW10 on the HD?

You're welcome Peter.

"If you do a BW10 reinstall after July 24, 2018 you should do it from the ISO, not old media."

The quotation above is taken from https://www.bibleworks.com/forums/showthread.php?7052-BW10-Installation-image-posted&p=36198#post36198

Changes have been made to the update process that require using the ISO after BW closed.

Here is a link with some suggestions for downloading the ISO and installing BW from it. https://www.bibleworks.com/forums/sh...6423#post36423

When I reinstall BW I keep the first installation but rename the folder to something like BW OLD. Then I uninstall BW. I prefer using the installation media that I used to make the first installation. It will have the option to uninstall. After it is done I copy notes, databases, queries, and everything else that I added to the first install to the new folder. I keep the old one for a while and then eventually delete it.

Also see How Can I Move My BibleWorks Settings and Files to my New Installation/Computer? from BW knowledgebase
https://kb.bibleworks.com/index.php?/article/AA-02765

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G'day John,

I eventually went with your junction point solution and migrated both my BW10 (24.3GB) and Logos 7 (30.6GB) files from the SSD to my HD. Seems to be working fine, if a bit slower, but that's OK for my uses.

Thanks for your very clear and helpful solution: I trust that others may also benefit from it.

Sincerely,

Peter G

[now john]

You are welcome, Peter.

Most, if not all, of the slower speed is because the files are on a mechanical drive now and not a solid state drive. If you would have uninstalled the programs from the SSD and reinstalled them on the HD, the speed would have been just as slow for all practical purposes.