Backing up Pandora

Greetings:

I back up my files regularly on an external hard drive. What is the best way to back up Pandora? Where are the files located that I need to regularly backup? Are they all in the same place?

I've been copying the files under AppData\Roaming, which seems to be where all the mailboxes are, but I'm not sure if that's where settings etc. are kept as well.

Also, I see that, under Settings, Pandora has a Backup feature. What does this function back up? Where is the backup stored if I want to copy it to my backup drive? There's nothing about this function in Pandora Help.

Thanks for any advice you may have.
Mark

MS wrote:Greetings:

I back up my files regularly on an external hard drive. What is the best way to back up Pandora? Where are the files located that I need to regularly backup? Are they all in the same place?

I've been copying the files under AppData\Roaming, which seems to be where all the mailboxes are, but I'm not sure if that's where settings etc. are kept as well.

Also, I see that, under Settings, Pandora has a Backup feature. What does this function back up? Where is the backup stored if I want to copy it to my backup drive? There's nothing about this function in Pandora Help.

Thanks for any advice you may have.
Mark

Mark,

I have two backup strategies for email:

• Carbonite operating in continuous backup mode copies all changed files to the cloud storage location.
  
• A semi-monthly DVD backup of the Pandora Mail folder.  I do eliminate things like the search folder from the backup which could be recreated if a restore was required.
  

On the Pandora menu line, left+click on Session and then left+click on Information.  A window will open showing the location of the Pandora folders.  

I have the Pandora folder configuration set to:

• In the Documents folder is a folder named Pandora which contains the following:
  
  • A folder named Mail which contains all the Pandora files including mail folders and mailboxes.
    
  • A folder named MailSounds which contains the sound files used by Pandora.
    
  • A folder named Program Downloads which contains Pandora installation folders.
    
  
  
  

Hope this helps.
Butch

The Session-Information information was just what I needed. Thanks!

Anyway, do you or anyone know what the "Settings-Backup" function does?

Thanks,
Mark

MS wrote:The Session-Information information was just what I needed. Thanks!

Anyway, do you or anyone know what the "Settings-Backup" function does?

Thanks,
Mark

Mark,

The Pandora settings for Settings|Background Tasks|Backup seem to be fairly clear:

• Define the folder name and location where the backups are stored.
  
• Backup option for mailboxes before | after compacting.  Probably only for mailboxes that needed compaction | were compacted..
  
• Backup option for all mailboxes on Pandora start-up | exit.
  
• Backup option for all mailboxes every X days
  
• Backup option for maximum number of copies to keep for each mailbox.
  

This is my best guess after reading the settings.  Hope this helps.

Butch

Hi, Butch,

You seemed to be seeing something I wasn't, so I clicked around until I found the backup settings under Settings-General-Background Tasks. If I simply clicked on Backup, as I had been doing, no dialog box or anything appears, so it wasn't obvious what was supposed to happen.

I hope these details make it into Help sometime.

Thanks for the tip,
Mark

MS wrote:Hi, Butch,

You seemed to be seeing something I wasn't, so I clicked around until I found the backup settings under Settings-General-Background Tasks. If I simply clicked on Backup, as I had been doing, no dialog box or anything appears, so it wasn't obvious what was supposed to happen.

I hope these details make it into Help sometime.

Thanks for the tip,
Mark

Mark,

I edited my post to provide the path through the Settings to the Backup options so the next person will find things easier.

Butch

This is relevant to my interests, as I will soon be transferring Pandora across to a new laptop with all its mailboxes, settings etc.

Would you advise to use the backup function for this task, or simply to identify the relevant folders with Session-Information?

Presumably best to do a clean install first on new laptop.

kenny wrote:This is relevant to my interests, as I will soon be transferring Pandora across to a new laptop with all its mailboxes, settings etc.

Would you advise to use the backup function for this task, or simply to identify the relevant folders with Session-Information?

Presumably best to do a clean install first on new laptop.

The Pandora Backup function provides backup for mailbox files at the stated times shown on the relevant settings page.  It is not a complete copy of the Pandora data files thus it is not useful for transferring Pandora to a new computer.

The best way to transfer Pandora to a new computer is:

• Use the Pandora Installer to install Pandora on the new computer.
  
• On the sending computer, make a copy the User Data Folder.  Left+click on the menu item Session, select Information, left+click, and a window opens with the first item being the full path to the User Data Folder.
  
• On the receiving computer, find the User Data Folder location, and place the sending User Data Folder there and correct the folder name if required.
  

Regards,

Butch

Thanks, that is very helpful!