Rice Lake TransAct 3.5 - Manual (Page 4)

Version 3.5.29
Backup! Backup! Backup!
It is strongly recommended that a backup of Interact is completed DAILY. Since a computer hard drive
is one of the most common components to fail, a daily backup to another type of media should always
be performed.
Our software products provide a utility for “backing up” the database. The database can be backed up
from within our software. When using a tape backup, the database should be backed up to the local
hard drive before running the tape backup utility.
Iomega Zip Drives - The Iomega Zip Drive is a device which allows you to store 100 MB or more of
information on one diskette. A Zip disk is more reliable than a regular floppy diskette. Therefore, only
two Zip diskettes will provide an adequate rotation plan. Disk 1 will be used Monday, Wednesday,
Friday and Disk 2 will be used Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. When installed, the Zip drive appears as
another device and is lettered just like the floppy drive A: or the hard drive C:. To backup to this drive
using our software, select the drive letter assigned to your Zip drive.
The Iomega Zip drive is preferred over tape drive backup systems because it is an easy tool to use. It
can be used like a floppy diskette to store small amounts of data or to backup the entire system. Zip
drives are available as an external unit which plugs into your computers parallel port or as an internal
unit.
NOTE: A system backup can be created using the Zip Tools software installed with the Zip Drive.
A Zip Tools backup compresses data as it backs up, therefore a different Zip diskette must
be used.
Tape Drive - When using a tape backup system, always run the backup utility provided within our
software products to backup the database to the local hard drive. Run this backup prior to running your
tape backup. Several brands of tape backups are available on the market. Refer to your user’s manual
for installation and setup. The software provided with your tape backup normally provides a utility for
setting up an automatic backup schedule.
NOTE: Automatic backup schedulers are nice tools. Some users have had intermittent problems
with software that runs in the background for these schedulers. If you encounter problems
with our software while running your tape software, unload the tape software. Re-run the
program and see if the problem goes away. If the software runs without the backup
scheduling software loaded, you should cancel the automatic backup and backup your
system manually.
Many tape drives work differently. Without the identical tape drive and software used to create tape
backups, it may be difficult to restore your data. Again use more than one tape and implement a rotation
schedule.
See page 54, Creating a Backup File, for detailed instructions and examples.