21st Century Accounting Help - System/Company

System/Company/Backup and Restore

The Sytem/Company/Backup and System/Company/Restore functions allow you to back up and restore your company data and verify the integrity of the data.

When you back up a company, the paths you enter in the Backup Company window will be there the next time you back up. If you have only one company, you will only need to select the company, open the Backup Company window, and click the OK button to back the data up.

Backup

Follow these steps to back up a company:

Run System/Company/Backup.

The system displays a window that lets you confirm the (From) company location and (To) Backup location paths. The default company to be backed up is the currently selected company, if one is selected. The default backup location is the most recent backup or restore location.
In the Company location field, if necessary, select "Choose a different location" from the drop-down list to select a company in a location besides the current data directory.
In the Backup location field, you can change the name of the backup file. If necessary, in the Backup location field, to pick a backup location, press the Browse button. In the browse window, selec the location for the backup by browsing to the desired drive and directory, if necessary. Enter a name for he backup file, if you want to give it a different name. Click Save.
To append today's date to the backup filename, click the "Add date" box.
Click OK.

The styem creates a zip file of the company you selected in the location you selected with the name you entered and approved.

Restore

Follow these steps to restore a backed up company:

Run System/Company/Restore.
In the "Backup location" field, select the backup you want to restore. (Browse to the drive and directory of the backup and click Open, if necessary.)
You can restore the backup into the "Company location" field (recommended) or Browse to another locatoin where the backup shold be restored. (Browse to the desired drive and directory, if necessary.) Enter a name for the restored company and click OK.

The system will not let you restore a backup on top of a company with the same name. If you restore into the company directory, rename the backup or rename the company to be restored (the company that was orginally backed up).
Click "Auto-select company after restore" if you inted to continue working with the company.

The system unzips the backup you selected in the location you selected with the name you entered or approved. The company is ready to use.

Once the data is restored, make sure the restored company is what you expected and is valid before you delete the old company.

Make sure your backups are GOOD

Restore a backup now and then before you need to, just as a test. Verify that you can find your backups. Verify that your backup medium can be read by the Restore command. And verify that 21st Century Accounting can open and read the restored data. Make sure your backups are being made OFTEN enough and are usable - before you really need one.

Back Up Often

As a rule of thumb, back up your data after every data entry session that you don't want to risk having to repeat. Depending on your company's volume of work, this may entail running Backup at the end of each hour, day, or week. Backup up may seem time consuming, but it's time well spent compared to reentering your data.

Where to back Up

Backups are fastest when the backup file is on a computer hard drive, either the computer running 21st Century Accounting or another computer on the same network. Backup up to a hard drive on another computer on the same network is the most efficient and useful way to do frequent backups, because it is fast and still adds the safety of putting the backup on a different hard drive than the one the working company data is on.

Once a backup file has been created on a hard drive on the network, the backup file should periodically be copied to removable media for safety in the event that the machine containing the backup file should fail. Since backup files are compressed, they occupy less space on the removable media than a copy of the entire company data folder would. The most useful types of available removable media for backup purposes are flash drives and DRW (Read/Write CD) drives.

Rotate

For additional safety, you can use the rotation method of making backups. With this method, you rotate your backup location or media by recycling the oldest location. (Put the backup on a network server and/or removable media to avoid losing your data if your drive fails.) The rotation method ensures that a substantial portion of your data is protected, even if some time passes before you detect that your current data is damaged.

Two examples of the rotation method follow:

Making three backups for a five-day work week, make a backup on Monday, a second backup on Tuesday, and a third backup on Wednesday. On Thursday, reuse Monday's backup location to make your daily backup. On Friday, reuse Tuesday's location. On the next Monday, reuse Wednesday's location.
Making five sets of backups for a five-day work week, back up at the end of every work day. On each Monday, reuse last Monday's backup location to make your daily backup. On Tuesday, reuse last Tuesday's location, and so on.