Question on moving Sage to new computer

[oldfolkie]

I'm finally going to move my Sage Server to a new computer--from XP to Windows 7. I'll also be moving my existing Import and Recording hard-drives to the new computer, with all my recordings intact, and I plan on using the same UNC paths to these drives that I used on the old computer. I'm also planning on installing Sage as a service on the new computer (it was not a service on the old computer).

I know I should install Sage in its own directory (as opposed to the Program directory), and that I should first install and configure Sage, then move over my old wiz.bin. What's not clear to me, though, is when to set up the paths to these drives.

Obviously, the drives need to be installed on the new computer before can I point to them. So can I simply install the drives, install Sage, configure the Sage recording and import directories to point to the drives, shut down Sage, then move over the old wiz.bin? Or should I install the drives, install Sage, not configure the recording/import directories (or point to some other empty directories), move over the old wiz.bin, start the server, then configure the directories (it seems to me like this might mess up the wiz.bin)?

Or am I missing something here that I should be doing instead?

Thanks.

[Fuzzy]

I usually move the wiz.bin in before adding the folders. That way, as sage runs, it's not wasting time processing the 'new' files into the soon to be overwritten wiz.bin.

So, order I'd do:
Install Sage
Complete wizard (using the default recording location for now)
complete source setup and channel configuration
copy wiz.bin and verify favorites configuration and recording schedule
add recording and import locations, remove 'temporary' default location
initiate full rescan and wait for it to pick up all the old files and reattach them. There is no real need to keep to the old UNC paths if you don't want to, sage should recognize them fine and register the new locations.

[oldfolkie]

Thanks! I'll be setting it up in the next day or two and I'll let you know how it goes.

[oldfolkie]

I finally got around to doing this and everything basically worked out fine, with one exception. All my Favorites were intact and Watched status was retained for my recordings, but Watched status was missing on Imports.

I stopped the Sage service and copied over the old wiz.bin a second time, and restarted Sage. That took care of it--all my Watched statuses were back, including Imports.

So now I'm up and running on a new computer with Windows 7. Now I just have to decide how best to set up the Audio/Video options for the Sage Client on 7. So far, I can't get Sage to do 5.1 passthru via spdif (it's only doing stereo). I suspect I'm missing a codec (MediaPlayer Classic passes 5.1, Windows Media Player doesn't), although I was hoping not to have to mess with all that again.

I had forgotten how long it had taken to get everything working smoothly on XP.

Anyway, thanks again!

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by oldfolkie

I finally got around to doing this and everything basically worked out fine, with one exception. All my Favorites were intact and Watched status was retained for my recordings, but Watched status was missing on Imports.

I stopped the Sage service and copied over the old wiz.bin a second time, and restarted Sage. That took care of it--all my Watched statuses were back, including Imports.

So now I'm up and running on a new computer with Windows 7. Now I just have to decide how best to set up the Audio/Video options for the Sage Client on 7. So far, I can't get Sage to do 5.1 passthru via spdif (it's only doing stereo). I suspect I'm missing a codec (MediaPlayer Classic passes 5.1, Windows Media Player doesn't), although I was hoping not to have to mess with all that again.

I had forgotten how long it had taken to get everything working smoothly on XP.

Anyway, thanks again!

The 5.1 thing needs to be configured in Ac3Config.exe in the sagetv folder, and then make sure AC3Filter is selected as your audio decoder.

[oldfolkie]

That worked! In fact, surprisingly, now not only does SageTV pass 5.1 through spdif, but so does Windows Media Player. I wouldn't have thought that configuring Ac3Config in the sagetv folder would have affected anything but SageTV, but somehow it did.

So all is good. Thanks again!

[Slack]

What about licensing?

Do folks have another license for the new target box, or do folks normally use a trial on the new box and then use old license key after things are deemed good?

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by Slack

What about licensing?

Do folks have another license for the new target box, or do folks normally use a trial on the new box and then use old license key after things are deemed good?

either way works.

[Fuzzy]

To be honest, I've just used the same license on both. My period of transition is usually only like 2 days at most, so i suppose I could do a trial, but most likely, if i dont' enter the keys on the first run, i forget until the server doens't run because the trial ran out, so i just put them in ahead of time. Sage has no 'phone home' license check, so it will still function with two servers using the same key, it's just against the EULA - I don't consider the configuration period 'USE' - but that's my convenient definition.

[Slack]

So... move completed.
XP to Win7
wiz.bin magic transferred - shows intact and resume points etc... apparently fine. (thanks to Opus' Sticky).

Issue:
From the server my imported videos play and resume just fine. (I usually only run it in service mode but during this transition I am launching Sage GUI on the server.) So I would have expected that if the server can play them, the extenders can play them.

But on an HD200 anything that is not local to the server (meaning a HDD connected to SATA bus) errors out when played...stating no longer on disk.

I am just curious what happened - I am really not concerned with progress or watched status of videos on my network. I can always re-import them.

I don't understand how the server can see them but the HD200 cannot.


Edit: I was thinking maybe it's a digital audio issue - (new mobo disables audio device if nothing is plugged in, clutching at straws) So I copied a DTS tracked video to local file system on server. Went to another HD200 and played that and sound bar indicated Dolby DTS. So that is not it. I just don't get it.

Any help appreciated.

[Slack]

Yeah, so never mind folks. UNC paths fixed it.

Sorry for the bump.

[ChrisFix]

Originally Posted by oldfolkie

I'm finally going to move my Sage Server to a new computer--from XP to Windows 7. I'll also be moving my existing Import and Recording hard-drives to the new computer, with all my recordings intact, and I plan on using the same UNC paths to these drives that I used on the old computer. I'm also planning on installing Sage as a service on the new computer (it was not a service on the old computer).

I know I should install Sage in its own directory (as opposed to the Program directory), and that I should first install and configure Sage, then move over my old wiz.bin. What's not clear to me, though, is when to set up the paths to these drives.

Obviously, the drives need to be installed on the new computer before can I point to them. So can I simply install the drives, install Sage, configure the Sage recording and import directories to point to the drives, shut down Sage, then move over the old wiz.bin? Or should I install the drives, install Sage, not configure the recording/import directories (or point to some other empty directories), move over the old wiz.bin, start the server, then configure the directories (it seems to me like this might mess up the wiz.bin)?

Or am I missing something here that I should be doing instead?

Thanks.

I'm about to do a similar thing (in my case, reinstalling Windows and SageTV to an SSD in the same HTPC). My setup is SageTV running as a service and a client on the HTPC, with two additional HD300 extenders.
Will moving wiz.bin keep all my settings, including Gemstone UI and comskip - or do I need to move my entire SageTV folder from the old harddrive to the SSD (after first installing SageTV and setting up HDHomerun tuners)?

Is there an existing step by step for this that I'm not seeing that you can point me to?
Thanks for any guidance you can offer to make this as easy as possible. My current SageTV setup is working perfectly so moving it in tact is my goal.

[BitBass]

Chris, glad I found your question. I'm about to do something similar, except I want to move from VMWare to Xen and I'm having trouble finding something that I can trust to convert the image versions. Figured I'd just reinstall under Xen. I'm also fairly happy with my current install and I don't want to break anything.

[Slack]

Originally Posted by ChrisFix

I'm about to do a similar thing (in my case, reinstalling Windows and SageTV to an SSD in the same HTPC). My setup is SageTV running as a service and a client on the HTPC, with two additional HD300 extenders.
Will moving wiz.bin keep all my settings, including Gemstone UI and comskip - or do I need to move my entire SageTV folder from the old harddrive to the SSD (after first installing SageTV and setting up HDHomerun tuners)?

Is there an existing step by step for this that I'm not seeing that you can point me to?
Thanks for any guidance you can offer to make this as easy as possible. My current SageTV setup is working perfectly so moving it in tact is my goal.

I was not so interested in keeping the UI intact. But thanks to the plug-in system I am back to Serenity theme and Malore tweaks etc...No one in my house has even noticed (Helps that the wife was out of town and kids on a sleep over - all they noticed was large amounts of computer hardware and cables littering my office)

So, no, wiz.bin will not migrate UI stuff. (So far as I know - not being an expert.)

Commskip: I had transferred my recordings folder including the commskip files. I tried installing commskip (and upgrading to latest version) as well as commskip monitor (which is what I was using) outside of SageTV, but ran into installation problems on Windows 7 64 bit. Console messages about java not being valid command and services not running. In the end, I uninstalled commskip, and commskip monitor, and I installed the commercial detection plug-in from the UI - and told it to scan everything. I thought that would take forever, but new box, new processor, gobs of RAM - queue emptied in...hell I don't know how long it took...by that time I was drinking beer (Triumph over the machine!) - but it was VERY MUCH less that I thought it would be.

I had to install another plug-in to get commercial detection info to appear in the progress bar. But it was obviously named something like commskip playback. Duh!

you can try moving your whole SageTV directory. But in my case I was changing OSes - so no dice. The step-by-step I followed was in Opus' sticky.

FYI: Initially had issues with the Web server - but in the time I originally set it up, and the (now) plug in variety - apparently the URL became case sensitive....that had me scratching my head. \home <> \Home argh!

[ChrisFix]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I've read (a while back) that although it isn't recommended, you can move the entire SageTV folder to the new install (after doing initial install and setup of Sage on the new computer) and keep everything as it was. I need to search and find that post again.

In my case, the OS will be the same, just on another disk. I just don't want to spend hours tweaking to get back to the same place I'm at now.

I'm also going to look at imaging options (Acronis True Image) and see what that looks like. I're read a number of times that its not the best way to move a system to an SSD, but I don't really know why not. If an image works, then everything should be a bit-for-bit copy.

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by ChrisFix

I'm also going to look at imaging options (Acronis True Image) and see what that looks like. I're read a number of times that its not the best way to move a system to an SSD, but I don't really know why not. If an image works, then everything should be a bit-for-bit copy.

The Windows 7 install process recognizes when an SSD is being used, and sets everything up automagically so that the TRIM functionality is utilized on the SSD. If you are cloning the operating system from a traditional hard drive, Windows will not utilize the TRIM functionality and the SSD lifespan will likely decrease.

That said, there are ways to enable TRIM functionality post-installation. Google is your friend...

[ChrisFix]

Originally Posted by ChrisFix

Thanks for sharing your experience. I've read (a while back) that although it isn't recommended, you can move the entire SageTV folder to the new install (after doing initial install and setup of Sage on the new computer) and keep everything as it was. I need to search and find that post again.

In my case, the OS will be the same, just on another disk. I just don't want to spend hours tweaking to get back to the same place I'm at now.

I'm also going to look at imaging options (Acronis True Image) and see what that looks like. I're read a number of times that its not the best way to move a system to an SSD, but I don't really know why not. If an image works, then everything should be a bit-for-bit copy.

I just completed cloning and re-installing my C: partition to an new SSD drive - works great and wow - what a difference. 15 second boot time (from 1 min+). SageTV launches really quickly - so much nicer than before.

If anyone cares, I used Paragon Drive Copy 2014 to facilitate the clone and copy to SSD. It was amazingly easy to use, and took no more than 10 minutes from start to finish. Couldn't be happier with the results. This was all done with Windows 8.1. Drive Copy did everything including the UEFI Bios wizardry needed to create a new boot drive. Windows 8.1 recognizes that the OS is on an SSD and set everything accordingly, including eliminating defrag and substituting Trim into its maintenance process for the SSD.

The only thing I needed to do, was shut down SageTV Service and un-install and re-install Java.
Didn't know if an SSD would be worth the trouble, but I'm a believer now. I don't restart my HTPC very often, but when I did it always seemed like a chore. Now a restart is really under 30 seconds including launching SageTV service and Client, and the other apps I use (mostly Chrome) are just so fast. Loving it!!

And the best part for me, was preserving all my SageTV settings and UI and recording drive mappings, etc. without any additional work. My two objectives were to get a faster OS (SSD) and keep my SageTV working as is (which is very well). I've been proactively looking at replacements for Sage (have a single tuner Simple.TV running) but nothing really comes close for my needs. The best substitute I've seen is Tivo Roamio with Mini's for extenders - a great DVR, but about $1200 for my setup (with lifetime subs). Think I'm going to just keep my SageTV/HD300 setup until it dies, and then make the change to whatever is next best at that time.

[broderp]

My server was having issues, and eventually the powers supply just died.

I guess I must not be as hard core as you guys, as I did this:

1. Configure new PC to work with TV
2. Install old hard drive
3. Install video capture card and drivers
4. Install SageTV and activate with my key
5. set up video, picture directories etc..
6. CLEAN HOUSE.. delete all old watched/ archived files, setup favorites (from over 67 favorites down to 15!)
7. Tweak (still tweaking, adding old plugins etc.)

No Wiz.bin or any old file transfers.
Once I backup my keys and drivers for Sage, I'm wiping the drive. (old Vista operating system)

Took about 2 hours.
Sometimes simple is better.