You are here

How to upgrade if you want an option to move back in time to the old version?

10 posts / 0 new
Last post
Stamimail
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 10 months ago
Joined: 2012-04-26 17:25
How to upgrade if you want an option to move back in time to the old version?

In case you dislike or encounter problems with the new version after upgrading.

depp.jones
Offline
Last seen: 1 day 7 hours ago
DeveloperTranslator
Joined: 2010-06-05 17:19
You can copy the app's folder

You can copy the app's folder to something like *AppnamePortable_old* and if you don't like the new version, delete the original folder and rename the backup back to *Appname Portable*. Or If you want to keep the old version, you can work with both alongside. As long as you keep it renamed, it does not get updates and stays at the version you backed up.

Stamimail
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 10 months ago
Joined: 2012-04-26 17:25
Is there an intelligent way to do it?

1. Is this should be supported by:
"Portable App Directory™ - Built-In App Store and Updater"
"PortableApps.com Updater - Your Apps Are Up To Date"
or made by
BackUp apps?

2. Another thing is the question:
What the user should do if he wants to move back just to his old Settings but stay with the new Program,
and
What the user should do if he wants to move back just to the old version of Program but stay with the current settings.

Gord Caswell
Gord Caswell's picture
Offline
Last seen: 4 months 6 days ago
DeveloperModerator
Joined: 2008-07-24 18:46
Not possible

No, it is not possible to do this through the built-in updater. This is very much an edge case, and would require constantly renaming your applications on update - something which would add increased update time to all users for minimal benefit to most.

As for your second question - depending on the application, the application itself may have changed settings during the upgrade, and these settings may be incompatible with the previous version.

Stamimail
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 10 months ago
Joined: 2012-04-26 17:25
2. Are you saying there isn't simple way to distinguish between

settings items and program items?

Gord Caswell
Gord Caswell's picture
Offline
Last seen: 4 months 6 days ago
DeveloperModerator
Joined: 2008-07-24 18:46
Not at all

No, that's not at all what I'm saying.

The settings for the application are stored in the Data directory, and the applications files used to run the application are stored in the App directory.
On updating an application, most applications will only update files in the App directory, and leave the settings alone.
However, on occasion some applications require updates to the settings that were previously used, and these updates may not be backwards-compatible.

Stamimail
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 10 months ago
Joined: 2012-04-26 17:25
So I guess the best way to have it is

to use a special Backup Program.
We need to find a Backup Program that support the "incremental backup" method (save only the changes), so that we will be able to move back in time, to any time we have a snapshot.
Do you know such a program in PortableApps suite?

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Online
Last seen: 55 min 13 sec ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
None

There are no apps that support this ability without manually configuring jobs per app. This isn't a common feature and doesn't exist in other app stores (Google Play, iOS, Windows App Store, etc). You can downgrade an app to an old version by manually installing the older version over the newer one. The only instance where this would have an issue is if the settings change significantly on a major version release (like when Firefox changed the way it stored certain settings about 6 months ago).

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Stamimail
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 10 months ago
Joined: 2012-04-26 17:25
I don't know what you mean

but I meant to a portable program that has a "Incremental Backup" feature like mentioned here:
https://www.acronis.com/en-us/blog/posts/tips-tricks-better-business-bac...
https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/difference-differential-incremental-...

The program should make:
First snapshot - Base backup, a full copy of the Portable Applicaiton Folder/USB
From then on - incremental backup snapshots

So that you will be able to move back to the last week/month snapshot, and extract what you need.

ottosykora
Offline
Last seen: 1 day 4 hours ago
Joined: 2007-10-11 17:48
acronis

I use acronis probably for more then 15 years.
To run such program, you need lot of special drivers to be installed.
This will then produce on demand backups.

So to run simple portable app, you want first start acronis with all its drivers and make a backup of folder in question.
Then install new version and in case not like it, restore from backup created.

It needs also to be mentioned, that acronis will not just read the name of files, but also their date etc.
Thus it will probably make full bakup of all anyway each time.

I still think this is complete overkill, I bet I am faster with copy paste.

Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland

Log in or register to post comments