Where your data lives

C5 keeps everything on your computer. This page explains what sits where, how to move it, and what C5 will refuse to do with it.

The four kinds of files #

By default all four sit under one folder:

~/.growther                      macOS and Linux
%USERPROFILE%\.growther          Windows (configuration)
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Growther\C5       Windows (databases and keys on new installs)

New Windows installs keep the databases and keys under %LOCALAPPDATA% on purpose: that folder never travels with a roaming profile, so signing in on another machine cannot carry an encrypted database away from the key that opens it.

See it in Settings #

Open Settings › Storage › Configuration & Data. The card shows:

• Source: whether this device chose the location (Local), or your organisation did (Managed by your organization).
• Where things live: one row per kind of file, with the path, a badge that says whether it is on this device, on a network folder, or in a synced folder, and a dot that goes amber when something is not where it should be.
• Actions: change the local folder, verify the layout, roll back a move, or remove a retired copy after a move.

If C5 is running from an older location than the one now configured, a banner says so until you restart.

Move C5 to another local disk #

Use the card's Change local folder button, or the command line:

growther home migrate --to /Volumes/Work/growther

Both run the same procedure:

1. Validate the new folder: it must be on a local disk, writable, not inside a protected folder, and have room for one and a half times your current data.
2. Review the plan: what moves, what stays, and what you can prune (old encrypted backup copies can add up to gigabytes).
3. Confirm: type move. C5 stops, copies everything with a verified checkpoint of every database, checks each copy against your key before anything is switched, then restarts from the new folder.

The old folder is kept as a retired copy with its secrets shredded, so you can Roll back from the card at any time until you choose Remove retired copy.

To see the current layout or check a folder first:

growther home show
growther home probe /Volumes/Work/growther

C5 refuses a folder that already holds a file the move would replace, and names the files. Pick an empty folder, or move those aside first. Merging into a folder that already holds unrelated subfolders is fine.

If a move or a roll back is interrupted — the machine loses power part way through, or a rename fails — the next start picks it up where it stopped. Nothing needs repairing by hand. To abandon one instead, run growther home cancel.

What C5 refuses, and why #

Databases are never placed on a network folder, a mapped drive, a roaming profile, or a synced folder such as OneDrive, Dropbox or iCloud Drive. C5 checks the filesystem at every start and refuses to run if the databases are on one of those. The reason is not caution for its own sake: the database engine keeps part of its state in shared memory that only one computer can see, so two computers opening the same folder would corrupt it, and a sync client can copy a half-written file over a good one.

On a locked-down Windows image the check itself can be blocked from running. C5 then decides from what it can see without help — a network path, a OneDrive folder, a synced root — and starts with a warning rather than refusing. A folder that positively looks like any of those is still refused.

If a configured folder is unreachable when C5 starts, it stops with a message naming the folder and who set it, rather than silently starting an empty second copy somewhere else.

Two computers never share one folder. The lock C5 takes on the data folder now records which machine holds it. A second machine pointed at the same folder refuses to start and tells you which machine has it. If a machine has been rebuilt and a stale lock is in the way:

growther lock status
growther lock break --confirm

Backups and network storage #

Network storage is welcome for what belongs there: encrypted backups, exported audit evidence, and the policy file your organisation may publish. Set the backup folder under Settings › Storage, or an Azure Blob or S3 target under Settings › Enterprise › Enterprise storage.

Check the layout from the command line #

growther doctor
growther doctor --json

The report includes Home source, Data dir filesystem, Secrets location and Lock host. The --json form also writes doctor-status.json into the C5 folder for device management tools to read.