Migrate from Windows v7 to Linux v9

[gerberdude]

I've searched the forums and haven't found an up-to-date straight answer on this question.

Can I migrate from Windows XP v7 to a Linux v9 install and retain my recordings, etc?

[graywolf]

Yes
Do your Linux install, set your directory paths (unc), stop sagetv and service , copy your wiz.bin file, start sagetv

[checkbin]

As graywolf said, that's pretty much all you have to do. I want to add that I did the same migration a few years ago. SageTV on Linux is SOO MUCH more stable than it was on Windows. Haven't restarted the server in forever and never miss a recording like used to happen a lot with Windows. I also used to get a lot of green glitches in my recordings with OpenDCT on Windows but running it under Linux is flawless. You won't be disappointed with the switch.

[gerberdude]

Maybe that's why there's no big walk-through. Because it's no big deal. Thanks for the help!

[gerberdude]

So if I have my ntfs volumes from the old install, I can mount those in linux. Do I have to mount them a certain way for sage to find the files, for wiz.bin to know where the files are?

[Fuzzy]

Doens't matter how you mount them, but you'd need to add their location to sage (as an import or recording folder). Personally, I'd try to move those recordings off of the NTFS drives if possible, as ntfs performance on linux is really not that great, and I have seen write problems in heavy use.

[gerberdude]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Doens't matter how you mount them, but you'd need to add their location to sage (as an import or recording folder). Personally, I'd try to move those recordings off of the NTFS drives if possible, as ntfs performance on linux is really not that great, and I have seen write problems in heavy use.

What's the best format for those drives?

[Fuzzy]

On just a bare linux server, I'd recommend sticking to ext4 or xfs. unRAID would be using xfs.

[gerberdude]

So I've had reasonable luck migrating to v9, but all many of my recordings are showing up as duplicates. I click on one and it says the file can't be found, but I click on the other and it plays. I think I may have messed something up moving my Wiz.bin, but I'm not sure how.

Any ideas?

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by gerberdude

So I've had reasonable luck migrating to v9, but all many of my recordings are showing up as duplicates. I click on one and it says the file can't be found, but I click on the other and it plays. I think I may have messed something up moving my Wiz.bin, but I'm not sure how.

Any ideas?

You may have to do a full reindex to get it fixed. Look at detailed info on each recording. The one that doesn't play probably has UNC\windows path to file. The one that does play will have a linux path listed. I found this on many of my recordings as well.

This is what I did but others will likely suggest better options (possibly the reindex):
I used the web server to export my favorites to an XML file then deleted the wiz.bin and re-imported my favorites. All the recording were detected and showed up just once with a linux path. I just had to move them from Archived to Recordings and I deleted a few that were split into multiple files and didn't get detected correctly. But the vast majority came back just fine. My option is fairly safe if you just rename the wiz.bin instead of delete it like I did. Then if you have problems you just rename it back and seek better advice.

Forgot to mention if you go my option you need to rename the wiz.bak file as well or Sage will just use it when it can't find the wiz.bin.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

You may have to do a full reindex to get it fixed. Look at detailed info on each recording. The one that doesn't play probably has UNC\windows path to file. The one that does play will have a linux path listed. I found this on many of my recordings as well.

This is what I did but others will likely suggest better options (possibly the reindex):
I used the web server to export my favorites to an XML file then deleted the wiz.bin and re-imported my favorites. All the recording were detected and showed up just once with a linux path. I just had to move them from Archived to Recordings and I deleted a few that were split into multiple files and didn't get detected correctly. But the vast majority came back just fine. My option is fairly safe if you just rename the wiz.bin instead of delete it like I did. Then if you have problems you just rename it back and seek better advice.

Forgot to mention if you go my option you need to rename the wiz.bak file as well or Sage will just use it when it can't find the wiz.bin.

There's a property that can be set to force safe to go through and check for the presence of the actual files. Just to deal with situations like this. I'm on my phone so can't check right now, but don't go deleting your wiz.bin for this, there is a better way.

EDIT: Actually, I think it's advanced_video_file_recovery=true. Shutdown the server, set that in the sage.properties file, then restart sage. It will scan all the files and fix up your broken entries. Afterward, don't forget to shut down again and set the value to false.