Sigh, I was hoping not to have to go into all this, but here goes.
>At 09:43 PM 7/22/2001 -0700, Abdulrahman Lomax wrote:
>The Access system does put all your eggs in one basket, it would seem, but
>having regular automatic backups makes it no more risky than anything else
>you do with your hard drive. You can even set the backups to go on a
>different drive, or across a network.
Pretty much true, and I strongly advise backing up to at least a physically
different HD if not across a network. *See below
>I do an autobackup every 15 minutes. That means that if the database were
>corrupted, all I would lose would be fifteen minutes of work. There are
>*also* backups made every time a file is overwritten. So save often. But I
>haven't lost a file since a long time ago.....
If you think you are safe 'cause of this, think again. It is CHILLINGY
EASY to lose a whole database. Since the inception on the DDB system I
think I have lost about 3 or 4 databases, and in each case they were
footprint libraries. Let me outline a typical way I have lost one hell of
a lot more than 15 minutes of work (your whole library), and it's much
easier than you imagine, especially since you THINK you covered all the
bases. (Note that I would assume this would affect either file system, but
I don't generally use the WFS)
The Setup:
1. You are making changes to a footprints library, for example, and saving
often, perhaps after each new footprint you add.
2. At this point, unbeknownst to you, corruption occurs somehow (I'm
assuming in memory) of the footprint file.
3. You finish your footprint and save. (DDB and backup.lib now corrupted)
4. You do another footprint and save. (DDB, backup.lib and previous
backup.lib now corrupted) The only good file you have left is your
DDB.bkp, (which has NONE of your changes since you last opened
Protel/closed the database in question) and possibly a couple of the backup
files in the Backups directory (.BKx) you have set to go off every 15
minutes.
5. Every 15 minutes, the BKx files are progressively overwritten with a
corrupt file. Go have some lunch or something and they are all corrupted,
depending on your settings.
6. Even worse: you finish your day and close Protel. <DDB.bkp> now
corrupt. Before you go home, you backup all your files to the network
drive like we have all been told is proper, unknowingly overwriting the
previous good backups with corrupted files.
The Stinger: You come in for work the next day only to find that Protel
crashes every time you try to open the library database. All attempts to
repair are fruitless; they still won't open. To your indescribable dismay
you find that every backup, everywhere, including on the the network drive,
is corrupted.
The Sinker: Unless you have ANOTHER copy of your library that you DIDN'T
overwrite last night, not only have you lost a whole day's changes, but you
have NO LIBRARY AT ALL.
Luckily, I learned my lesson on this the first time it happened, and I keep
a second copy of backups that I only backup every few days or about once a
week or so. That way, I have that many days to find any corruption.
I hope this sends a chill up the spine of more than a few of you... think
ahead on the backups!
-Frank
Frank Gilley
Dell-Star Technologies
(918) 838-1973 Phone
(918) 838-8814 Fax
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.dellstar.com
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