Saving the Contents of the BOINC Directory - Microsoft Windows®
From Unofficial BOINC Wiki
[edit] General
There are many things that you may wish to do with the computer that is running the BOINC Client Software. Many of those operations could include changes that may be such that your currently running installation of the BOINC Client Software might be damaged.
In those cases, prudence suggests that you exercise some caution before performing those actions.
[edit] Preconditions
- You have an installation of the BOINC Client Software.
- You are going to perform a procedure or process that may damage the installation.
[edit] Set-Up
[edit] Explanation
We begin the process to make a back-up copy of the BOINC Directory by doing a few preliminary steps and then, we act!
[edit] Stop the BOINC Client Software
Because the BOINC Client Software makes continuous updates to the BOINC Client Directory, many processes we want to do can cause corruption of the "state" files. To prevent this, all we have to do is stop the BOINC Daemon.
[edit] Single-User or Shared Installations
Open the Pop-Up Menu or the BOINC Manager's File Menu and select "Exit" ("Quit" in OS-X). This will shut down the BOINC Manager and the BOINC Daemon.
Goto Verify All BOINC Processes Have Stopped.
[edit] Services Installation
Perform the following:
- Click on the "Start" Button.
- Click on "Control Panel".
- Double-Click on "Administrative Tools" to open the tools folder.
- Double Click on "Services" (Two gears).
In the "Services" window, locate the entry "BOINC" which is the BOINC Daemon. Right-click on the name and select "Properties" from the pop-up menu.
With the "General" tab selected on the "Properties" window, click on the "Stop" button.
A message window with a progress bar will appear and will show the progress of the stop action. It is possible that the BOINC Daemon will not stop. This is usually indicative of more serious problems in Microsoft Windows® than the BOINC Client Software.
[edit] Verify All BOINC Processes Have Stopped
Depress the CTRL-ALT-DEL keys to bring up the "Task Manager".
Click on the column heading "CPU" twice to sort the column from top to bottom use.
When the BOINC Client Software is running you will see activity on one or more processes. In the example shown here this is for a computer with an Intel Pentium 4 processor with Hyper-Threading and so it shows two processes with 50% each.
On a single threaded CPU you will see one process with time varying up to about 99% which should be the currently executing Science Application.
| Project | Known Process Names |
|---|---|
| BOINC | boinc boincmgr |
| Climateprediction.net | hadsm3 hadsm3um sulphur_cycle |
| Einstein@Home | albert einstein |
| LHC@Home | sixtrack |
| Predictor@Home | mfoldB Charmm |
| PrimeGrid | rsa |
| Rosetta@Home | rosetta |
| SETI@Home | setiathome |
| SIMAP@Home | simap |
| SZTAKI Desktop Grid | search |
| World Community Grid | rosetta |
- Note:
- Some of these Application names may be followed by a version number.
- Note:
- Both Rosetta@Home and World Community Grid use an Application named "rosetta", but in almost all cases the version numbers will be different.
If you have been successful in stopping the BOINC Client Software you will see that the "System Idle Process" has most of the available CPU Time.
[edit] Backing-Up the BOINC Client Directory
[edit] Explanation
Now that we have gotten ready, we can locate a place to put the copy of the BOINC Client Directory, and then we are set to actually make the copy of the BOINC Client Directory.
[edit] Back-Up the BOINC Client Directory
When we do many processes that have potentially dire consequences we should make a archive copy of the BOINC Client Directory so that we can restore our existing system if things go Really wrong.
[edit] Locate Room For the Copy
Check your available disk drives for enough room to save a copy of the BOINC Client Directory. In most cases, our recommendation would be to save the copy on a disk drive other than the disk drive where the BOINC Client Software is installed.
[edit] Drill Down to the BOINC Directory
Double-Click on "My Computer".
Double-Click on "Local Disk (C:)".
- Note:
- We are referencing the "normal" installation location for the BOINC Client Software. If you installed the BOINC Client Software on another disk drive, open that disk drive instead.
Double-Click on "Program Files".
[edit] Select the BOINC Directory
Click on the "BOINC Directory".
[edit] Copy the BOINC Client Directory to the "Clipboard"
With the "BOINC Client Directory" selected, either:
- Press CTRL and "C", or
- Click on the "Edit" menu, then click "Copy".
[edit] Select the Destination
Open the designated destination directory. In this example I selected the current "Program Files" directory.
[edit] Paste the BOINC Directory
"Paste" the copied "BOINC Directory" by either:
- Typing CTRL and "V", or
- Click on the "Edit" menu, then click "Paste".
[edit] Monitor the Paste of the BOINC Directory
Now we get to see the files getting copied into the destination.
[edit] Copy Is Complete
Once the copy process (the "Paste" action) is complete, you should see a new folder. In this case, we did a "Paste" to the same directory as the source so the name is changed to "Copy of BOINC".
[edit] Verify the Copy
Once the copy action has been completed, we want to verify that the content was completely copied. Right-click on the "source" folder and select the "Properties" menu item. Now, right-click on the "source" folder and select the "Properties" menu item.
Compare the folder sizes and the number of files located within those folders. Both the folder size and the number of files must be equal or the save action did not get performed correctly.
[edit] Completing The Save
Thats it! We are done!
