PowerChurch Data Files

[mr_gump]

Hello Folks,

We are currently considering upgrading our business administrator's Windows PC to a new Apple iMac. Since she will be running PowerChurch we will be installing an emulator (VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop).

We will be setting up an external hard drive as a Time Machine drive and it would be much easier if we could have PowerChurch's data files stored external to the virtual machine so that an entire copy of the virtual machine isn't backed up every time she changes something in PowerChurch.

My question is, can we tell PowerChurch where to store its data files?

Thanks for the help!

[NeilZ]

Hello Folks,

We are currently considering upgrading our business administrator's Windows PC to a new Apple iMac. Since she will be running PowerChurch we will be installing an emulator (VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop).

We will be setting up an external hard drive as a Time Machine drive and it would be much easier if we could have PowerChurch's data files stored external to the virtual machine so that an entire copy of the virtual machine isn't backed up every time she changes something in PowerChurch.

My question is, can we tell PowerChurch where to store its data files?

Thanks for the help!

Why are you keeping the main Powerchurch database and files on the business administrator's machine ?? Why not just keep the old Windows machine and use it as a server so that the entire network can access it and just do backups of Powerchurch from that machine instead.

As an alternative, you can install a Network Storage unit, and install the program and data files on it as a mapped drive. In this way, the system is not located on any specific users's computer.

[mr_gump]

We're a small outfit and only the BA needs access to the database. Since I didn't set up the machine in the first place, I wasn't aware of how PC stores its files.

What I'm gathering from your reply is that I can, in fact, put the PowerChurch DB and files anywhere I want, then?

[NeilZ]

We're a small outfit and only the BA needs access to the database. Since I didn't set up the machine in the first place, I wasn't aware of how PC stores its files.

What I'm gathering from your reply is that I can, in fact, put the PowerChurch DB and files anywhere I want, then?

Not exactly ... you can install Powerchurch on any type of Network Storage which can be mapped as a local drive to any computer on the network. That means a FULL install as Powerchurch looks for its data on the DATA directory off the main POWERCHURCH directory.

So if you decide to install on a network storage device, you need to startup Windows, map the device as a local drive visible to the system, then install Powerchurch and change the default drive letter from C:\ to whatever the mapped drive letter is. Thus if the mapped drive letter is M:, your installation directory would be M:\Powerchurch.

If you decide to use the old Windows machine as a file/data server, all you need is to insure it is setup on the network, the Powerchurch directory on the machine is shared to the network with full access, and then the MAC running Windows can then map that shared drive. You then run the Netsetup10 (or Netsetup9) program from the Powerchurch directory to setup the local machine for Powerchurch.

Am I confusing you with all this ??

[mr_gump]

Neil,

Thanks for bearing with me on this one. I think I have it down, but let me tell how I plan to set everything up and you can fill in any blanks that I may have missed.

On the Mac, I am going to have a directory called WindowsShared. My Windows virtualization software will mount that directory as a shared network drive, mapped to Z:

I then need to install PowerChurch within my virtual Windows machine to the Z: drive, thus creating a file system that looks like Z:\PowerChurch\DATA

Once this is done, I can use PowerChurch from within my virtual Windows environment the same as I would on a normal Windows machine.

My end goal is that the PowerChurch files reside outside the virtual Windows environment such that OS X's built in backup software can keep those files backed up.

Who's confusing whom now?

[NeilZ]

Neil,

Thanks for bearing with me on this one. I think I have it down, but let me tell how I plan to set everything up and you can fill in any blanks that I may have missed.

On the Mac, I am going to have a directory called WindowsShared. My Windows virtualization software will mount that directory as a shared network drive, mapped to Z:

I then need to install PowerChurch within my virtual Windows machine to the Z: drive, thus creating a file system that looks like Z:\PowerChurch\DATA

Once this is done, I can use PowerChurch from within my virtual Windows environment the same as I would on a normal Windows machine.

My end goal is that the PowerChurch files reside outside the virtual Windows environment such that OS X's built in backup software can keep those files backed up.

Who's confusing whom now?

AHA !!! The light just went on!!

Since you're using a virtual environment, you should be able to have a 'shared' drive that can be accessed between Windows and Mac OS X. That shared drive is the one that you should install to. As long as the MAC backup software can read files that are formatted for Windows use, it should not be an issue; but I would verify with someone at Apple or an Apple store if the Window's partition would be visible to the other OS.

[mr_gump]

Thanks for verifying Neil. Yes, the partition and the files would be readable by both OSes, so we're squared away!

[CoreOmaha]

You guys are smart. I'm only posting here so it's easier to refer back to when our IT volunteer installs powerchurch if we get a mac

[jackp_MDB]

I've read the posts regarding the data files...is there any way to change just the data folder?

For example, the default is "C:\PCPLUS8\DATA" (on the site I'm attempting to maintain). Can this just simply be changed to "C:\PCPLUS8\SSCC" or something along this line.

From my reading the current posts, the only way to un/re-install the software to the desired data folder?

Is this correct?

jackp

[Zorak]

There is not a way to change the data location.

PowerChurch Plus is hard-coded to look for the data files in the relative \Data directory.

You can install PowerChurch Plus to a directory named anything, but it will look inside that directory for a \Data directory to store most everything.