Backing Up Stardock Applications With Impulse
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 by DaveBax | Discussion: Stardock Support General
This is a not a nice thought, but What If, Stardock was to close up their site and not be around anymore. I see two post today, one good for Impulse and one that hates it, so thought I would throw something in that could happen but hopefully never will.
You decided to purchase a new computer or the one you are using went boom and had to reformat. I know there has been a lot of mentioning of no available .exe files for Stardock programs. I for one have no problem or objections using Impulse and find it convenient. but if there was no Stardock there wouldn't be any working servers. True some problems are in Beta for quite awhile but that doesn't mean they don't work just fine and we wouldn't have a problem using them at least until a new OS came out. Even with that we still may not have a problem as some of the programs working now crossed over from one OS to another just fine or with just with small problems but still usable. Asking this because I'm sure including myself that many people have their favorite programs they use and would want to continue using them if a bad situation took place. I'm not writing this in a negative way and by no means saying Stardock is closing their doors but just as a What If it did happen.
With that said, if this happened how would we we be able to install our favorite programs without an .exe file if we purchased a new computer or reformatted computer without Impulse?
 |
|
Page 2 of 2 | |
|
|---|
Reply #22 Wednesday, August 18, 2010 4:09 PM
.impulse is really .zip just with a changed extension, so in theory all you would need to do is rename them to .zip and then extract to the programs folder as normal however doing so wouldn't create registry keys which may be needed by some apps to function.
Reply #23 Wednesday, August 18, 2010 4:20 PM
Nothing, and yes you need Impulse to restore them. Note also that you are backing up the programs as they are installed on your machine. If you want clean backups, open Impulse, shift-right click on a program's icon, and select "download and archive" from the right-click menu. These will also be impulse files requiring Impulse to restore them.
Note also that either of these methods are o/s specific backups. In other words, if you have xp installed now and backup, then switch to Win7, your backups aren't any good (at least for some programs, not sure about all).
You can login to Impulse Anywhere here to get clean downloads which are not o/s dependent:
http://anywhere.impulsedriven.com/Default.aspx
I don't think those include beta's, I think it's only the last non-beta releases. Also, there are 2 files for some or all of the programs, an .exe and an .impulse data file. I've never actually tried to install one of these, I'm not sure if the .impulse file feeds the .exe or if you're right back to needing Impulse. I would imagine you would at least need Impulse installed to phone home, but not sure.
Have fun Dave.
[sheesh - way slow as usual 
]
Reply #24 Wednesday, August 18, 2010 4:22 PM
Got it, forgot to save impulse. After I have it all in one folder I will burn it. Thank you.
Reply #25 Wednesday, August 18, 2010 5:30 PM
Suppose we could get this post renamed to something like "Backing up Stardock Programs" and get it stickied in the Support/General section? Comes up from time to time. Heck, we've got pictures here, some built-in FAQ's, a couple of alternatives, really kind of a nice thread. Just a thought.
Reply #26 Wednesday, August 18, 2010 6:07 PM
not correct. I tried this and it is not a valid archive after renaming.
Reply #27 Wednesday, August 18, 2010 6:21 PM
Reply #28 Wednesday, August 18, 2010 6:23 PM
to the original question: bummer
we could make a wiki also.
*edit* now that is funny. Zubaz check your PM's
Reply #32 Wednesday, August 18, 2010 8:22 PM
Gads that was prompt! Thanks guys I think it'll be helpful.
Reply #34 Tuesday, September 7, 2010 1:27 AM
Wouldn't it just be easier to backup your software in an executable file? Not to wish anything upon the company, but if something happens and the servers get shut down, you will be out of luck unless you have not only the backups of your games/software but also a copy of impluse. The idea of a one-stop shop for all updates is a great, but I would like a little more assurance that if something happens I will still be able to use what I paid for. How hard would it be to just backup programs in self-extracting setup file?
Reply #35 Tuesday, September 7, 2010 3:04 AM
"Impulse Anywhere"
Doesn't anyone read anymore? 
Reply #36 Monday, November 22, 2010 5:48 AM
Okay, slight twist on the same subject. My graphics card caught on fire and toasted my computer. Fortunately the hard drives survived and I was able to pull off the games (saving me from having to download and reinstall over 300 GB of games). However, Impulse thinks I need to download and install them all over again. Is there a way to tell the Impulse app "Thanks, but I've already got one, it's very nice!" (Monty Python humor)
Cheers,
James
Reply #37 Monday, November 22, 2010 12:06 PM
I don't see the point of this so-called "archive". It doesn't backup the program and it doesn't back up the data. All I get in XP SP3 is a 24+MB file with a .impulse extension. What's in this 'feel good' file? I've backed up everything I could find on my HD that seemed like it might belong to WindowBlinds and believe me, I've got a lot more than 24MB of stuff. IMHO it's misleading to call whatever is produced by Impulse an "archive".
Reply #38 Monday, November 22, 2010 12:09 PM
Reply #39 Monday, November 22, 2010 12:16 PM
Open Impulse and then oepn the menu-thing-y
Select the Detect Application option:
Select your category, app, and browse to wherever it is.
Done.
Please login to comment and/or vote for this skin.
Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:
- Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums and downloading skins.
- Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
- Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
- It's simple, and FREE!
|
|
Page 2 of 2 | |
|
|---|
Reply #21 Wednesday, August 18, 2010 4:08 PM