Moving to a new PC
The order that works: export your jobs, move the licence, restore your files on the new PC, then import the jobs so it carries on backing up.
On this page
Your backups already hold your files. Moving to a new PC is four steps: bring the jobs and the licence across, restore the files, and let the new PC carry on backing up.
Before you start#
- The backup drive, or the NAS share, that holds your backups.
- The email address your licence was bought with, or the licence key from your order email.
- The password of every encrypted job. It is not in an exported job file and cannot be recovered.
On the old PC, if you still have it#
- Run each job once more (Run on the Jobs page) so the last changes are in a backup.
- On Jobs, open each job's ⋯ menu and choose Export job JSON…. Save the files somewhere you can reach from the new PC. To export several at once, tick their rows and click Export JSON in the bar that appears: you are asked where to save each one.
- If your licence has no seat to spare, free this PC's seat: open Account (click your email, or Not signed in, at the bottom left ▸ Account & licences) and click Deactivate this PC at the top.
An exported job file holds the job's settings, never its encryption password, share credentials or S3 keys.
After step 3 the old PC runs on Free. If its trial is over and its jobs do not fit Free (more than two, or a paid feature), it shows the decision screen and asks which two to keep. The backups it made are not affected.
If the old PC is gone#
Nothing is needed from it. Your backups are on the backup drive or share, and a seat can be freed from the new PC: sign in, open Account, click Manage devices on the licence under Licences on your account, and click Deactivate on the old PC's row. Your account page on genie9.com has the same list, with Deactivate on each PC.
If you did not export the jobs, you make them again on the new PC. Your backups restore either way.
On the new PC#
- Download GBM AI from the download page and install it. If you own a licence, any setup will do: activating the licence sets the edition.
- Open Account, click Sign in, and enter your email and the six-digit code.
- Under Licences on your account, click Activate on this PC. Or paste your key under Have a key instead? and click Activate on this PC.
If the app says This licence is on all its PCs (E-LIC-003), free the old PC's seat under Manage devices as above. See Moving a licence to another PC.
Restore your files#
Restore before you import the jobs, so no backup runs before your files are back.
- Plug in the backup drive, or check that the share is reachable.
- Open Restore and click Open a backup folder….
- Pick the folder that holds your jobs' folders, for example
H:\Backups: every job folder inside it is listed at once. (Or pick one job's folder, such asH:\Backups\Documents & Desktop.) - Under Backups by job, click the job, then Browse on the newest point.
- Leave nothing ticked to restore everything, choose Restore to, type the Password for an encrypted backup, and click Start restore.
Which Restore to to choose:
| Your new PC | Choose |
|---|---|
| has the same drive letters and the same user name as the old one | Original location |
lays things out differently, for example C:\Users\Alex where the old PC had D:\Users\Alex | Another folder, keeping the tree, then move the folders where you want them |
A restore to the original location of files from a drive this PC does not have is refused with E-SET-004. Choose another folder instead.
Restore the small, precious folders first and the big ones afterwards. See Restore everything from a point in time.
Carry on backing up#
- On Jobs, click Import job… and pick an exported file. Repeat for each file.
- The job is saved at once, switched on, with its schedule. Click Edit on its row straight away.
- On the Where step, check the destination. A drive letter or share from the old PC may not be right here.
- For an encrypted job, type the password again on the Settings step. Until you do, its runs stop with
E-ENC-003. - Click Save changes.
For a job on a NAS, add the share's user and password under Settings ▸ Network & credentials if your Windows sign-in cannot write to it. A cloud job needs its S3 profile chosen again on the Where step; until then it stops with E-DEST-006.
The first run of each imported job is a full backup, even into the same folder as before. The old PC's backups in that folder carry the job's name, so they stay listed under the job in Restore, and the job's retention counts them with its own: the oldest are removed as its retention says.
Warning
Once the new PC backs up, stop the old one: switch its jobs off or uninstall GBM AI there. Two PCs running jobs with the same name into the same folder remove each other's backups.
Backups in an S3 bucket#
This version cannot open a bucket's backups on another PC: they are listed from an index kept on the PC that made them. An imported cloud job starts a new chain in the bucket, and the old PC's backups there are left alone. If your only copy of some files is in the bucket, keep the old PC until the new one has backed them up.
A reinstalled Windows counts as a new PC#
A clean reinstall of Windows gives the PC a new identity, so it takes a new seat. Free the old entry under Manage devices; it shows the PC's name and when it was last seen. Reinstalling only GBM AI keeps the seat.