Can I use a backup on a different operating system?

rdh61 wrote on Sunday, October 20, 2013:

Hi,

Can I use a backup on a different OS from the one it was created on?

I use openemr on four different computers running Ubuntu. One of these has died and I’ve come by a second hand Mac to replace it. I use backups to transfer data between the four computers. Will my linux systems restore from a backup made on the Mac and vice versa? If If they will, that would save me the hassle of partitioning my Mac HD and installing Ubuntu for dual booting. I think the answer is probably negative, but if somebody could give me a quick yes or no answer, it would also save me time-consuming experimentation.

Many thanks.

jcahn2 wrote on Sunday, October 20, 2013:

Ahoy Robert,

It looks from your post that you are using 4 separate servers with “mirrored” data. Is there a compelling reason that you are not keeping all the data on one box and accessing the data via networking?

Unless someone smarted chimes in, my opinion is: If you must keep your servers separate, OpenEMR can be installed on the Mac (it’s in the wiki) and the backup sql file should restore without issue as long as the OpenEMR, mysql, and PHP versions are the same. For further peace of mind, at least on the initial install, you will also need to restore the .tar file of the backup into your “webroot”/openemr/ directory on the Mac.

Jack Cahn MD
OEMR board

yehster wrote on Sunday, October 20, 2013:

Jack is basically correct. I suspect that your biggest challenge in migrating to OSX will be setting up Apache,PHP and MySQL in the first place, and not OpenEMR itself.

However, another approach you could take would be to use a product like VMWare Fusion on the Mac, and install Ubuntu on a virtual machine, which would give you ubuntu on the second hand machine without needing to repartion/dual boot.

rdh61 wrote on Monday, October 21, 2013:

Thanks to both for your answers.

@ Jack: Yes, there are good reasons why I don’t access data by networking with one server. The transfer of backups between machines has worked well now for the past three years. I’m glad to know backups are transferable between Ubuntu and Mac.

@ Kevin: Thanks for telling me about the option of setting up a virtual machine. That might be the simplest thing? I’ll look into it.

blankev wrote on Monday, October 21, 2013:

Using your Back-ups between machines, is this on a USB stick and import and export or do you copy the whole directory of OpenEMR so all four are compatible with the latest on USB stick?

Next question: Do you and you alone use the different computers, having said this, why do you work on four different places all alone by yourself?

This last question is just for my imagination on how OpenEMR is used by others.

rdh61 wrote on Tuesday, October 22, 2013:

  1. USB stick. I create a back up by going to Admin -> Backup. I restore the backup using sudo ./restore. All machines are backed up with the latest database as needed and as is feasible (see below).

  2. I and I alone use the different computers. Two are in my two solo osteopathic practices, which are 1000 miles distant from each other (seriously). Two are in my two homes (in these different locations) - that is because sometimes I need to refer to my records while at home. I am a practitioner working solo in simple, small scale environments. I do not wish to leave one computer turned on while I am away from my main practice location. Also, two of the computers do not have fast or reliable Internet access (on these I use mobile broadband).

yehster wrote on Tuesday, October 22, 2013:

If you do go the virtual machine approach, something you might consider is to is put the files for the VM on a USB stick and carry that from host machine to host machine and boot the VM instead of needing to back-up and restore every time.

blankev wrote on Wednesday, October 23, 2013:

Next question is: Why not use one laptop computer with a backup save at the various work places?