I save all my order confirmation mails in a dedicated folder in my mail account plus a back up of those mails on a separate hard drive. I also keep two Excel sheets with all order informations in various places as a back up.

Evernote

It's taken a good 8 hours but I have all information organized, at least into the same folder. There's considerable work to be done in that folder but I can actually find stuff quickly. I think I could get used to this organization caper.

 

Jon

TrueCrypt: It creates a 'drive' out of a textfile and you can put files in that 'drive'. All encrypted so tightly it takes quite a hacker to enter. There is only one single file in the drive which goes back about 15 years in my case. A 'find' to retrieve anything in that one long file. All passwords etc and other numbers are there. I have FSNAV from FS98 etc. on that file.

 

True Crypt is freeware.

I have a review coming out in a week or so for 1Password by AgileBits. Organizes serials and much much more.

 

 

I have a review coming out in a week or so for 1Password by AgileBits. Organizes serials and much much more.

I'll keep an eye out for it. Thanks.

Jon

I now have a brand new install of Acceleration and only 3 PMDG Aircraft in it. This is the way FSX will remain except maybe the MDII and the 777. Everything is working as it should so now it's backup time. Please explain how cloning works. Cloning can only be done from outside the drive to be cloned, is this right? How does restoration of the cloned os occur? Are there any activation problems? Jon

I now have a brand new install of Acceleration and only 3 PMDG Aircraft in it. This is the way FSX will remain except maybe the MDII and the 777. Everything is working as it should so now it's backup time. Please explain how cloning works. Cloning can only be done from outside the drive to be cloned, is this right? How does restoration of the cloned os occur? Are there any activation problems? Jon

Software to make clone backups has been around for a number of years. The first cloning program I attempted to use was Norton Ghost, and I believe as far back as a Windows 98 version. The current software I use is much easier and faster, and came with my target hard drive(s). It is branded as Seagate Disk Wizard but appears to have been developed by a company named Acronis. Simply put, one of the utilities within the program allows the making of a clone. Anything from an unprotected CD or DVD up to multi-TB hard disks. I am not a systems engineer so I cannot explain how it works technically. In operation after you name the source and target disks, you receive a couple of additional prompts. To make a bootable clone you must allow any partitions on the target disk to be deleted. Then it reboots, but not into windows. It locks the partition on the source drive, then completes a sector by sector copy. It takes about an hour for my 1.5 TB hard disk, which is slightly less than half full. It advises when the process is complete, then reboots after a prompt. As Windows boots it advises that the cloning was successful.

 

Once that has been completed, I have had 100% success in booting from the target/clone by changing my BIOS settings. Once I have verified that I pull the target/clone and store it on a closet shelf.

 

I have twice in the past year restored a clone back to the source disk. Both times were after faulty windows updates. Actually, in one of those two cases I swapped a clone into primary hard disk position because my original primary had 18 months of use. I have had no issues with installation keys following those two recovery instances.

 

I might add however that I made no other hardware changes between the time of the cloning and recovery operations. In other words, whether I recover, or whether I boot from the clone for verification, I am using the respective hard disks in the same system with the same Windows, software, and hardware installations. Within my entire system everything I have installed is on one hard disk with the exception of MSE scenery.

 

 

Once that has been completed, I have had 100% success in booting from the target/clone by changing my BIOS settings

Ok. I've got it. As long as the hardware remains the same and the clones are only used in the same computer there should 100% success. Before I buy Acronis True Image, a program I have had recommended to me many times, I'm going to try Macrium Reflect Free Edition. If it works. Bonus. The full edition has a clone to dissimilar drive option.

 

Jon

I use a free app called "Password Gorilla". It can store login info and passwords for virtually anything, and it requires its own password to access your stored passwords when you open it, so there is some security at least that other methods like Notepad etc do not have. You can google it and find it. Saw it featured on that "Call for Help" TV show a while back... It simply works

Another good one is named Password Safe.

Also, it has helped me to keep a text file list of all the airports that I have installed with the developer.  I just keep that in "My Documents" on a separate computer.

Then if I have to re-install FSX, I have a list of all the airports that were installed previously, and can start replacing them.

 

I've had two strange incidents with my serial keys.  

One happened a while back when I contacted Blueprint Simulations support, trying to get the "Vista" version of one of their airports that I had.  I was required to include my serial key in the email.  They sent the new version to me.

About three months later Simmarket locked my account so that I couldn't get into it to get any of my downloads.  When I contacted them to ask why, they said that I gave my serial key for a Blueprint airport to one of those illigal torrent websites.  

I explained that I sent it to Blueprint's support and they must have let it leak out themselves.  I had to dig up the emails to Blueprint support for proof, and send them to Simmarket.  They apologized, said they made a mistake and let me get back into my account.  That was several years ago and it has never happened again.

 

Another strange incident happened recently.  I went to install one of my airports from FlyTampa and when I put in my serial key, I got this shocking error message pop up that said "You have been black listed because of distributing your serial key illegally"

I contacted FlyTampa support with my receipts from their website and Paypal. They sent me an apology, and said it was a mistake on their part, and that somehow my serial key was listed on some torrent website in China.

I think maybe either their website was hacked for the keys or that someone got lucky with some kind of random key generator.

I know my computer hasn't been hacked because I always have my firewall turned on, and my computers are running through a router which also has a built in firewall.  My antivirus hasn't shown any violations. It puzzles me how something like that could happen.

My web based email account was hacked several years ago, but since than I change my password regularly on it.  That may have been where the problem happened.

I am thinking of transferring all of my payware addons along with the keys, from my computer harddrive and storing them on a couple of external 2TB drives.

Has anyone else had any experiences like this?

I try to save all my payware keys, aircraft installers, activation codes and so on.  If lost, sometimes activation codes can be retrieved from the registry.  My daughter lost a good number of hers when she wanted to move her games to another computer.  Since software is often activated/deactivated online, I retrieved her activation codes from the registry and uninstalled her games from her old computer.  She was able to reactivate the games on her new computer.

 

I suggest when activation codes are received to paste them into a Notepad document (along with the date of purchase or an emailed purchase receipt) and place them in a folder away from any product installation folder.  I usually try to keep my activation codes in a central location which is backed up onto a USB hard drive.  Same holds true for license keys.

 

Last bit of advice--invest in a USB hard drive and keep it disconnected from your computer and in a cool, dust free location when not in use.  It's an outstanding backup media and the small expense is a great tradeoff vs. a catastrophic loss of data and especially MSFS payware.

 

Regards,

 

John

 

P.S. Forgive me if this was mentioned previously in the thread.  I didn't read the previous replies.

Keep reciepts of emails and copies of keys, activation numbers on portable hard drive. Steam for flight sims is needed because we do switch computers from time to time

Keep reciepts of emails and copies of keys, activation numbers on portable hard drive. Steam for flight sims is needed because we do switch computers from time to time

 

 

I just bought a 2TB "Passport" USB portable harddrive from Amazon.  They have it on sale for around $145, which is $100 off the regular price.

It should be perfect for keeping all (I may have to buy another one) my installers and passwords, so they are off of my computer.