Restore/ Backup where is data help

[jenniferque]

Just had to reinstall windows, and restore all files. When trying to import/ restore my barca files ran into problems. I have an online backup (carbonite) so I was restoring all files to my computer first, when choosing which files to restore I found several folders with barca data in them and it's a mess!
Application data folder had mail and a few other folders but no barca.ini file, then under Program folders/ barca a few files, no ini or mail, then under my C drive there is a folder called Barca 2 Data (which I did not create) that also has mail, address all the usual folders but no .ini file.
So not knowing which folder was my current data I randomly chose one to pick files from to restore and it seems most messages are there but without the ini file all my settings and accounts aren't showing up and now it seems I have to redo all my customizations and accounts which is a big deal.
I have done many barca restores and imports in the past and I've always seen one barca data folder with the .ini file & all files in one folder and when I choose that .ini file it restores everything exactly. I did not change directories or create any of these folders that have the barca data in them...just assumed all this time that all the barca data was where is was supposed to be, in one folder with all files....so I'm wondering, what is the correct default folder where all barcas data goes??
I used to use the backup feature in barca and backup all barca files to a Email backup folder but stopped when started using online backup program because it's automatically backing up entire computer all the time and I didn't see need to have duplicate backups.

I also have a 2nd computer using Barca which I manage and I looked at their barca data and it is under Program Files/ Barca- nothing under Application Data. And the barca.ini file and all folders are there under Program Files. Both computers are using the same Barca version and have been for many years.

[Eric]

Hi jenniferque & welcome to Poco Forums,

Just had to reinstall windows, and restore all files.

That's really unfortunate.

So not knowing which folder was my current data I randomly chose one to pick files from to restore and it seems most messages are there but without the ini file all my settings and accounts aren't showing up and now it seems I have to redo all my customizations and accounts which is a big deal.

When there's no barca.ini file present, a new one will be created on restart. It contains all your settings.
However, the good news is that it doesn't contain your accounts. That one is named accounts.ini.

what is the correct default folder where all barcas data goes??

Depends on what OS you're using. If XP, it would be located under Program Files. If Vista or Win 7, then it would be the Application Data folder under your username.
Or else you relocated it elsewhere.
Same here, my data is located on my D: partition, so not under Application Data or Program Files.
Besides Vista would cause problems when using it from Program Files.

I used to use the backup feature in barca and backup all barca files to a Email backup folder but stopped when started using online backup program because it's automatically backing up entire computer all the time and I didn't see need to have duplicate backups.

I don't use online backups, so I'm don't know much about it.
I only image my laptop to an external drive and those latest images are moved on regular interval to another external drive.

I also have a 2nd computer using Barca which I manage and I looked at their barca data and it is under Program Files/ Barca- nothing under Application Data. And the barca.ini file and all folders are there under Program Files. Both computers are using the same Barca version and have been for many years.

What you could do is copy that barca.ini file over to your current computer which causes the problem.
Also make sure to first search for that barca.ini file, so you'll know what to overwrite.
Close Barca prior to overwriting that barca.ini file.
All settings will be used from your second computer when restarting Barca.

Let me know how it goes and reply again if you solved it or if you need further information.

Good luck with it.

[Tomas]

I'd say that the Application data folder should hold barca.ini.
If it didn't, something must went wrong with backup, because there is always a barca.ini file present, if it's not Barca will create it on startup, as Eric says above.

Another thing is that with using a backup program, I'd say you don't need to do any restore from within Barca anymore. Your backup software should recover everything to a ready to run state.

What method are you using to find barca.ini? Try Windows built-in search and configure it so that it includes hidden files and directories in search results.

Some users in the past couldn't find barca.ini, because Windows Explorer is often set to hide the .ini extension so all people see is file named Barca (or more such files) and no extension which leads to the confusion about barca.ini missing, if that was the case you need to configure Windows Explorer to show extensions for all files.

If data imported correctly and all you need to import settings now, run report Help > Email support, take a note of the AppPath folder (one the line starting with AppPath=).
Now find accounts.ini and barca.ini files (run a computer-wide search using Windows search function), exclude those found in AppPath from results, check which is most likely to be most recent one (by file date), make sure Barca is closed, then copy those files to AppPath as found above and start Barca.

[jenniferque]

Thanks guys for your help.
I am familiar with barca.ini files and locating it, and it is truly not there in the backup. But, it's fine now because I was able to restore all the messages correctly and instead of worrying about it any further I just reset the settings and accounts. But, now I have for sure double and triple checked to make sure that all the correct files are where they should be and backing up.
Using windows xp and after reinstalling and getting barca set up I see the default location for all barca files is indeed in Application Data, not Program files. And all looks good there now.
Tomas: The only reason my online backup didn't restore to a ready to run state is because I was selecting individually files myself rather then restore all (due to additional issues with other programs and files I did not want restored), But you are right, I believe if I select restore all, it should restore properly & I wouldn't need the barca restore- as long as the barca files are in the correct folder. I also realized the online backup had 2 sets of backups, I changed computers and it kept the old computers backup along with new so I didn't want to restore all and I believe now that may have been the problem with too many barca files as well....I still don't know why the barca.ini file was no where to be found in the backup or why there were 3 different folders with barca data in them, but again, I learned a lesson & now know to verify all data files are there- I did the dumbest thing ever with computer maintenance and just assumed a program was doing what I wanted it to on it's own (haha)
Thankfully all messages/ folders were not lost & barca is back up & and that's the most important thing. Thanks again for your help