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Importance
of backing up:
The importance of backing
up your data on a regular basis cannot be emphasized
strongly enough. You will likely accumulate a substantial
amount of valuable data even after working with SNAP-2-IT
for only a short time. In fact, the value of your data
to you will quickly increase to the point where it exceeds
the value of your entire computer system.
At first,
your data will fit on a single floppy disk. Backing up is
simple because you only need to put in the floppy disk and
press "B" from the main menu. If your data won’t
fit on a single floppy disk, the system will prompt you to
insert a 2nd disk, and so on. Make sure you have plenty of
floppy disks on hand.
If you have
a large data base or it is taking too many floppy disks to
back up the data, you will want to back up on a tape drive
or a high-capacity removable disk drive. In this case, you
will need to follow the instructions for the tape or disk
drive. It is a good idea to back up all the data in the
SNAP directory and all its sub-directories. SNAP-2-IT
keeps each company’s data base in a separate sub
directory off the main SNAP directory and each of these
must be backed up.
There are
several things that can go wrong with a computer system
that can ruin a data file. The most common problem that
can ruin data is the improper shutdown of the computer
system. This can happen because of a power failure or
because the computer seems to "hang up" and you
hit the reset button or turn off the computer to restart
it. Or maybe you turn off the computer without shutting
down the program. If you are running Windows (3.x or 95)
it is important to exit windows or shut down before
turning off the computer.
The chances
are better than good that you will experience some
problem some time with your computer that will affect your
data.
When a
computer is shut down before it is "ready",
there may still be pieces of files and other information
which the computer has not had time to save on the hard
disk, where it keeps all its permanent information. In
many cases, this causes the "file manager" part
of your system to later become more and more confused as
to where everything is stored. This will eventually result
in "lost clusters" and "cross linked
files." This means that parts of one file can be
accidently overwritten by the system, which is
catastrophic for business data.
The impact
due to disasters such as fire or theft can be greatly
reduced if your data is backed up and off site. These
situations are rare but they do happen. Insurance can
replace your equipment but may not be able to replace your
data.
Backing up
your data will allow you to recover from situations where
damage or loss has occurred.
You should have at least
one backup of your main file for each day of the week.
It’s a good idea to
"rotate" an extra backup set and keep it off
site.
Keep
a backup set at home or some other place. Natural
disasters and theft are rare, but could be catastrophic if
there are no other copies.
You can easily maintain one
by bringing it into the office once a week and replacing
one of the daily backup sets with the "off site"
set. This won’t upset your backup schedule and will
greatly improve your security. It is recommended that you
keep several sets off site.
How can I reduce data
problems?
On a
regular basis, preferably every time you turn on your
computer, the system should run a
"SCANDISK", "DEFRAG", "CHKDSK",
or other disk tool or diagnostic which can check the
integrity of your file system. This way, if an error
occurs, you will discover it quickly and prevent the use
of bad data.
Also, you
need to check your floppy disks, too. If you back up on
floppy disks, it’s possible for their file structure to
become corrupt, especially if the floppy disk is removed
too quickly or there are problems with the floppy drive (a
fairly common problem).
It’s a
good idea to make a "dummy" company where you
can restore one of your backups as a test to make sure
there are no problems with the floppy disks.
If you backup on tape, you
should try to restore the data to another computer or disk
drive, as a test to make sure the backup has been
specified correctly and is functioning properly. You can
even create a "dummy" company in order to test
the restore operation, providing the backup system
backs up only the SNAP data files for a single company.
SNAP’s built-in backup function only backs up a single
company at a time.
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