08. Utilities

This is where you do all your backing up and any restoring of data that may be required.

Below is a quick outline of good backing up procedures, for more information on any of the backups or restore click the links below…

• Backup
• Alternate Backup
• External Backup
• Outload for CD
• Restore

Backup Outline

Backing up your database is a must and you should NEVER rely on anyone else to do it for you!!!!!

If your IT experts say “Don’t worry about it… we’ve got you covered” then just say “Thanks!” and do your own backups anyway. Things go wrong with automatic backups… if your daily backup fails in any way… call us and we’ll find out why!

What do we recommend?

If I was running the system I would do 3 backups every day I changed the database.

1. Utilities > Backup-Restore > External Backup – and I would make a new folder everyday for my data by clicking the Add Date button on the External Backup screen. This sends only valuable data to an external drive. We suggest USB memory sticks are a solid choice. The Date folders mean that we can trace problems back and repair things that were unnoticed for a long time.
2. Utilities > Backup-Restore > Alternate Backup – copies data AND software to a hard drive NOT on the server (local hard drive of main computer used for lending and returning… this is a network “failsafe” that can be used if server or network is down for a long time… Obviously it needs to be up-to-date AND you’ll need to know how to get the new data back to the Server copy when it’s up and running!).
3. Utilities > Backup-Restore > Backup – does a system tidy up and makes backups within the working folder.

General Principles for data security…

• Assume every time you turn off your computer that it will not work next time you try to use it!
  • Your computer is absolutely sure to fail. It’s not an if… it’s a when!
• Several types of backup media should be used:
  • Server Hard drive.
  • Local Hard Drive.
  • USB drives, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD.
  • Get familiar with as many ways to backup your data as you can find… if you hear someone talking about a backup method you’ve never heard of… find out more! (Ring us if you like!)
• Some form of backup archive should be kept.
  • It’s all very well to backup every day but if something goes wrong and you don’t notice for a month or two… do you have a long term backup policy in place that will allow us to rescue database details from months ago?
  • Single use CD-Rs are the best option for making backup archives… turn off the Multi-session feature of your CD burner, make the CD, Date it and store it… at least once a year! (Once a term is probably a better suggestion but my guess is you won’t do it that often).

Tags: alternate backup restore, back up, backing up, backup-restore, external backup, main backup, restoring, backups