I would like to move eM Client to my new PC. Under settings for backup, it said the last backup had been made in 2023. The Documents > eM Client folder is empty. I cannot locate a backup anywhere else. So I went to make a backup. I followed the instructions here New device and eM Client? No problem! | eM Client
It quickly finished which I thought was odd, but I still could not find a backup file. I then realized the file may be larger than my old PC has room for, so I got a 35 gb USB drive and changed the backup location to the USB drive and restarted the process. It seems to be working, periodically checked on it, and the file was getting bigger. 5-1/2 hours later it was done and I went to look at the USB and there was nothing there. I rebooted everything and began the process again. Same thing happened. At one point when I saw the file it was almost 4gb. This was about 5 hours into it. When the backup process completes, about 5-1/2 hours later, there is nothing on the USB drive.
So then I tried the second method listed: moving my database folder to the USB drive. It says it’s over 9gb and will take about 35 minutes. Again, the USB drive is 35gb and there is nothing on it. I even reformatted it after the first try, same result. 15 minutes later I get a message that says “The file mail_data.dat is too large for the destination file system.” Size is 6.27gb. I have plenty of room for it. I skip that file and end up with a folder on the USB drive that is 3.09gb, 494 files, 23 folders. The original database folder is 9.35gb, 497 files, 23 folders. What am I missing or doing wrong here?
Thank you!
It is possible/probable the reason you have a backup issue is because you are using an external drive, the default which will be shown at:
Menu ->Settings ->General ->Backup
To move your eMC data etc to a new computer
The best way to move all your data etc is through: Backup & Restore.
Follow these steps:
On the old device:
1./ Create a backup: Menu ->Backup
2./ Deactivate the license on this device: Menu ->Help ->License
3./ Find the .ZIP backup file and move it to your new device (with a USB)
The default location is ..\Documents\eM Client)
On your new device:
1./ Install eMC (www.emclient.com/dist/latest/setup.msi)
2./Move the ZIP backup file to: …\Documents\eM Client (create the eM Client folder if it is not there)
3./ Having installed eMC skip initial setup
4./ Restore from your backup through Menu ->File ->Restore
5./ This will transfer everything to mirror your previous installation
6./ Activate your license in Menu ->Help ->License
skybat
¡Buena suerte!
¡Saludos desde Madrid la soleada en España!
¡Mis mejores deseos y mantente a salvo!
Yes, I’ve tried numerous times to make the backup, it isn’t making in the default location for me to move it to the external drive. Neither will it back up on the external drive. I also tried another option that was listed on the blog and that doesn’t work either (moving the database folder to external drive). Thanks though!
It is possible/probable the reason you have a backup issue is because you are using an external drive, the default which will be shown at:
Menu ->Settings ->General ->Backup
You can try this.
1./ Go to WindowsTask Scheduler >Task scheduler library (in left column) → Delete eMClient (in center column)
2./ Go to Menu ->Settings ->General ->Backup
3./ Select 1 day & 1 backup - Enable ->Save & Close
4./ Menu ->Backup and see if it works
skybat
¡Buena suerte!
¡Saludos desde Madrid la soleada en España!
¡Mis mejores deseos y mantente a salvo!
Thank you for trying some more options. I went ahead and tried that and still no luck. It starts to make the backup file and says incomplete then eMC acts like it has finished and when I go back to check, there is no file at all. I’m perplexed.
Do you perhaps have some security app that could delete the zip file once it’s finished? Try pausing any external antivirus apps and try the backup again.
If all else fails, you can just copy the database manually instead of using the backup ZIP file.
The “new device” blog article does cover this use case as well in the “Second method” section.
You can just copy the whole database folder onto your external drive and then move it into the storage section on the new device.
You can find the storage location in menu>Settings>General>Storage.
Just a thought and to follow on from @Olivia_Rust, maybe try with all your anti-virus apps disabled and if you try to copy the database shut down eMC before you start.
skybat
¡Buena suerte!
¡Saludos desde Madrid la soleada en España!
¡Mis mejores deseos y mantente a salvo!
Would my internet going out interrupt the backup? Apparently I’ve been dropping connection many times over the last several days. Had a tech out today to replace some part that was shorting out causing all these outages and since it was repaired I’ve successfully made a backup! I still had trouble copying it to a USB drive - it kept saying the file was too big for the destination. The USB had 28gb avail and the backup was just over 7gb so I don’t know why that didn’t work but I found another bigger drive I could use and copied it. Now to put it on the new PC…
And yes, prior I had tried the 2nd method on the blog by copying the database manually to the USB drive and for whatever reason it wouldn’t work; kept saying the file was too large for the destination and wish I had thought about the bigger drive to try then but alas. At least I have a backup finally. Whew!
Thanks for all the quick replies trying to help me. I still don’t get why backup wouldn’t work (unless it was the outages?). It even said last backup was made on 06/28 but there was no file in the default folder until I was able to make it this afternoon.
Thanks again for your quick responses to help! Somehow this afternoon the backup finally worked after having a tech repair for my internet. I was having lots of outages the past several days. When I went to restore it, I just had to move the backup file from the portable drive to the default folder in order for it to find it to restore. All seems well so far on the new PC! Thank you both!
Hi Debbie, the internet issues would not affect the backup, but I think I know what the issue now was.
Your USB drive is probably formatted using an older file system, which - even thought your full size is 28GB - does not allow files bigger than a specific limit. For example, file system FAT32 can only store files that are up to 4GB.
So each time you finished the 7GB backup, it was deleted because the USB drive was not able to store a file of that size, so it was lost. Same for the database files separately - at least one of them was either also this big or the file system on your USB supports even smaller files than FAT32.
In the past files were smaller so file systems like these had their use, nowadays they might not be helpful unless you are moving some photos or similar files that might not go over a certain size.
But USB drives can be reformatted if you want to change the USB so you can use it for bigger files in the future, for example Kingston has a nice page that explains the common file systems and how to change them:
Hi Olivia, this makes sense! Thanks for linking those instructions, I will check it out and use that going forward. Really appreciate the time and effort helping me!