An additional license may be obtained for another computer you own or use that you may wish to occasionally use to complete inspections or to maintain a backup “clone” in case of hardware failure.

Note that in the event of hardware failure however, emergency replacement can easily be done at that time without maintaining a separate backup as long as you archive your last downloaded installer file and periodic backups of all your data. We recommend storing these together off the master computer, perhaps on a USB drive or in cloud storage, or both. If ever needed, one may simply then install on the replacement hardware, restore the latest backup file, and continue operating. We recommend contacting 3D Inspection Systems to let them know the situation, but you may immediately use the new installation and if needed choose Activate Later to continue into the software for several days before any activation would be needed.

Purchase:
If you only have your purchased Premier, Standard, and Focus edition software currently installed on a single computer, you may install on one additional extra computer for your personal use only and leave the program unactivated or install a free evaluation copy to use to work on reports transferred to it from the master computer (contact support for each steps) or to maintain a “clone” of information from your master computer (it’s often more convenient to simply maintain current backups than to try to keep a continual clone).

For an extra activated backup computer for independent personal use or for another party working for you, you may obtain a Branch license and provide 3D with the user information for activation. Another inspector would normally periodically activate using their email, while your licensing remains protected in case of computer theft or easy reassignment if the user is using their own computer. You may also have license protection set up for your portable machine to protect that license from theft. A portable machine not protected and used by another inspector could otherwise result in a lost license under your account.

Note that if another user only needs to work on reports you send them to return, they may also opt to simply install and use an evaluation copy- contact support for setup details. It is good to provide us their contact information if you want them entitled to receive assistance under your account.

Setup and Use:
For your protection, at no extra charge, 3D offers licensing protection by means of special activation. This is recommended for any portable computers. Although required for any additional licenses used outside of the main registered address by other inspectors, it is an optional benefit also available for your own portable backup computer. Contact 3D Inspection Systems live support or activation if you wish to enable this protection for the computer.

For fast usage simply to complete an inspection on the extra computer running a free evaluation copy, simply use report writer Preferences > Preferences, File location tab to Open the data folder on the main computer containing the original report. Locate the inspection .r3d file and copy or transfer it to the other computer and save it into the data folder there. Afterward, switch to the report writer and use File > Open Inspection to open the report, which will have its job information embedded from the master computer. Complete the report as needed, and when done, the .r3d file may be or returned in reverse back to the master computer or to an archival location.

If you wish to also periodically mirror your master computer, (note: not allowed for use by another inspector who would thereby obtain your proprietary custom database) you will periodically make a full backup from your master computer using Office Management File > Backup All Files, transfer the 3Dbackup.zip to your other computer, and use Office Management File > Restore from Backup to restore the items there. See https://3dinspection.com/tips-and-tricks/safeguarding-your-important-3d-inspection-system-data.html
Be sure to ALWAYS enter new jobs into the computer serving as the master, and always transfer your backups in one direction only from that computer to your backup one. Also after initial data transfer, unless your summary or similar preferences change, we don’t recommend restoring preferences since that can sometimes affect the database connection settings based on the other computer profile. You would need to use the evaluation version for this scenario. At any time you need to switch to the computer as a new master, you may then install your regular installer at that point, and arrange with the Activation department for the license to be permanently moved to the new master (one may use Activate Later for a brief time after initially installing your regular program on a computer)

We also recommend periodically archiving any old report files, perhaps any from last year or earlier to a different folder and removed from the data folder of the computers.

Periodically archiving old inspection files like that, perhaps once a year, is a good idea to keep backups small and faster to use, and your data folder uncluttered. Even without the actual report files being present, you still have full searching abilities for your prior jobs in Office Management.