Can’t load a neo4j v4.0.1 dump file that was generated on the windows on my Mac

Neo4j Graph Platform Import / Export
1

I am trying to load onto a mac a neo4j v4.1.0 database dump file created with neo4j-admin dumped from my working database on a windows machine. The dump file loads fine after I explort it and then I reload it in Windows. Both the database that I dumped from and that I am loading to run version 4.1.0. On my mac I open a terminal for my specific database. I located my neo4j-admin command and run the following command: ./neo4j-admin load --from=../import/my-db.dump --database=neo4j --force but I get the error: Not a valid Neo4j archive: ..import/my-db.dump. I checked the file type on my mac and it says Zstandard compressed data (v0.8+), Dictionary ID: None. I have also tried the neo4j-admin restore function. I originally exported the database on my Windows machine through neo4j-admin dump

I know the version of Neo4j is old and I would like to upgrade it, but my Windows machine is dying and crashes frequently. I would like to get the data moved to my mac first where I can upgrade it.

How do I load this dump file that was generated on a Windows machine on my Mac? Is this an issue with file format? Why will the file load on Windows but not on my Mac?

Neo4j Version: 4.1.0

OS: Windows 11 (export)

MacOs Sequoia 15.1

API: neo4j-admin

Steps to reproduce

  1. On a windows machine, create a neo4j v4.1.0 database through Neo4J desktop.

  2. Open a terminal for a neo4j v4.1.0 database

  3. Run the following command: neo4j-admin dump --database=neo4j --to=/var/backups/neo4j-database.dump

  4. Copy the dump file created to a mac.

  5. Create a database v4.1.0 in neo4j desktop.

  6. Open a terminal for the database

  7. Move the dump file into the import directory

  8. Run the command: ./bin/neo4j-admin load --from=../import/neo4j-database.dump --database=neo4j --force

You will get the error:

Not a valid Neo4j archive: ..import/neo4j-database.dump

2

Maybe the file isn't at : ..import/neo4j-database.dump or the permissions are wrong.
If you are at $NEO4J_HOME import would be a subdirectory, so import/neo4j-database.dump makes more sense
Try giving the complete filename or try
ls -al ./import/neo4j-database.dump
and see what you get i.e. is the file there?

3

Thank you for your response. Yes, I was in the $NEO4J_HOME/bin directory to execute the neo4j-admin command, hence the ../import reference. I checked the permissions and the files had rw-r--r--@ which I think includes the necessary read permissions. If I run the load command with a file name that doesn't exist, it gives a different error than the not a valid Neo4J archive. It says: Archive does not exist: ../import/doesnotexist.dump