Copying project files

[Phil.c]

Just wondering if there's a way of copying D8b projects without taking the lid off to access the HD?

[Y-my-R]

I was finally able to get FTP working on the D8B and on my HDR, thanks to this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2414

Before that, I had the CF card in my D8B and HDR, that the OS is running on, installed in a way so I can remove it from the outside of the case, and put it into a card reader on my computer.

On my D8B, the CF card is in the floppy slot in the front, and on the HDR, it's on a card-slot blind in the back.

But again, once FTP works, you shouldn't need to physically get to the drive anymore, anyway

It's still a "new feature" to me, but I don't see myself removing the CF card(s) to copy data from/to the D8B and HDR, anymore

[Phil.c]

Thanks, a lot of that is over my head isn't it possible to just put the card in a card reader and just copy the project files, a good idea to make the card accessible though.

[Y-my-R]

Sure - if you have the CF card installed so it's accessible from the outside of the D8B rack unit, then with the D8B turned off, you can simply take that card, and put it into a card reader connected to a PC or Mac.

I did it this way until very recently. There's usually a folder called "Session5" and that's where the D8B project files are.

Since I usually only connected the CF card to my computer to backup it's contents (there's nothing I can do there, with D8B projects), I usually created a whole disk image of the card (i.e. via Apple's Disk Utility) instead of just copying those files, since it's only about 50 MB of data, anyway... and I could go straight back to work, if I'd somehow have a CF card go bad. I'd then just copy the image back to a new CF card, insert into the D8B and boot back up (I think the boot sector on the CF card isn't getting cloned, though. So, for it to work this way, the spare CF card may need to be pre-formatted with a D8B, first (or had to have a D8B clone incl. boot sector transferred to it, by an app that can handle that first... like, Macrium Reflect, Norton Ghost, CloneZilla or the likes).

In fact, I usually keep a second D8B CF card ready to go. Not because it's necessary, but because I had bought one too many... but it feels good to know, that a Bootup-Disk corruption wouldn't even slow me down, since I have a spare ready to go, and could swap it from the outside of the case

Having said all that... I still think it's worthwhile to try to get FTP working. In case you want to try... do you already have a (small) computer network at home, or do you connect your internet computer directly to your router/modem?

If you connect directly to your router/modem, does it have more than one ethernet port on it? (If you connect directly, and there's no available ethernet port, you might need a small network/RJ45 switch. The most basic ones need no configuration, though, and simply "network" all of its connections to one another, while your router/modem usually handles that they all get a unique address/identifier... that's what an IP Address is for).

Next, if you go to a command line prompt in Windows and type "ipconfig", it should spit out a bunch of numbers. Most likely, they'll start out with something like 192.168... and then two more segments of numbers with up to 3 digits (I don't want to post the full example, since I suspect that I took the forum down by doing that, a few days back... probably invites some weird bot-scans/web-crawls).
(On Mac, you'd go to System Preferences/Network/Ethernet/Advanced, and take a note what it says for IPv4 address, subnet mask and router).

Can you share how those numbers start out (but don't share the complete number... also for privacy reasons, in case you'd accidentally share your public IP... that's be like an invitation for a "hacker" to pay a visit, haha).

These are common:
192.168.xxx.xxx
172.16.xxx.xxx
10.0.xxx.xxx

The most common one is the first one (192.168.xxx.xxx).

The MAIN thing you need to do to get this working, is to figure out what "private IP address range" (these kinds of numbers are called "IP Addresses") your router/modem currently works with. It should be one of the ones above.

Then, you'd need to figure out if any IP address ranges are reserved for something else (e.g. on my router, numbers 100-199 for the fourth/last segment of numbers was already reserved).
For this, you'd usually log into your router/modem (most often, that's done by entering the IP address of the "router" in a web-browser URL window. For example, you might type "192.xxx.x.1" (with the missing numbers being 168 and 0) into your browser, and would get a log-in prompt for your router/modem.

Once logged in, you'd look for something called "DHCP." That's the thing/server that issues those IP Address numbers to every device that connects to the same network.

Somewhere in the DHCP settings, it should say if a certain IP-Address range is reserved for use by the DHCP server and the network devices it serves. Do NOT use an IP address from that range.

Instead, use an IP address that is either lower than that (but doesn't say "1" as the last segment/number, as that's usually reserved for the router), or, if the range ends at something lower than 255, anything higher than the reserved range, but lower than 255.

There shouldn't be SERIOUS performance differences, but I think lower numbers usually get a higher priority on the network (maybe the Dok said something about that in his post, I don't recall). But for the comparably slow/small FTP transfers the D8B would do, that isn't really relevant, and you could use an IP address that is pretty high up in the range.

In my case, any IP address that starts with 192.168.xxx.xxx, but ends with xxx.xxx.0.2 through xxx.xxx.0.99, would have worked for use with my D8B (or HDR). (Technically, without me first figuring out if that's available on my router... you could always try, if you're not sure about the steps above. It shouldn't break anything, that can't be fixed by unplugging the D8B network cable).

Armed with that info (necessary numbers range, and available specific IP number you want to enter for the D8B), you can enter that IP in the Network dialog of your D8B.

Then launch an FTP app such as FileZilla, and configure it for a passive connection to the IP address you entered for your D8B. For a user name, put "anonymous" and leave the password field blank.

But anyway... there's more details in the other thread I shared. I just thought I'd give a rough overview of the steps, since it's really not THAT difficult.
I just got stuck on this before, because I didn't realize I kept making the same mistake over and over again (entering an IP address that is reserved and NOT available for use with the D8B). But with several of us "regulars" now having FTP working, I'm sure we'll get it running on your end as well
If you want to give it a shot and get stuck... well, you know where you can find a bunch of helpful folks

[captainamerica]

FTP is the easiest way to go Phil

[Phil.c]

Thanks I’ll check it out.