Kenneth wrote:

> I hada whopping problem when I upgraded from 3.6.1 to 3.6.2--some of
> my scene files just vanished into thin air, as well as others.
> Luckily I had backups for *some* of them.

Of course, you then learned to have backups for *all* of them so it is
not possible for this scenario to occur again ;) Seriously, if you have
important scene files on your hard disk for which no other copy exists
that is simply insane.

> Anyway, here are my questions: 1) Does 3.7RC6 get installed in it's
> *own* completely separate set of folders, or will it be intermingled
> with my current 3.6.2 stuff?

It is completely separate (well if you change the default installation
directory of v3.7 manually to v3.6 you can probably enforce some kind of
disaster but otherwise not). You might also get asked if you wish to
uninstall the old version (do not remember) so always read carefully
before clicking ;)

> 2) Will I be able to run both 3.7RC6 AND 3.6.2 if I choose to? (Not 
> simultaneously, of course.)

Yes, even simultaneously although preferable not with the same scene
file. Of course there are minor restrictions such as only one program
can be associated with *.pov files, and Windows sometimes likes to get
confused even if you try to explicitely set the default program.

> 3) Are there *any* possible problems I should look out for, or is
> there anything I need to do beforehand, like hiding all my 3.6.2
> files in a 'dummy' folder?

With 3.6.2 files do you mean files of 3.6.2 or your own files that
you stored in folders of 3.6.2? The latter is a really bad idea in any 
case. You should keep your data separate from program data.

%programfiles%\someprog is NOT a place to store your data, and
personally I would also refrain from using installer-generated
directories like POV-Ray\v3.6 under "My Documents", because you
never know of they might get touched by uninstallers and how
well-behaved they are.

If you have this situation you might wish to clean this up before
installing 3.7. It is also more logical because if you have a scene
file you can render it with 3.6 or 3.7 so it does not belong to
either of the programs. Also, having them separate makes it easy
for you to backup all your important scene files.

Of course, there is no need to protect the program files of 3.6.2,
you can always restore them from the 3.6.2. installer. An exception
are modified INI files, these reside by necessity under an installer-
generated directory and you might wish to keep a copy of them
around before playing with the installations.

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