Failed to Activate ("already installed") after hard disk upgrade

[paulmjkaye]

I have just upgraded my computer's hard disk and am now receiving the following error:
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Failed to activate FreeFileSync.
The FreeFileSync Business Edition was licensed for 1 device, but is already installed on 1 device:
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Although the upgrade was done by copying an image of my system to the new drive, I guess that FreeFileSync is detecting the change. I tried to 'remove' the 'existing' device via the FreeFileSync website, but am getting the message "The device cannot be removed before August 11th, 2024."

This is an urgent problem. Is there any way to resolve it?

[Plerry]

If all else fails, you can always temporarily install and use the free standard edition of FFS, and during that time do without parallel operation and E-mail notification.

[paulmjkaye]

Thanks, Plerry. Would that interfere with my existing installation?
More of a problem is that I'd need to set it up with the same parameters, which took some time to figure out initially.

[Plerry]

I don't know what you mean by "parameters".
FreeFileSync has two sort of settings:

• Synchronization configuration specific settings, like left-right folder pair(s), Compare method, Synchronization variant, Filter settings, as configured via the Comparison Settings (F6), Filter (F7) and Synchronization Settings (F8) in the FFS GUI, that you save in your *.ffs_gui and/or *.ffs_batch sync configuration files. These saved sync configurations can be (re)used equally well in the Standard, the Donation and the Business version of FFS.

• Global settings, as configured via Tools / Options in the FFS GUI, and (by default) stored in the GlobalSettings.xml file.
The Standard, the Donation and the Business version of FFS all work equally well with your GlobalSettings.xml file. When updating FFS to a more recent version of its software, the previous GlobalSettings.xml file is retained. I expect this also holds when installing a differently licenced version of FFS, but I am not sure.
Just to be sure, simply make a (backup) copy of your present GlobalSettings.xml file before installing your differently licensed FFS version, so you can restore it if necessary.

[paulmjkaye]

I emailed Zenju who, fortunately, stepped in and manually removed the old 'device' - so all is working now. Thanks, Zenju & Plerry!