How to successfully transfer ADE and eReader to new PC?

[mowzer1945]

I am a fairly new user of an eReader (BeBook Neo) and Adobe Digital Editions, which are both authorized to my present Windows XP computer, and am about to migrate to a new PC running Windows 7. I am apprehensive about the move as I cannot find detailed guidance on transferral procedures in the ADE Help pages or elsewhere. I am hoping to have my new hard drive partitioned as C and D Drives, as I do on my old PC.

After browsing these forums, my understanding on setting up the new PC for use of ADE is that I need to:-

1. Firstly download and install Adobe Digital Editions to the new PC and authorize it with my Adobe Membership ID?

2. Create a folder "My Digital Editions" on "D" Drive within "My Documents" if ADE has not automatically done this?

3. Connect my eReader and authorize it to the new PC. Will ADE automatically copy the DRM books on the eReader onto the bookshelf, and will ADE also copy the books into "My Digital Editons"?

4. When I am satisfied the new system is running OK, I understand I need to deactivate ADE from the old PC. Do I also need to deactivate my eReader from the old PC? I have seen a forum posting instructing how to do these two procedures.

I would be very grateful if someone could confirm if this is the correct procedure to follow, or let me know where I need to amend it. Many Thanks.

[Guest]

1. Firstly download and install Adobe Digital Editions to the new PC and authorize it with my Adobe Membership ID?

Yes, making sure you are using the same AdobeID as on the old computer and eReader is the primary thing to do.

2. Create a folder "My Digital Editions" on "D" Drive within "My Documents" if ADE has not automatically done this?

People have reported varying degrees of success with moving their "My Documents" folder, from the OS default location.  It may work for you, but if it doesn't you are in for some extended frustration trying to work it out.  I would suggest leaving underneath the user directory on the C drive.

3. Connect my eReader and authorize it to the new PC. Will ADE  automatically copy the DRM books on the eReader onto the bookshelf, and  will ADE also copy the books into "My Digital Editons"?

Your eReader is already authorized to your AdobeID, you shouldn't need to do it again.  Also ADE does not automatically "synch" contents with the eReader, it is up to you decide what should be copied over and when.

4. When I am satisfied the new system is running OK, I understand I need  to deactivate ADE from the old PC. Do I also need to deactivate my  eReader from the old PC? I have seen a forum posting instructing how to  do these two procedures.

Only if you want to remove the information from you computer (but if you are getting rid of the computer and are worried about personal information I would suggest erasing the entire hard drive).  Deactivating the PC just erases the activation information, and does not do anything else (in particular it doesn't give you any activation back), because of this DO NOT your Reader.

[mowzer1945]

Hi Jim,

Many thanks for such a prompt answer. I am most grateful.

I feel a lot more confident now about the transfer. For the purposes of completion, and for other greenhorns like myself who may have to deal with this issue I'll report back in a few weeks when I've made the changeover.

Cheers.

[mowzer1945]

OK Folks, for all the newbies like me, this is how I painlessly transferred from Windows XP to a new Windows 7 PC:-

1. I re-downloaded Adobe Digital Editions to the new computer and authorized it using my Adobe Membership ID and the password I created at original registration. Sounds obvious, but I had forgotten I would need my password as well as my Adobe ID.

2. For various reasons I had decided not to have a 'C' and a 'D' drive on the new PC, so I can't give a run down on how doing things that way may have gone. In the event ADE created a folder 'My Digital Editions' in My Documents under my User identity and in Windows 7 Libraries-->Documents-->My Documents.

3. As Jim mentions above, there is no need to re-authorize your eReader as it is already authorised to your Adobe ID. In my case there were no connection or recognition problems and my BeBook Neo eReader popped up in the usual position on the left hand side under the bookshelves in the ADE Library view. I decided it made sense to have all my DRM books on the new PC and it took me a few minutes (bit dumb I guess) to work out how to copy them from my Digital Editions folder on the eReader to 'My Digital Editions' on the PC, but this is how I did it:-

I highlighted the eReader icon in ADE, and this displayed all the books in the Digital Editions folder of the eReader on the ADE bookshelf screen to the right (I found transfer was easier by selecting 'View items as a list' rather than as icons). Then I dragged the individual DRM books that I wanted to copy across to the 'All Items' bookshelf on the left, which was the only bookshelf where it seemed possible to load them. However, I found this also automatically added them to the 'Purchased' bookshelf. All the books also loaded into the two My Documents folders mentioned in 2. above. It didn't seem possible to add books more than one at a time, so this would be tedious for those with a huge collection of DRM books to transfer. However, I can't think of any other way of creating a backup copy of DRM books when moving to a new PC. Any alternative suggestions would be appreciated.

4. To test the system I purchased, downloaded and transferred a book across to my eReader. Worked fine. So everything sorted, no problems, and ADE and my eReader both running as normal.

5. I think it is worth repeating what Jim mentioned above - It is not necessary to de-activate your eReader or ADE from the old PC, other than taking the usual erasure and security precautions you would take when getting rid of old kit.

Many thanks to Jim for his speedy and patient reply to my list of questions in my initial posting. Cheers, Jim!

mowzer1945 signing off.

[Frustrated in AZ]

I think I can add some clarification to this message, but I'm not sure

whether it will be accurate. Mowzer1945 can chime in on that side.

To point 3, concerning dragging the ebooks off the ereader and onto the ADE

bookshelf. If you purchased a book, information about your purchase is

stored in the book's 'tag' - you can see it if you drop down the menu in the

upper left hand corner of the ebook's cover when it's displayed on your ADE

bookshelf. ADE will read that 'tag' and note the information in its file

about the ebook. So, if you purchased a book, and drag it from your ereader

onto the computer's ADE bookshelf, it appears under the 'Purchased' view as

well as the 'bookshelf' view.

Clever programming.

Tom Bell (Frustrated in AZ)

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[mowzer1945]

Gosh, Tom, thanks for that

I have to admit that I've never taken time to find all the drop down menus, and I'm not sure whether I would have understood the implications of everything I found, anyway. Now I do understand why my books were registered to both shelves, I just accepted that the program could do that.

Whilst I've saved and printed off the ADE Help pages, which have proved useful, like all help manuals there never seems to be enough detailed information available for the raw beginner. It is all a matter of taking time to poke around in a program's interface - but finding out what all the clues mean isn't easy.

RTFM is what my brother says, but that isn't always the full answer.

Thanks again.

[Frustrated in AZ]

LOL! Nice points!

I've been in the computer business since 1967. Some things change - some do

not, regardless of technology. One item of paramount importance is

that User Guides are always written by technologists who

know the subject intimately - but who never took a course in how to write a

technical manual 'for dummies'. Thus, the rest of us do not get enough of

the picture to be able to function very well with the technology.

(my quote of the day?)

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[Guest]

Your discussion came up in a Google search and answered all my questions relating to the topic. Thank you ever so much.

[mowzer1945]

Thanks! Been offline for a week or so. Glad to be of service - as they say .