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Tips and tricks for using Notation Software products Learn (and share) tips and tricks for getting the most out of your Notation Software products.

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  #1  
Old 05-27-2015, 08:53 AM
Reinhold H. Reinhold H. is offline
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Default Backup

More and more we see that people do not spend enough care for performing an external backup of their installation. As a result we at Notation Software are faced with increasing effort in particular when a harddisk crashes or a PC needs to be re-installed from scratch in case of a virus infection or whatever.

In version 3 there is a build-in backup capability where in version 3.0.2 this backup is automatically created in a zip file during the installation. It is just about to save this backup zip file on an external drive like a USB or external harddisk. In the QuickStart Guides you will find how to do that.

PLEASE perform an external backup of that zip file. This reduces our service effort and we can focus more on music stuff.

Thank you

Reinhold


For the QuickStart Guide please see

Composer:
---------
English
http://www.notation.com/download/Qui...s-Composer.pdf
Spanish
http://www.notation.com/download/Qui...omposer_ES.pdf
German
http://www.notation.com/download/Qui...omposer_DE.pdf


Musician:
---------
English
http://www.notation.com/download/Qui...s-Musician.pdf
Spanish
http://www.notation.com/download/Qui...usician_ES.pdf
German
http://www.notation.com/download/Qui...usician_DE.pdf
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  #2  
Old 06-10-2015, 06:27 AM
Reinhold H. Reinhold H. is offline
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Default Re: Backup

Hi friends,

I need to say that it is very frustrating that we get queries every day where people forgot to backup their software on an external storage device. We advice people in all docs and in each letter which is related to a purchase that the backup should be stored externally.

Our capacity is limited and - to be honest - I do not want to 'waist' our time and energy on things like that. We'd better focus on music and bring more value to the products and community rather than to sort things out that should be taken for granted.

So, .... P L E A S E .... take some time and perform the backup as described in the documentation listed behind the links above.

Reinhold
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  #3  
Old 10-21-2015, 09:40 AM
Reinhold H. Reinhold H. is offline
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Default Re: Backup

What more should I say on Backup as im my last post from June 10th, 2015?
It is adviced all over the place, but

people don't do a backup

Very frustrating to see all the energy waisted because of a missing backup, but not spent in creative music.
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  #4  
Old 11-06-2015, 07:52 AM
Impulse Impulse is offline
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Default Re: Backup

OK on backup but altho` I had everything of value on my PC backed up when my hard drive went to the garbage, and because the PC was a bit old it went with it, I found all my paid for programs were not recoverable.
The reason being that I was trying to download to another PC in this case a new one.
Photos and other less important files were recovered from the external storage but I had to search the sites for suppliers of the programs and not all of them were delighted to supply you a new one
I found that one had gone out of biz or renamed somewhere and in the case of Notation Musician I had to pay for a new installation and the cost of a hard disc (only way to download satisfactorily to Aus).
I didn`t know this before but your backed up programs are only good for the same PC.
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  #5  
Old 11-06-2015, 04:52 PM
Sherry C's Avatar
Sherry C Sherry C is offline
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Default Re: Backup

Hi,

Just to be clear, we strongly encourage our customers to make a secure backup that you keep in a safe location (eg. thumb drive, external hard drive, etc.) You can use this backup to reinstall the software on your licensed machine in the case of a "clean up" that removes the software, virus infection (the most common cause of needs to reinstall), and other events. This saves the customer time because you can just do it without having to wait for a download link from us This backup can also be used to generate the log files needed if you request a transfer of the license in case your computer totally fries and you have to get a new machine.

Thanks for your understanding

ttfn,
Sherry
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  #6  
Old 07-07-2016, 10:10 AM
Reinhold H. Reinhold H. is offline
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Default Re: Backup

I bring up this backup topic to the attention of all again.

We continously get tickets where customers forget to save the backup on an external storage device which could be used in case of a hard disk crash. Of course, in case a hard disk crashes everyone is frustrated. Sometimes people pass their frustration onto us when we do not IMMEDIATELY respond to provide help for the Notation Software products.

But all is so easy. We have a backup package available which is created as part of every installation. PLEASE save this backup zip file to an external storage as described in the links of this thread. This helps everybody.

We try to help as fast as we can. We keep our costs at a minimum also to maintain the current price position of our products. Therefore we rely that basic software sanity should be performed by the users. The alternative would be either to charge for some service fee or to increase the prices of our products. Honestly, we are proud that all cost restructuring and forward strategy in the past years has been very successful. Introducing a service fee or increasing the product prices only because of a nearly 24/7 service would encumber our strategy to focus on more values for everybody and would be contra-productive.

So, please take the steps and save the backup package externally as described in the links above.

Reinhold

Last edited by Reinhold H.; 07-07-2016 at 10:19 AM. Reason: Text polishing
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  #7  
Old 07-09-2016, 06:25 PM
rrayner rrayner is offline
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Default Re: Backup

Thank you for starting this thread, Reinhold. I have to admit, I am a "read the manual later" kind of guy, and I had never looked deeply into your Backup capabilities.

I have made certain that I had now "grade A, squared away" in regard to offline storage for my Composer backups.

I see that I still have a Notation_3_BETA_RELEASE folder in my Public\Documents folder. Is it safe to delete that now?

In the Installation folder, I also have Inst_NS_Composer_3_English_Backup.zip, which would seem to be outdated with 303 also being there. Is it alright to delete the previous version?

There are also three older files with 2014 dates that might be deleteable. I should probably ask you about them offline. I wouldn't want to contribute to anyone mistakenly deleting something they shouldn't based on what I have said here.

Anyway, thanks for providing me with a better understanding of one of your important features.

Ralph Rayner
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  #8  
Old 07-10-2016, 02:40 PM
Reinhold H. Reinhold H. is offline
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Default Re: Backup

Quote:
Originally Posted by rrayner View Post
Thank you for starting this thread, Reinhold. I have to admit, I am a "read the manual later" kind of guy, and I had never looked deeply into your Backup capabilities.

I have made certain that I had now "grade A, squared away" in regard to offline storage for my Composer backups.

I see that I still have a Notation_3_BETA_RELEASE folder in my Public\Documents folder. Is it safe to delete that now?
That is the data part of the Beta Release. We use this special Beta directory totally in parallel to the regular data because when testing the Beta we want to make sure that the Beta is 100% in parallel to the regular version. For clarification I recommend to delete this directory now. It will be created again in case you will participate in a next future Beta testing.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rrayner View Post
In the Installation folder, I also have Inst_NS_Composer_3_English_Backup.zip, which would seem to be outdated with 303 also being there. Is it alright to delete the previous version?
Yes, this backup can be deleted but I always recommend to backup these files on an external storage first. Then it can be easily recovered in case it is required for whatever reasons.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rrayner View Post
There are also three older files with 2014 dates that might be deleteable. I should probably ask you about them offline. I wouldn't want to contribute to anyone mistakenly deleting something they shouldn't based on what I have said here.
Please send us a screen shot of those directories to support@notation.com. A ticket will be created and we will respond with an advice. In case it is of all's interests we are going to post the advice in the forum and/or update the docs.

Reinhold

Quote:
Originally Posted by rrayner View Post
Anyway, thanks for providing me with a better understanding of one of your important features.

Ralph Rayner
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  #9  
Old 08-14-2016, 07:29 AM
Reinhold H. Reinhold H. is offline
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Default Re: Backup

Again and again and again we get requests for support where people do not save the backup on an external device. This is so boring and costs us a lot of effort.

Our prices are significantly below the competition and have been calculated based on the bare minimum. But this requires that everybody takes care about the program and data assurance. We have posted to save the backup zip-file everywhere but obviously this does not help.

Looks like that the only measure that helps will be introducing a special service fee for our effort when people ask for a new download key because they have not performed saving the backup zip-file to an external device.

We think about introducing such a service fee.

Reinhold
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  #10  
Old 10-20-2016, 04:37 AM
Reinhold H. Reinhold H. is offline
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Default Re: Backup

... an never ending story that people do not backup their software.

Reinhold
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  #11  
Old 06-11-2017, 04:57 PM
LesterN LesterN is offline
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Default Re: Backup

Quote:
Originally Posted by jpbaker67 View Post
Hi. I use a Mac with Wine for Notation. I recently got a new Zyppah Mac, and am having problems with downloading the program. Using the link you gave me after I contacted you, all was fine, and I got the program up and running. But then I tried to create an icon on my Desktop as a shortcut by dragging the Composer.exe file, and from then on, Notation stopped working.
Good idea. I'm going to start backing up weekly.

Last edited by LesterN; 01-04-2018 at 09:17 AM.
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  #12  
Old 11-30-2017, 06:24 PM
jpbaker67 jpbaker67 is offline
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Default Re: Backup

Hi. I use a Mac with Wine for Notation. I recently got a new Mac, and am having problems with downloading the program. Using the link you gave me after I contacted you, all was fine, and I got the program up and running. But then I tried to create an icon on my Desktop as a shortcut by dragging the Composer.exe file, and from then on, Notation stopped working. I did go to the backup, and got a message saying that I have to manually remove Notation and start over, which I did. Then, I tried the backup again, and got the same message. This was the case when I clicked on "Repair Notation," as well as "Remove Notation." So, I'm going around in circles. Help! Thanks!
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  #13  
Old 12-01-2017, 09:19 AM
Reinhold H. Reinhold H. is offline
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Default Re: Backup

Hi jpbaker67,

We have a special Composer.app in place where this can be easily achieved. The installation guide was updated sometimes during the last year. Please see the Mac Installation Guide.

In a nutshell the installation sequence on a Mac is that Wine and Composer needs to be installed (section 1. to 6.). Next, the sections 7. to 11. describe how to establish a "Composer.app" in the Mac's Application folder.

This "Composer.app" starts the Composer.exe file underneath. The beauty using the Composer.app is that song files can be started directly from the Finder as described here. This "Composer.app" needs to be dragged and dropped to the desktop and a desktop icon appears.

Hope this helps.

Reinhold
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  #14  
Old 12-11-2017, 05:00 AM
Reinhold H. Reinhold H. is offline
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Default Re: Backup

Same story again: BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP

Most of the requests which we receive at the Helpdesk is where people forgot to backup the software. We have posted all over the place to store the backup zip-file to a safe external device as described in the QuickStart Guide. But looks like that still many people need to run through the painful experience of losing sensitive data before becoming active to save a backup.

Of course, we help when a ticket is opened at our Helpdesk. At our Helpdesk nothing is lost. But please understand that we do not sit there and wait to immediately react on such tickets.

Reinhold
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  #15  
Old 12-11-2017, 05:30 AM
jpbaker67 jpbaker67 is offline
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Default Re: Backup

Hi, Reinhold. I don't know if this latest reply was in response to me specifically, but if it was, please note that I did save and work with the backup file. The problem (and hopefully this will help others with the same issue) was that I had mis-uninstalled the program, which I had to do in order to proceed with the backup file. To uninstall it fully, I learned it needs to be done using the diagram I'm attaching (if it works) to this message. I understand you can't always reply immediately to people who have issues with the program, but I'm sure you do your best. We all have lives to live! I am happy to have my Composer back up and running.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Reinhold H. View Post
Same story again: BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP

Most of the requests which we receive at the Helpdesk is where people forgot to backup the software. We have posted all over the place to store the backup zip-file to a safe external device as described in the QuickStart Guide. But looks like that still many people need to run through the painful experience of losing sensitive data before becoming active to save a backup.

Of course, we help when a ticket is opened at our Helpdesk. At our Helpdesk nothing is lost. But please understand that we do not sit there and wait to immediately react on such tickets.

Reinhold
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  #16  
Old 03-31-2020, 09:10 AM
Reinhold H. Reinhold H. is offline
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Default Backup, Backup, Backup

Again, I would like to bring up the topic of performing a backup after installation of the software.
In these days we receive many requests where people ask for help because they did NOT perform a backup on an external storage after installation of the software.
Please make sure you perform such a backup to an external storage. Please see the QuickStart Guide how to do that. With this backup you can install the software on the same PC e.g. in case a harddisk breaks.

Our goal is to focus our expertise and energy on leading musical features and not to get forced waisting our time with issues like these. Please understand. Thanks.

Reinhold
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