As a professional translator, I want to know where on my computer my information is stored, so I can make backups and know what files to move if I switch to a new computer. Does Snowball store my translation memory data on my hard drive, or on the Internet, or where is it?
By default, Snowball stores your translation memory databases in the following folder:
C:\Documents and Settings\<Your user name>\Application Data\Total Recall\Snowball\Databases.
None of your translation memory data is stored on the Internet.
There are two files for each language pair, a data file with the extension .sbd and an index file with the extension .sbi. Although the format of these files is proprietary, if you are using Snowball Pro you can export your data to the industry standard TMX format for archiving purposes or for importing to other translation memory applications.
If you are using Snowball Pro, you can change the location of your translation memory files to a different folder. In the main Snowball window, click on Options, and select the Data tab. There you can select Use custom location and either enter or browse to a specific directory where you want to store your data. If you do this, please make sure you don’t already have any existing Snowball .sbd or .sbi files in the new directory, because they will be overwritten and cannot be recovered!
Although you can store your Snowball translation memory databases on any device which your computer can access, it’s recommended that you use an internal hard disk in your computer to ensure the best performance.
Not a comment, but a question:
In addition to the data file with the extension .sbd and the index file with the extension .sbi, my “Databases” folder also contains a folder (in my case called “de-DE to en-GB”) which contains lots of XML files.
It looks like one XML file has been created for every Snowball session I ever started. This folder is much larger than the .sbd and .sbi files (several MB).
If I want to transfer my database from my laptop to my PC (or vice-versa), do I have to transfer this folder too?
And does this folder also have to be included in my backups, to ensure proper operation and no loss of data if I ever have to restore the database?
No, you don’t need to copy or back up this folder; it can also be deleted without any side effects whatsoever.
This extra session information will be removed in the next update.