Hi,
Right now i am using devonthink on my macbook pro & DTTG on my iphone. Now here is the situation, i am selling my macbook.( & may be i will purchase ipad pro) So how can i back up my all databases (which is on mac) in order to keep my DTTG expert flawless? (and in future i can migrate those databases to my ipad pro in future)
What sync method do you use?
I use iCloud(Cloudkit); with a full sync datastore in the cloud
Future devices are easily added and databases will sync automatically
I use the same/ icloud(cloudkit). But my concern is, should i just format my macbook(without worrying about backup) ? Or any extra steps are advised? (I can see devonthink has occupied 78 gb in my icloud).
If I were you I would do a complete system backup with TimeMachine or equivalent, which I hope you already do routinely, and keep safe for the next mac. And for DEVONthink, I’d made an Archive of each of my DEVONthink databases and store those files on an external disk, USB stick, etc. And I’d make completely sure that all my databases are indeed fully synched with all documents.
Here is the catch. I intend to migrate on ipad pro only.no planning for mac in near future. so i am concerned about databases which are on macbook right now. (though DTTG on iphone is there, working smoothly).
Well, if I were you with no near future plans for a Mac, I’d assume I would have longer term plans for a Mac as I’d probably learn that DEVONthink ToGo (and iPhone only) didn’t meet all my expectations and I’d get some value from the backups and copies of the databases. Of course your “mileage may vary”.
okk. if my interpretation is right, i may not get good backup restoration on DTTG. (if i rely only upon my current DTTG backup to migrate on ipad pro). Please correct me if i am wrong.
You should take note that there’s no feature parody between DT and DTTG. For example, there’s no support for user-defined smart rules and for AppleScript/JavaScript scripting in DTTG.
Not at all what I said. I said what I would do.
pardon me but i am very new to this jargon.
If you mean “feature parody” – well, that was my keyboard being clever (and me not so much). I meant to write “feature parity”. Worked this time.
Why do you want to drop macOS completely? Nothing against the iPad, but it’s not equivalent to a desktop system. Not by a far cry. No support for network file systems, DTTG not offering the same features as DT.
you will want to deregister your Mac licence for DEVONthink and all other licenses you may have.
Without a Mac, a DT database backup won’t be useful
My backups include a files export using Export > Folders&Files
to provide agnostic access to my backup data
Assuming you haven’t indexed any files, any data that is currently available to DTTG should remain available regardless of what happens to the Mac, and therefore should be transferable to a new device.
You should still back up the Mac, because that will keep you from losing the database that you thought you didn’t need, and therefore didn’t sync. Or the files that were stored separately from DT, that you completely forgot about. Or the metadata that you forgot about when you were deciding that you didn’t need a Mac …
The whole point of backups is to protect you from unanticipated scenarios.
Pardon me but how may i know whether i have indexed files or not? ( my mac is already backed up on icloud including devonthink databases ). so can i assume that since i have one DTTG oni phone, on ipad also if i install DTTG, i can sync database between iphone & ipad? (btw i have done shallow sync on DTTG).
no, i have no intention of dropping mac entirely, it’s just that my office people have given me a windows laptop which i will be using most of the time & for the ret of the time, ipad will serve the purpose. so i investment done on mac won’t be justified properly. but i have used devonthink on mac, it’s just amazingly excellent. so i truly value that experience and will be shifting on that hopefully after some time.
Pardon me but how may i know whether i have indexed files or not?
Do a toolbar search for item:indexed in DEVONthink. And indexing is something you do intentionally, rarely accidentally.
( my mac is already backed up on icloud including devonthink databases )
Sync is not a backup. This has been discussed numerous times.
so can i assume that since i have one DTTG oni phone, on ipad also if i install DTTG, i can sync database between iphone & ipad? (btw i have done shallow sync on DTTG).
I would not be using a shallow sync on both devices, if you will have no Mac involved. You should not be relying on the sync location to be the only place where you can download content for your files. I would be even more careful since you are using an iCloud sync location.
This makes me wince, glad @BLUEFROG caught it too! If you’re removing your Mac from your setup, you should as a minimum set up one device that has a full download of your files. It makes sense for that to be your iPad, so you need to buy one with enough GB to store all your databases.
In your first post you said you would be selling the Mac before you’d bought the iPad. Whilst I appreciate there will be logistics to this, if at all possible that is not the way to do this. If something goes wrong with your iPad set up you will be stuck with no way to rescue your databases. If possible, you should buy the iPad, do a full sync of your databases to iPad (not a shallow sync!), verify that everything is how you like it/expect it to be, and then consider wiping your Mac.
i really appreciate the level of clarity & practicality you provided with potential solution. i have one question, can i do a deep sync of my entire database into my iPhone only? till i don’t buy an iPad with enough storage?
If your iPhone has sufficient space to hold the database(s) and their metadata, then yes.