Removal and Re-Installation during 30-Day-Free-Trial

[kos]

Hi all,

is it possible to totally remove HM2 and PostgreSQL from my Windows 8.1 machine and then re-install it again, continuing the remaining two weeks of the free trial period?
Or will this result in problems validating the time left for the free trial?

Another question: I have read on some other thread in this forum that HM2 works with PostgreSQL 9.0, not only with the version 8.4 that comes with the installer.
HM2 Installer detects that PostgreSQL 9.0 is already present and does not install 8.4.

Is that correct?
And does using PostgreSQL 9.0 have any advantages, or should I just go with 8.4?

Thanks.

[fozzy71]

Hi all,

is it possible to totally remove HM2 and PostgreSQL from my Windows 8.1 machine and then re-install it again, continuing the remaining two weeks of the free trial period?
Or will this result in problems validating the time left for the free trial?

Yes, this should not cause any problems with your trial. We identify the computer and not the installation. If you do have any problems you can email us for help getting the trial going again and/or extending it another few weeks if necessary.


Another question: I have read on some other thread in this forum that HM2 works with PostgreSQL 9.0, not only with the version 8.4 that comes with the installer.
HM2 Installer detects that PostgreSQL 9.0 is already present and does not install 8.4.

Is that correct?

HM2 will work fine with 9.0, 9.2, and 9.3 in addition to 8.4. We still install 8.4 by default because it is the most fleshed out in terms of bugs by the postgresql.org team but most of us on the tech/testing team are using 9.0 or 9.2 these days.

If you download the 8.4 or 9.0 installers from postgresql.org you will get an option to choose your port during installation so you can pick a different port and have multiple installations at the same time. Our HM2 combo installer is designed to be as simple as possible for the bulk of our customers so we don't include these types of options or the ability to pick a different installation path/drive. If you want to do any of these advanced postgresql things you need to download a standalone installer from their site.




And does using PostgreSQL 9.0 have any advantages, or should I just go with 8.4?

Thanks.

If you have 64 bit windows then 9.0+ can have some performance benefits but most people do not need these benefits so we stick with what works best for the masses in our combo installer. The people that benefit the most are people with large databases, people using notecaddy with lots of custom definitions (like the various coaching pack addons for notecaddy), etc.

[kos]

Hi Fozzy,


thanks for the detailed and helpful response.

I guess I'll proceed with PostgreSQL 8.4 for the duration of my free trial and then migrate the database to 9.0 with the purchase of HM2.

I will not use multiple installations of PgSQL.
When I trial-tested PT4, I had PgSQL 8.4 installed for HM2 and used PgSQL 9.3 for PT4; this resulted in HM2 running very slowly and becoming highly instable, crashing repeatedly.
(I discarded PT4 as inferior after having checked it out for an hour, by the way.)

I still haven't figured out what caused the stability issue with HM2 when using two PgSQL major versions simultaneously (and I can't really be bothered to, to be honest).
It shouldn't have happened, I'm on Windows 8.1 (64-bit), running an i7 CPU, 8GB RAM, GTX 760 (192-bit) GPU.


Cheers,
kos



Edit:
One more question, which just popped into my mind.
Will I be able to backup my PgSQL 8.4 database and restore it to PgSQL 9.0?
I'd expect a superior database like PostgreSQL to be backward/downward compatible, but better ask first than sorry later. It is a different major version after all.

[fozzy71]

Yes, you should generally be able to use the HM2 backup with 8.4 then restore it into 9.0 without issue. If you do run into any problems for some reason then you can recreate the database pretty easily by just importing the original hands from the archive folder and all you would lose out on would be things like player/hand notes and marks.

All original hands that are auto-imported get moved to an archive for performance reasons. Your \HM2Archive is in C:\HM2Archive by default, but you may have put it anywhere. The archive should be organized by \Month\DayOfMonth (example: D:\HM2Archive\2009\07\31) or if it was auto-imported with 7283+ it would be in \HM2Archive\SiteName\YYYY\MM\DD.