There should be a more complete RE-INSTALL / a (complete) REPAIR in case

[Spliff]

Sorry for 6 weeks' silence, I was ill, AND have had serious data loss problems (lost data has not been recovered yet, the data loss problem itself has been resolved with a complete (sic!) UR re-install. Thank you very much for the registry setting re divider code in UR's path which is tremendously helpful (discovered it just at this moment).

As for the data loss, my fault being not having created recent backups; not an excuse but an explanation: With a good file system sync tool, it's easy to (regularly) backup just the changed, and added, files, whilst db backup forces the user to create multiple, albeit almost identical versions of gigabyte files - no wonder that on the professional db level, more and more providers have introduced incremental db backup, e.g. Postgres, lately.

(Repair tries - which have already cost me tremendous time, for "almost nothing" insofar: problems in 30 DBs... - have not yet been successful, since the db repair tools align the records by their IDs which obviously don't remain the same by moving records from one db ("General Inbox") to another (29 others...), and so I have to use "diff" tools, in csv mode, onto my UR db exports (!), etc. - it's a nightmare in possible retrieval, and even more so for the data which is lost for good...)

I'd like to remind us of our discussion re regular content loss in moving single (sic!) items from one db to another (which continued as before); I had said that no problems occurred though upon moving more than one item that way at a time.

That observation had been true at the time (I suppose), but, unbeknownst by me, for weeks, a much more serious problem occurred: Upon "bulk" moving (from "inbox" db to target db, or among those), UR moved the whole previous content of the move's then-current target sub-tree into the UR db's bin (!), from which then I then deleted it in some cases, days or weeks later, by my regular "db streamlining" efforts, and without knowing but I had done.

Obviously, it's a virus one then suspects, but 3 tools, running for many hours, didn't find any, and anyway, I hadn't (or have) any problems with any other software, and the situation is stable now, after (!) a complete UR re-install, whilst regular UR re-installs had done nothing upon the described problem: Even after regular UR re-installs (even of previous versions), UR "ate" my previous data wherever I moved new data.

Also, my c: drive (unfortunately) is a Samsung 850 Pro ssd (whilst my data = the UR DBs are on my d: hdd drive), and that might cause some problems, but again, I don't have problems with any other software.


By (as said, not successful, re the solution of the severe problem) "regular UR re-install", I understand closing UR, then triggering another UltraRecallProX64Eval deploy (settings and license are preserved).

In this context, it's also of interest that several tries to repair my Windows installation (10 Pro English, automatically updated, no updates withheld) were not successful insofar as chkdsk /f c: regularly told me it could not (sic) repair some corrupted files.


I then did a "complete" UR re-install, by which I mean that I identified all (?) possible UR program, etc. files on c: (with Voidtools "Everything"), and I also ran a registry tool to that effect (WiseCare 365), several times (after Windows shutdown and restart).

I then only did the "usual" re-install as above, but with no UR program files / data left on my system; obviously then, all my settings, and my license, were gone, too, and whilst the re-intro of my license was easy, I had to work quite hard to (more or less) replicate my settings (=another organizational fail of mine; this time, I have written down everything, in case).

With this "complete UR re-install", finally, the problems were gone, and this obviously indicates that a "regular" UR re-install, some DLLs or other files are NOT also "refreshed"... and chkdsk is not able to repair / replace them with the correct files; another run of chkdsk now was fine and did NOT mention problem files anymore.


From the above, it appears that UR should also provide a "repair" which would then also re-install those DLLs or whatever which, by a simple "re-install" by overwriting the current install by a new one, are currently not also replaced, too. Obviously, the settings (as far as they might not cause any harm), and the license, should probably be preserved upon this "repair", or then "complete re-install".

(I admit that some threads here treat the "back up the UR settings" problem, in the context of copying them then to a second UR install onto a second pc, so that the loss of all my UR settings in this situation could have been prevented, but my idea was to "do UR really from scratch", and that obviously was successful after all.)

(Also, to clarify this perfectly: Data loss my fault by my lazy backup mode; it's just that currently, users should know that a regular UR "re-install" will NOT re-install all the necessary files; and, data loss might occur by trans-db record moves if some important UR system file is damaged, so visual checking such moves' results remains a not so bad idea.)


EDIT:

Before my final and complete re-install (at least), I used the "official" Windows de-install dialog "Apps & features" and the button "Uninstall" which appears in there for UR (whilst the button "Modify" for UR is always greyed-out, and a button "Repair" is not existent for UR), but I am NOT sure that I also used the UR "Uninstall" button for my previous UR re-installs, before then simply overwriting my installation with another "Eval", at least not every time. So perhaps, any (?) UR re-install, AFTER correct "Uninstall", will re-create all the necessary DLLs, etc.? Then it might have been my fault to not have "uninstalled" before each re-install: I can't say anymore. (As said, those re-installs were "successful" in the way that at first sight, everything was ok, but the data loss problem occurred again and again, notwithstanding.) - Obviously, a "Repair" button there, re-installing all the necessary files, would have resolved my problem in some easier way, but my new (?) "Quick Search "OR" problem seems to indicate some glitch remains, even after my manual "cleaning" after correct "Uninstall"?

[kinook]

Uninstalling UR and choosing Yes/OK to the question to remove settings will remove all files that were installed and registry settings created by UR. The installer only copies DLLs to the UR installation path or a subfolder.

[Spliff]

"The installer only copies DLLs to the UR installation path or a subfolder." - Which I had completely cleared before my last re-install. So it seems that my previous tries all had been to just overwrite the then current installation with a new trial, and obviously are NOT recommended in case of problems. Will have to remember the "correct" way next time. ;-)