I\'ve two fast computers but am saddled with a dial-up Internet connection. Uploading a couple of 15 Mb files requires one to be VERY patient!

An option to take the upload files on a CD to a machine with a broadband connection would be very helpful.

Thanks,

Ed

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Wish granted. :)

Just read this README. It\'s explained in the first link in the section: MOVING a model from one machine to another

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Backups: Here

Les,

Thanks for the quick response.

The technique you mentioned will of course work. However I\'m not sure, for me, if it\'s worth the effort as I\'d have to return the model to the primary machine after each update. With three machines running it could become a second job :-) The option is available and I have to decide if it works for me.

Ed

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If you suspend BOINC internet (network) access on the primary computer, you could allow two or three zip files to accumulate in the Transfers tab. You could then transfer the whole contents of the BOINC folder to a computer with broadband.

In the case of a single-core computer, you could even run a complete model with BOINC network activity suspended, then upload the whole lot at the end of the model. This would only work on a CPDN-only computer, not if you were sharing its processing time with other projects. After uploading an entire model\'s files and trickles, you wouldn\'t need to transfer the BOINC folder contents back again. You could just reset CPDN on the primary machine and get a new model. It would be better to do the reset after the big upload. (But if you did it the other way round, the server should still accept the uploads.)

I don\'t know whether this sort of plan would suit you or your computers.

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There was a CPDN member going to sea for months I think in a submarine and running an entire model off-line, then uploading it when he got home.

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Ah, you want to upload files and let the project people sort it out.
With 47,695 computers currently returning data, and only 2 project people, (whose job is, basically, to write and test new programs), everything has to be automated.
BOINC does this automation, and needs to be involved in the transfers.

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Backups: Here

I didn\'t mean sending the files on a disk by post to Oxford.

The complete BOINC folder would be moved to a different computer with broadband and this second computer would upload all the trickles and zip files via BOINC. I think that would work. Or would the computer with broadband have to run the very last part of the model in order to make the model transfer to the second computer effective ie recognised by the server?

The computer with broadband would need to have BOINC installed on it, but I don\'t think it matters if it\'s not the same version.

I\'ve twice moved a model to a different computer and there were no problems with subsequent uploads. But when I moved the models they were part-done, not completed.

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Uploading completed models from another system shouldn\'t be a problem as long as both systems are the same platform (you can\'t easily mix and match between Windows, Linux and Mac), but you\'ll need to take a number of precautions.

• Suspend computation and disable work requests before stopping BOINC and backing up the BOINC directory (required in case the system you\'re uploading from has a different number of CPUs).
  
  
• Zip up the BOINC directory and write that to CD (prevents all files from being set to read only when you restore).
  
  
• If the system you\'re uploading from is already running BOINC you\'ll have to stop it before unzipping the backup (not over the system\'s own BOINC directory!).
  
  
• When you start the transferred BOINC the benchmarks will probably be rerun if this system has a different processor or number of CPUs. Enable networking and allow everything to be uploaded.
  
  
• After the last file has been uploaded the task state will change to \'Ready to report\'. Do a project update and wait until it\'s been removed from the task list. Disable networking and backup the BOINC directory to transfer back to the original system.
  
  
• Delete the BOINC directory on the original system before restoring the post-upload backup. Benchmarks may be rerun and then you can resume computation and enable work requests.
  

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"The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Thanks for the very useful details, Thyme.

This is all beginning to sound complicated, but it\'s actually quick and easy. The whole procedure is just a basic backup then restore, except that the restore is to a different computer. In the README about backups, Les\'s post describes the basic backup/restore method click by click.

I shall check whether the README post about moving a model (=BOINC package) to a different computer includes all of Thyme\'s precautions.

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