# Clone Gramps for PC to PC Transfer **URL:** \ **Category:** Ideas\ **Created:** [July 23, 2025, 8:10am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/clone-gramps-for-pc-to-pc-transfer/7985 "2025-07-23T08:10:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![comeng](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@comeng](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/comeng)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 8:10am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/clone-gramps-for-pc-to-pc-transfer/7985/1 "2025-07-23T08:10:53Z")
In light of the recent discussions about working/moving between 2 systems and as a result of me playing with two different versions of the operating systems on Pi5’s. I had a dream (maybe nightmare) of a clone function which would do exactly that for the complete Gramps install and allow it to be transposed onto a clean but identical system. phil ---
**Author:** ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 9:59am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/clone-gramps-for-pc-to-pc-transfer/7985/2 "2025-07-23T09:59:47Z")
> [@comeng](#): > > result of me playing with two different versions of the operating systems on Pi5’s. If you are talking about Pi’s, are you thinking of cloning Gramps Web for a home server or Gramps for desktops (since the Pi OS is derived from the Debian flavor of Linux) ---
**Author:** ![comeng](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@comeng](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/comeng)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 10:50am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/clone-gramps-for-pc-to-pc-transfer/7985/3 "2025-07-23T10:50:07Z")
Hi Brian Gramps for Desktop is my focus at the minute, just “playing” around have looked at GrampsWeb briefly and that is a winter project. Debian is also due an upgrade this year to “Trixie” which will give an all new batch of issues no doubt. phil ---
**Author:** ![csam](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/csam/32/5361_2.png) [@csam](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/csam)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 12:31pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/clone-gramps-for-pc-to-pc-transfer/7985/4 "2025-07-23T12:31:28Z")
We can do bidirectional synchronisation between Gramps Desktop and Gramps Web. But what would it take to change Gramps Web Sync to do a bidirectional sync between two Gramps Desktop? @DavidMStraub ?? ---
**Author:** ![DavidMStraub](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/davidmstraub/32/7_2.png) [@DavidMStraub](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/DavidMStraub)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 1:11pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/clone-gramps-for-pc-to-pc-transfer/7985/5 "2025-07-23T13:11:06Z")
> But what would it take to change Gramps Web Sync to do a bidirectional sync between two Gramps Desktop? @DavidMStraub ?? Honestly I don’t see the point - to use Gramps Desktop on two systems, but only edit one at a time, a file sync solution like Nextcloud Files or Syncthing for the Gramps DB folder works fine. It might not be officially endorsed because of course things can go wrong in theory - but with prudent backups (which is always a good idea) I don’t see a problem and I’ve used it like this for years. That being said, Gramps Web _can_ be used as a synchronization hub for multiple Gramps Desktop instances whether one uses the web app or not. ---
**Author:** ![csam](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/csam/32/5361_2.png) [@csam](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/csam)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 1:57pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/clone-gramps-for-pc-to-pc-transfer/7985/6 "2025-07-23T13:57:53Z")
> [@DavidMStraub](#): > > Honestly I don’t see the point The point is, if you have Gramps on a laptop that you bring to an archive to do research, and you also have Gramps on a stationary PC at home, then it is very nice to sync between the laptop and the stationary instead of copying files and redo inserts to Gramps. ---
**Author:** ![DavidMStraub](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/davidmstraub/32/7_2.png) [@DavidMStraub](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/DavidMStraub)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 2:22pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/clone-gramps-for-pc-to-pc-transfer/7985/7 "2025-07-23T14:22:19Z")
> [@csam](#): > > The point is, if you have Gramps on a laptop that you bring to an archive to do research, and you also have Gramps on a stationary PC at home, then it is very nice to sync between the laptop and the stationary instead of copying files and redo inserts to Gramps. If the edits are only done on one of the two (say, the Laptop when you’re travelling and the Desktop when you’re at home), the file sync solution should work fine. Only if simultaneous edits are made, a “merging sync” like Gramps Web Sync is needed. ---
**Author:** ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 2:29pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/clone-gramps-for-pc-to-pc-transfer/7985/8 "2025-07-23T14:29:00Z")
It would be comparatively simple to have a pair of symmetrical scripts to copy the tree file from the Database folder from each machine to the other. Either via a local network or [Sneakernet](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneakernet) on a USB external storage. However, syncing the Media, the addon installations and Preferences would be more challenging. You could do the addons and the Preferences as blind copies. They are small and would overwrite easily. But the media would be too big to do that efficiently. And the restore backup with media does not deal well with overwriting existing folders. (Frankly, it fails miserably at that.) ---
**Author:** ![comeng](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@comeng](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/comeng)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 2:31pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/clone-gramps-for-pc-to-pc-transfer/7985/9 "2025-07-23T14:31:24Z")
Whilst not exactly my original point I can see a purpose for this when you have done a clean install of GRAMPS on a new machine and you do not want to (or unsure of) copy and paste ./local/share/gramps & ./config/gramps or their Mac/Windows equivalents and would like to get running asap. GRAMPS is now so comprehensive and complex maybe some form of tools like these are needed. phil ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/gramps/original/1X/2ac1e712b7adf612e31ca08a55419f4cf37c0158.png) [@system](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2025, 2:31pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/clone-gramps-for-pc-to-pc-transfer/7985/10 "2025-08-22T14:31:55Z")
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