>You should backup to a zip disk and take the disk off site. Tomorrow
>backup to a different disk and take it off site. Next day back up to
>a third disk, etc. At the end of the week back up to yet another
>disk, a weekly backup. Next week repeat with your daily disks, and at
>the end of the week, use a new disk for the 2nd weekly backup. Repeat
>for as many weeks as you can afford.
>
>Regarding the above, Dave, could you please explain the danger of using just
>one zip disk and re-copying Ebase onto it at the end of each day, taking the
>disk home, bringing back and repeating the process? What's the difference
>from the above?
There are several key differences. First, if you are using only one
disk, it means that when you are making a backup, both the current
version and your backup are in the computer at the same time. The
system is reading your current version and copying it to your backup
disk, overwriting the previous backup. If your computer crashes or
you have a power failure while both copies of a file are open, it's
possible to leave both copies in what is euphemistically called "an
undefined state", i.e., toast.
Second, your backup zip disk is on the premises for 8 hrs a day,
subject to the same hazards as your primary copy, for example, fire,
water damage, theft, etc.,
Third, you have a backup only one day back. Ebase is a pretty complex
system, consisting of 29 interrelated files. Unless you exercise all
the functions every day, it would be possible to damage one of the
files and not notice it for several days, by which time you have
overwritten your backup copy with a copy of the damaged file. For
example, something happens to your payments file on Monday. You do
address corrections and send email Tuesday and Wednesday, but don't
post any payments. Thursday you get a handful of checks in the mail
and attempt to post them but FileMaker says your payments file is
damaged. Monday night, and again Tuesday and Wednesday, you copied
the damaged payments file to your zip disk and now you have no
undamaged copy of the payments file.
Worrying about these hazards might sound paranoid, but paranoia is
what backups are for. Pretty much every week we see a post on the
board here about someone who has suffered file damage without
adequate backup. Additional zip disks are about $15, cheap insurance
for a function that is probably pretty important to your organization.
--
--
Dave Shaw H4 Consulting
tel: 206-954-7526 fax: 206-625-1338
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