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BS2 directory on Dropbox

aka_tico

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Greetings everyone,
Couple of years ago when I setup the BS2 I pointed its directory to our company's Dropbox. Yesterday the Dropbox file that contained the directory was renamed. This morning when I opened the BS2 it asked me to enter my activation key and once I did it opened as a new activation with its own directory in the Dropbox outside of the original Dropbox file. I tried to point its directory to same place as before but it warned me that it will wipe the info in destination file. I am guessing that the problem arise from the way Dropbox works. It seems that Dropbox doesn't simply change the name of the file but makes a new file with a new name and then move the content of the old file to the new file. Curiously enough, some of the original entries (i.e. recipes, inventory) are still accessible and some of the them (i.e profiles) are not in the new installation. Still some (i.e brew log ) are duplicated as two separate new and old entries. I can leave it as it is but it just creates lots of confusion and there is potential for major problems. Any inputs are welcome.

Teklad Pavisian
Lead Brewer/Maître brasseur
Benelux Brasserie Artisanale et Cafe (Verdun)
4026 Rue Wellington, Verdun
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
H4G 1V3
(514) 508- 5592 Ext. 21
 
I've very much discouraged people from using dropbox or network drives.  BeerSmith has no file locking to prevent data overwrites and losses like this.

If you have a backup of any of your data (perhaps from dropbox) I would be happy to help you restore it but I recommend using a local drive.  My email is beersmith at beersmith.com

Brad
 
I ran into the same issue. While Brad makes it clear that this is officially not recommended or supported, here is how I did it...

When you need to "reconnect" or connect a second instance to your Dropbox BeerSmith directory:
First make a complete backup of the BeerSmith directory and then delete all of the contents of the directory.
Open the new instance of BeerSmith and change the directory to the empty folder. It will write a bunch of files.
Close Beersmith
Once again empty all of the contents of the BeerSmith directory and then restore from your backup.

This works for me and I have both a Mac and a PC that read from the same directory. That said, I recognize I'm playing with fire and so use at your own risk. Also, never allow more than one instance of BeerSmith to open from the same directory simultaneously. Bad things happen.
 
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