I did warn you about what can happen to CaseMap if you switch to a new computer and fail to back up your CaseMap records.
So now I get to tell you how to correct the problem in case you didn’t pay attention to me and my own irritating experience.
- If you don’t have a multi-gig flash drive, go buy one. (The one I had lurking on my desk is a SanDisk Cruzer 8GB. I looked at how much stuff I had in CaseMap and however Gs relate to Ks, I figured out I didn’t even have one gig of data, so I was OK.)
- You didn’t dump your old computer, did you? Because you’re going to have to grab the CaseMap data out of it now.
- Turn off your new computer and (a) unplug the mouse; (b) unplug the keyboard; (c) unplug the screen; (d) don’t bother to unplug the printer because you won’t be using it for this operation; (e) unplug the power cord.
- Wrangle your old computer up to all these unplugged cords, and plug them into your old computer.
- Turn your old computer on. (It might take a minute to remember where the turn-on switch is but courage! you will find it.)
- Wait the interminable time it will take, in comparison to your new computer, before your screen says it’s up and ready.
- Stick the flash drive into one of those USB port things on the front of your old computer. You will get a message about some new device being plugged in.
- Enter CaseMap, i.e., your old CaseMap with all your beautifully organized data in it. Up at the top left you’ll see a “Tools” item; click on it. You will now see a “Backup and Restore” offering. Click on it.
- You’re looking at two blank address opportunities. The top one asks what file you want to back up and gives you a “browse” possibility. You shouldn’t need to browse; your CaseMap files are dangling on the right side of your screen in front of your eyes, so shove one into the blank.
- Under that blank is a “destination” possibility. CaseMap’s default destination is into an internal CaseMap backup file. Don’t use it. Instead, browse away, and find the port your flash drive is plugged into. (My port is “F”.)
- Hit that and follow the (easy) instructions and questions, which will culminate in a satisfying and satisfyingly rapid copy onto the flash drive. (A flash of blue! a hearty hi-ho Silver! It’s the … wait. Wrong character.)
- Repeat for other CaseMap files, if you have them. (I had five.)
- Turn off your old computer and reverse 3 to 7 above.
- Plus the flash drive into your new computer USB port.
- Go into CaseMap (the new-computer stripped-down and mangled version).
- Go back into “Tools,” “Backup and Restore,” and this time do the “Backup” process, from your flash drive port. This time, though, the destination should be your desktop.
- Once you have your backup CaseMap files on the desktop, you can go back into CaseMap and restore them to the actual CaseMap files.
- If you managed, as I did, to re-organize your CaseMap data to some limited extent and did enter new data, i.e., time line items, into it, you’ll have to re-do them when you get CaseMap restored.
- Important: When you move your old computer away from your desk, do not drop it onto your foot. It will hurt. And when you go out limping to pick up your laundry, you might find yourself wondering if you’ll need to visit the spanking new ER that just opened up in your neighborhood. You know, a test drive.
And you do know, don’t you, that you have to remove your old hard drive from your computer before dumping it. I don’t know how long you should save the hard drive. Maybe until it gets rusty?