[Some of My Data is Missing - Part II]

OK - after reviewing the problem William linked above - I found the issue - .ini files are somehow corrupted.  The selections are there, but they're not being read.

I renamed settings and preferences .ini and restarted ComicBase.  Settings.ini was recreated, Preferences.ini was not. From there I renamed the fields and everything is back. Up higher I noted how my preference for backup location sometimes disappears. This is still happening even after I just did this so there appears to be an issue with how these files are handled. In my case preferences.ini does not appear to be used.

One other note:  In Windows 10, the AppData folder is a hidden file. Because, you, know, Microsoft.

If anyone else is having this issue and wants to take a stab at it, I've attached a PDF showing what I did.

ComicBase ini Files.pdf

[Some of My Data is Missing - Part II]

Yeah - something's not right. I've only got two custom fields and one custom check and they've all gone back to their default names; i.e. "Location" has reverted to  Custom Field One.  No data loss (as far as I can tell). I opened my first backup as a working file and same thing.  So it would appear that assigning names to a custom field is not something that is saved and the field is not protected in any way. . . .

[Some of My Data is Missing - Part II]

Yes - my drive is good. But today I learned about the ALT key when exiting - that works and is better than what I did before.

[Some of My Data is Missing - Part II]

Mark - I'm back to normal - although there were a couple of issues.  Here's what I did.

Uninstall CB 2020.

Ran cCleaner and cleaned up the Registry.

Re-install CB 2017. Verified everything was good, then did a rebuild lists for pretty much everything and verified all good again.

Re-install CB 2020. Went normally, but when I opened 2020 it didn't convert the old DB - just gave me an empty one.

File/Open on the 2017 DB and it converted.  Took longer than the first time.

I actually have three custom fields.  Custom Field 1 (Location) converted OK with all data.  Custom Check 1 and Custom Field 2 did not covert to the names I had given them, but the data within these fields did convert.  I reassigned the names and all is good.

One other thing unrelated to the above: Backups within Setup/Preferences does not work very well.  I do my backups to a removable hard drive and I only run them if there's been a DB change. Two issues: 1) I can't turn them off.  2) Where the backup goes varies. Sometimes it goes to the external hard drive, sometimes it ignores the setting and goes to the comicbase directory on the C:\ drive.  When it does that, I have to reset the Preference to the external drive.

[Some of My Data is Missing - Part II]

Mark - I'm hoping to be able to get to that this weekend.  From your earlier post I was going to re-install 2017 and run the two programs at the same time.  My DBs have always been in the default location so I'm pretty confident something happened during the conversion - I've a number of books I track, and I know exactly where they are.  It was just by chance I noticed the empty field.

I've already made a number of additions under 2020 but I'll attempt the conversion again and let you know what happens. 

 

[Some of My Data is Missing - Part II]

I too use a Custom field - Location - to identify where my books are.  I converted to 2020 Professional from 2017 back in early January. I've just discovered that I have 930 books where the Location field did not convert.  Many are arbitrary books in the middle of long runs that I would have no problem finding or just re-identifying, however, there are lots of others - spread out over 34 boxes - for which I have no clue.  It would appear at this point my only option to is re-install 2017 (with my saved DB) to get the location field back for the missing books, then re-install 2020 (to the current DB with all the additions I've since made) and add the fields manually. Unless some has a better suggestion?