Backing Up
Backing up your data is important. You will find out how important someday. It is not a matter of if but when. Sooner or later, something will happen to your system which will require you to restore from backup.
Here are several reasons that our customers have found that require restoring from backup:
Files get corrupted
Disks get full
Computers get stolen
Computer memory becomes damaged
If the customer did not have a recent backup that they were able to use, weeks and in some cases, years of data was lost. Imagine if you had to go back to 2001 and enter all of the data needed to bring the system back up to date.
Verify Your Backup
Are you sure your backup program is working properly? The only way to tell for sure is to test it regularly by restoring from backup. If you wish to test your backup program, there are instructions for doing so without risk of overwriting your current data at the end of this page under Test Your Restore Routine.
Check for Disk Space
One of the easiest things you can do to prevent disaster is to check for disk space on your computer. Check for disk space by using the right mouse button to click on the icon labeled My Computer. Select Open. You will see all of the drives in your computer. Your data will almost surely reside on the C: Drive Right click on the C: Drive and select Properties. The screen will show a graph of the space on your c: drive as well as printed values of the space used and the space remaining. If more than 80% of your space is currently used, you should seriously consider getting a larger hard drive. Cleaning up disk space can be hazardous to your data or the system in general. If you are not sure about what you are doing, contact a computer consultant or other computer expert and have them examine your system.
Test Your Restore Routine
CAUTION! If you do not feel comfortable using Windows Explorer to copy and rename files, do not attempt to test your backup routine. Call a computer consultant or other computer expert and have them follow these instructions.
In order to test your restore routine without fear of losing data if the backup is not correct, follow these instructions.
1. If you have a multi-user system, make sure that all users are logged out of the program.
2. Make a fresh backup of your data using whatever backup tool you are testing.
3. Find the folder and files containing the data for your program from the list below.
4. Make a copy of the folder containing your data file. Instructions for using My Computer to make that copy are at the bottom of this page. An example would be "C:\Program Files\LSGrade". Rename it to "C:\Program Files\LSGradeBackUp"
5. Rename the files in the folder containing your data with the extension .bak
6. Open your program. It will display errors claiming it cannot locate your data. That simulates the catastrophic data loss event.
7. Close the program.
8. Now use the restore routine for your backup routine to restore your data.
9. Open your program. If the data appears as normal, your backup and restore routine worked just fine.
10. If it does not appear, your backup and restore routines need to be examined by an expert and cannot be trusted. You will now need to rename the current data folder to something different like "C:\Program Files\LSGradeBogus "(following the example set above). Rename the folder named "C:\Program Files\LSGradeBackup" to "C:\Program Files\LSGrade"
11. Now open the program. You should see your data as it was before the test.
Programs and Data Files
Equisoft Breeding Farm Manager: The folder is named "C:\Breedman" The files are named BrData.mdb, MareData.mdb and Counters.mdb.
Equisoft Vet Assistant: The folder is named "C:\Vetasst" The files are named VetData.mdb, MareData.mdb and Counters.mdb.
The newer versions of Vet Assistant are using c:\vet6\vetdata.mdb
Equisoft Small Farm Assistant: The folder is named "C:\Program files\SFarm2K" The file is named SFData.mdb.
Equisoft Trainer's Assistant: The folder is named "C:\Program files\Train2K" The file is named SDat.mdb.
Trainer's 2000 version: The file is named C:\Train2k\sdat.mdb
NATEF Task Assistant: The folder is named "C:\Program files\LSGrade" The file is named GradeDat.mdb.