Backing up your data files –What files do I backup?

A minimum backup strategy will involve cycling through several independent removable disks, the most recent of which is always taken off site when it is completed. Note: you must take the most recent disk off site to ensure that everything cannot be lost due to a single event such as fire or robbery where both your computer and backups are stolen.

It is not a backup until it is removed from site!

Any possibility of a single event causing you to lose all your data is a potential disaster waiting to happen and is almost impossible to recover from. Typical scenarios are using an external hard drive to back up to. This is highly advisable but unless the drive is taken off site each night it is not a secure backup. There are many events that cause both the computer and the external drive to be inaccessible such as theft, power surges, failure to complete data write. Use of an external disk is great to backup everything on the computer and can be very helpful in restoring the system if a disaster happens. However your core data (managed by Bookmine) must also be backed up to independent removable media that is taken off site each day.

Employing an internet backup service is only sufficient if you check on a regular basis that the data is actually being backed up. A scheduling mistake at the service providers end or an internet connection failure will cause the strategy to fail. An apology from the service provider will not return your data.

Golden Rule of Backup:

It is your data and you it is ultimately your responsibility to ensure that a backup is being carried out to media that is always removed from the premises either the night it is done or the next morning. Nobody else will have to endure the problems that losing data will have on your business so make sure the strategy you have put in place is robust and is actually doing what it is supposed to be doing. Whirring tapes, adhering to rituals and assurances from IT staff are no substitute for you actually checking the media (using Windows Explorer)  contains the necessary files and that they can be restored from the media if needed.

What do I backup?

The files to be backed up are stored in

         x:\BookmineRoot\dbfs

         x:\BookmineRoot\dbfsAdditional

         x:\BookmineRoot\Messages

         x:\BookmineRoot\Stockimages folders

where BookmineRoot is the folder on the data server where Bookmine was installed to and x is the drive where your data is stored.

Typically BookmineRoot path is c:\Program Files\Bookmine

If you have to make a choice as to which folders to backup due to lack of space, always back up \dbfs as a priority. If you have enough space on the backup media you could just backup everything under x:\Bookmine.

Note:  x:\Bookmine\dbfsAdditional and x:\Bookmine\Messages only exist if you have messaging installed.

Using InfoMining's BackUp to DVD script

As part of the installation process a complete automated backup system can be put in place by InfoMining for the cost of the time taken to set it up (about 1 hour) and the cost of several RW DVDs (a few dollars). This will backup all your core data from Bookmine including images, related files and email attachments. In effect you will be backing up everything you need to recover quickly from a disaster. This backup can be carried out in conjunction with any other backup strategy your in-house IT puts in place such as system backups to tape using propriety software or Windows standard backup software. Infomining’s backup uses industry standard ZIP archives and standard Windows copy so that no special equipment is required if a restore is needed. This is not the case with tape backups where the server the tape is attached to must be functional before a restore can be processed. This may not be possible if the cause of the problem was the server having crashed. In addition the InfoMining backup only contains Bookmine data and is easier and quicker to restore as the date and file times are easily displayed using Windows Explorer. Typically a restore from a tape backup is time consuming as the tape will contain lots of system files which have to be searched through to locate the relevant Bookmine files.

Once configured all you do is remove the disk from the previous night and put the next disk in the sequence into the drive. The backup will be scheduled to run at 1 or 2AM in the morning. To ensure the backup has happened it is essential that someone regularly checks the date and time stamps on the files on the disks which should be from earlier that morning. If they are not as expected a check should be made as to why the files were not copied to the DVD. Possible causes are the disk is damaged or has reverted to read only mode. If the latter then it can be reformatted and manually copy the data to the DVD from C:\BookMineBackZip, the location where the data is archived into when the backup process begins.

The backup proceeds in two steps:

       1. All data to be backed up is zipped into files under C:\BookMineBackZip

       2. All the files in C:\BookMineBackZip are copied to the DVD

Possible problems with Backup.

Step 1 can fail to backup all data if Bookmine is currently open on any workstation besides the computer that was used to carry out the verification process. A test is to ensure the Data archive (called BookmineData.zip) contains files called Stocktbl.mdb and Messages.mdb. If not these files are probably locked by Bookmine being open and could not be included in the archive.

Step 2 can fail for several reasons:

       The DVD is physically damaged . FIX: Replace it with a new one, relabeling it.

       The DVD has reverted to Read only mode.   FIX: Reboot the computer. If still read only, reformat the disk by Right-Clicking on the drive and selecting Format. If this fails to restore the disk to writeable mode discard it.

       The DVD player has gone into a non-functional mode. This can happen if the computer has not been rebooted for several days. FIX: Reboot and test again.

Is a DVD disk in Writeable mode?

To test is a DVD disk writeable, view it in Windows Explorer. Right Click in the file listing window - select New - New Folder. If this succeeds in creating a folder called New Folder the disk is writeable. Delete the New Folder.

Verify before backing up!

Always verify your data before backing up and keep a written log of which disks are being used.

Conclusion

No matter which backup utility you use be sure to select the option that will verify the backup to check that the backup actually contains the data that was intended to be written to it. Faulty disks may not become evident until you try to do a restore. Unfortunately, it is then too late.

Nobody can restore data that you have not backed up properly. It is essential that somebody in your organisation is responsible for your backups. Hopefully you will never have to restore data from them, but if you do it is imperative that you have a good backup from as recently as possible.