Backing up SonicStage library for NEW PC

[thwi]

Hi,
I´m not sure if the following question has been answered completely:

I am planning on getting a brandnew PC. Therefore I would like to maka a backup of my SonicStage library from my OLD PC to an external drive. Afterwards I would like to uninstall all software / reformat the harddisk on my old PC and give it to my daughter.

On my NEW PC I would like to install SonicStage 2.3 completely new (without any data) and afterwards restore my database on this new computer.

Is this possible without becoming any problems?
I´d be happy getting an answer as I am becoming nightmares...the idea of having to rip hundreds of CDs again only because I am getting a new PC....
Cheers,
Thomas

[chris_lewis]

I too have asked this question and not got an answer, I have a nagging thought that the DRM will stop you from using the same data on a new PC

Cmon Sony give us an answer either way,

C

[thwi]

So far it seems to be that

- it is possible to restore your SonicStage library to a new PC if the SonicStage software on the new PC does not contain any data (songs / library etc.) - otherwise these files which are already on the new SonicStage library will be deleted but not the ones which you are about to restore

- it might be the case that after restoring your library on the new PC transferring any of these files to the Pocket will cause the loss of the files which are already on the Pocket (since you have to initialize your Pocket with the SonicStage software on the new PC). This shouldn´t be a problem, though, as all the files originally came from your own SonicStage library which has been restored on the new PC. Therefore - basically you would have to transfer all files once again from your new PC to your initialized (and therefore "empty") Pocket.

Hope this wasn´t too confusing after all. It would be nice, though, if anyone would confirm this (probably somebody has tried it).

Cheers,
Thomas

[everythingSony]

just wondering if there are any guinea pigs who dont have too many tracks on their VP and would be willing to test out these theories to save you from learning the hard way if it doesnt work???

[thwi]

Regarding the backup topic...
I am wondering in case I am plannning on getting a new PC if it´s possible to "simply" mirror the old hard drive to a (blank) new one. "Mirroring" basically means that you exactly copy the contents and directory structure of one drive to another drive. This process is called "mirroring" because every byte of data is copied, including preference settings and invisible files.
Should be a way in case someone has a large library and wants to make a backup.
Any suggestions on this one?
Cheers (and good night for now),
Thomas

[Tedd]

Seems to me that mirroring the entire hard drive is a little overkill, I would try just to lift the music library from where it's currently installed, dump it onto an external hard drive and then put it back into the same place on the new pc once you've installed teh same version of sonicstage, and assuming you use default file directories.

I haven't tried it but appears to default to this location with XP.
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\SonicStage\Packages
Assuming you're feeling brave and you have room you could always try copying it to your Vaio then back again but if you have another hard drive I'd use that.