DipTrace 5.0.0.0 Backward Compatibility

[gunrunnerjohn]

What happens to my existing projects if I attempt to move up to the 5.0.0.0 version from my current 4.0.3.5 version? I'd rather not shoot myself in the foot without knowing what issues may or will arise. Will the two versions coexist on the machine so I can jump back if I have issues? How about custom libraries?

[mike_s]

I am no expert, be careful.
Issues I have had with other (EAGLE Professional) updates , a file once opened (not saved, closed) was no longer accessible via the original creation version.
BACKUP ALL related files - even to a (2sd) thumb drive. I learned from experience.

I left Eagle Professional for many reasons - DIP TRACE is absolutely superior in any - and all metrics.

S/W updates (any source) are not universally reversible , again backups else-where are my suggestion.

Be safe

[gunrunnerjohn]

I don't have a problem that way, I always make a complete backup copy of my projects before any application update.

I was just wondering how much of a PITA it'll be to work on existing projects without a lot of angst before I get them working. I've been burned by software compiler upgrades that caused me to have to go back and change a bunch of source code and compiler directives which then required a lot more testing and validation before I could even continue with the original task of making my changes.

I would like to think that I can bring the data file over and import them and be on my way fixing stuff that wasn't broke in the prior version. I don't expect to be able to go back to the earlier release once I've worked on the files, but that would be nice if it were possible.

[meidinad]

I lost everything... built parts, schematics, completed boards, everything... On a Mac, I was using the DEFAULT location for files: Applications/DipTrace.app/Contents/Resources/drive_c/users/Wineskin/My Documents/DipTrace folder
- Which is a subfolder of the actual app. I haven't yet backed up to Time Machine as I need to buy an external drive. I [stupidly] updated to 5.0 and it replaced the application file and I lost everything. I've never had an app update delete its saved files. This seems to unprofessional to me. I think I'm done with DipTrace.

[gunrunnerjohn]

I lost everything... built parts, schematics, completed boards, everything... On a Mac, I was using the DEFAULT location for files: Applications/DipTrace.app/Contents/Resources/drive_c/users/Wineskin/My Documents/DipTrace folder
- Which is a subfolder of the actual app. I haven't yet backed up to Time Machine as I need to buy an external drive. I [stupidly] updated to 5.0 and it replaced the application file and I lost everything. I've never had an app update delete its saved files. This seems to unprofessional to me. I think I'm done with DipTrace.

No offense, but running without any backup seems pretty risky regardless of updating or not! There's not a question if your hard drive (SSD or otherwise) failing, it's only when! When that happens, it's certainly prudent to have good backup, and I'm not just talking about an occasional copy to another disk.

I don't store anything in the program folders, all my data and private libraries are on a separate data drive in my computer. There's no issue of potentially losing all the data, as I have multiple generations of backup of all the data files, including two separate off-line portable drives. I also have bi-weekly image backups of my boot drive going back for more than a year.

My concern is I install it and then have to do a bunch of work in order to use it on existing projects.

I think I'll wait until there aren't all those zeros in the version... The chances of all the listed changes having been done perfectly seems fairly remote.