Can I install OSCAR on my External Drive?

[SevereApnea]

Hi all.

Upgraded to v1.2.0 and revising my Data and Profiles. I am having to think about replacing this ageing Win 7 64bit OS.

I run a number of programs from my External Hard Drive, such as Firefox Portable (never asks for updates Yay! Thunderbird Portable and some open office stuff).

When I do a full or new install of Oscar can I install this onto my Ext Hard drive?

Would this work or does OSCAR have to go thro' the Windows Registry somehow?

That way I could have my program and Data Directory in one place, and not on the OS SSD.

Would there be a speed penalty?

Another benefit would be when travelling (remember that from years ago?) I could just run OSCAR from my External Drive via my laptop.

Thanks in advance.

[Sleeprider]

Oscar will work on any drive your system can reach. The best way is to assign a drive letter to the device or network location being used. Just point the program to the director where the data files reside.

[GuyScharf]

You can install OSCAR wherever you want, and you can put the OSCAR_Data file anywhere, including on an external drive.

OSCAR does store a limited amount of information in the registry to allow it to start up seamlessly -- things like last-used window position and size etc. The only important value is the path to the last-used OSCAR_Data directory. If you attach the external drive to another machine that lacks the registry entries, OSCAR will prompt asking you whether ti create OSCAR_Data in your Documents directory. Just respond No and OSCAR will present a dialog asking you where you want your OSCAR data located. Just navigate to where it is on the external drive and respond OK. OSCAR will now remember the location on that machine.

[SevereApnea]

Thanks both to SR and Guy.

Yes my Oscar data is already safely ensconced on my external HDD, Z:\Chris etc.
I don't trust my old Windows 7 PC anymore! Even though I back everything up I am looking to minimise setup time with a new PC each time.

So that's good to know, I can run Oscar.exe off the same External HDD.

Hmm, thinking about it again, I am not sure there is a benefit. 
If I take my laptop on my (somewhat distant future) travels, it already has my Oscar v.1.2 happily running, and I can simply upload data to the lapptop while away, and then when I get back, update the desktop data.

Just trying to keep all my data and program settings away from my OS SSD.

thanks again!

[SevereApnea]

OK so I tried this but ran into a snag.

Inserted Cloned SSD into desktop, windows 7.
Already has OSCAR installed in windows Program Files (is this the problem?)

Here is what I did...

Inserted External HDD via USB. I can read and write to that drive.
Created Directory called TestProgramPortable.

Double clicked OSCAR-1.2.0-Win 64.exe on desktop > Allow > Run > User Account Control YES > Select language Setup > English OK > Create desktop shortcut uncheck > Next > next Option is to INSTALL. 

At what point do I choose where to install?

Thanks!

[GuyScharf]

Having OSCAR already installed is fine, as long as it is the same version. You should not mix versions of OSCAR on the same database.

If OSCAR has been installed, re-installing will install OSCAR in the same place it was before. You would have to uninstall it using Windows Settings/Apps to clear Windows knowledge of where it was installed.

OR, you can skip the reinstall step. Open a command window, navigate to C:\Program Files\OSCAR, and start OSCAR with "oscar --datadir xx". Note that there are two hyphens before "datadir." OSCAR will ask you if you want to create a database folder named "xx" in your Documents directory. Respond "no," OSCAR will present a "file open" windows, navigate to the database on your external HDD and press OK. This needs to be done only once to update the registry entry to point to the correct database.

OR, if you want the OSCAR executable to be on your external drive, just copy the C:/Program FIles/OSCAR directory to a directory on your external drive and create a shortcut to start that copy of OSCAR. OSCAR does not entangle itself with the OS like some programs do and is entirely self-contained in the Program Files/OSCAR directory. The registry will still be used to remember the OSCAR_Data location so you will still have to go through the previous steps once to reset the registry entry.

[SevereApnea]

Excellent! thanks Guy.

I have just tested option 3 on a cloned HDD

Just copying the Program Files/OSCAR directory works beautifully!

Doesn't seem any slower running off the External HDD via USB 3.0 so that's a win!

Love this program!