Backing Up Files

Your data files are critically important, and you'll want to keep them regularly backed-up. In Basic Setup, you can indicate that you want the program to automatically back-up your files each time you exit.

The automatic back-up feature is turned on by default - and, as long as you don't turn it off in Basic Set-up, it will stay that way. The files will backed-up to the drive (and or directory) that you specify in Basic Setup. Make sure that you indicate a drive that is different than the one on which your program files reside.

The directory for backing up your data files is designated in Basic Program Set-up (FILE >> BASIC PROGRAM SET-UP). Always back up your files when you exit. Even on networked systems, you should back-up your files.

The back-up dialog box appears whenever you exit the program. You can also reach it by selecting FILE >> BACK-UP FILES:

AnyOrder is primarily a database program. Unlike word processing programs where information may be broken down into many different document files, all data in a database program resides in several key files. If you lose or damage one of the files, you can lose a year or more of valuable data. AnyOrder has many file protection features built in, but the most important is the back-up procedure.

Note: even if you do periodic back-ups of your entire system, we still recommend that you use AnyOrder's internal back-up system on a daily basis. A lot of activity can take place on AnyOrder between system or network back-ups. Plus, the backed-up data files will be in format that AnyOrder can easily restore should you have a hard drive fail.

There's something else you can do to protect your vital and important data: use two disks or media. Alternate the use of disks each day. In other words, one day, you would use disk # 1. Then next day, you would use disk # 2. Keep alternating the disks each time you do a back-up. (Or in the case of one disk or media, the directories are alternated each day).

It's incredibly cheap insurance. All you need to do is to buy two disks (or flash drives) and label them "AnyOrder Back-up Disk # 1" and "AnyOrder Back-up Disk # 2."

To help you keep track of which disk you should use, the Back-up dialog box will indicate whether you should use disk # 1 or disk # 2 (see illustration below). You can set-up the first and second back-up drives in Basic Program Set-up

This procedure, of course, provides protection if one of the disks goes bad, but more importantly, it protects you in the event of a computer or operating system malfunction. If you do a back-up to recover from a malfunction, the data on your back-up disk may end up garbled. Moreover, at the same time, the malfunction may have garbled the data that AnyOrder uses on your hard drive. If you depend solely on one back-up disk, you'll have no data left.

Think of that: all of your business data gone! However, if you alternate back-up disks, you'll have everything except the current day's data. Reconstructing one day's data is world of difference from reconstructing several years.

If you have a busy office, and you find that it's just not realistic to alternate disks, there's another option you can use.

Use one disk, flash drive or media, and create two directories on it. Indicate each of the location of each of the directories in Basic Program Set-up. AnyOrder will automatically alternate between the directories.

This way, you just keep one disk in its drive (or one flash drive plugged in), and AnyOrder will automatically alternate between the directories. It's easy. There's no changing of disk. There's no thinking involved. And it helps protect your data.

Flash drives work just fine for AnyOrder back-ups, but be aware that sometimes that operating system may change the flash drive letter. For instance, it may start at drive D: and then change to drive E: That can happen if you frequently plug the flash drive in and out, or if you change from port to port. If the drive letter changes, you'll want to change it in Basic Program Set-up

On a network, even if your network drive is backed up each evening, we still recommend that you back-up files on each workstation upon exiting the program. If you use only one workstation, then utilize the two-disk system described above. You want lots of redundancy. It's safer in the long run.

Good server management means that you'll have a regular network back-up system in place. Nonetheless, we still recommend that you use AnyOrder's back-up system. It only takes a few seconds, and it provides you with extra insurance that your business data will be protected in the event of a system shut-down.

Note: On a network system, if another user is editing one of the data files, the back-up procedure will stop and you'll get a message to that effect. AnyOrder stops the back-up process to protect the other user's work. Try waiting a few seconds and try the back-up again. If you get the same message again, then it's fine to click "Cancel" and to exit from the program and go about your business. Even though weren't able to complete the back-up, the other user will do their back-up when they finish.

If the program is used frequently, you'll may run into this from time to time. There's no sense waiting until the other user has finished all of their edits. As long as the other user does their back-up when they finish, you'll be fine. The important thing is to always try to do a back-up when you exit. The extra back-ups that you create on networked computers can be extremely valuable if something goes wrong.

In addition to regular back-ups which occur when you exit, you may also want to back up files at other times. If you are entering a lot of invoices, you can periodically back them up on the fly by selecting FILE and BACK-UP FILES from the Menu Bar at the top of screen.

The Back-up File dialog box appears whenever a back-up is done. Your default back-up drive (and/or directory) will appear in the box. (The default drive is set in Basic Program Set-up). If you want to change the drive, click on the browse button or double-click in the drive blank and list of drives and directories will appear.

If you use the Royalty and/or the Purchase Order portions of the program (Levels 4 and greater), you should place checkmarks beside "Include Royalty Files" and/or "Include Purchase Order System Files."

These settings are remembered. The settings will also be picked up by the Restore dialog box.

From a safety standpoint, it's best to change these settings only on the Back-up dialog box, and not on the Restore dialog box. Sequence is important. Let's say that you have doing some recent work in the royalty area of the program, but the "Include Royalty Files" box is not checked on the Back-up and Restore dialog boxes. That means that when you do a back-up, the new royalty files are not being backed up. If you detect this problem, you should check "Include Royalty Files" on the back-up dialog box and do a back-up. Everything will be fine. You're protected. But, let's say you need to do a restore, and you had not yet done a back-up with the new royalty files. In that situation, if you check "Include Royalty Files" on the Restore dialog box, you would end up restoring the old royalty files and you'd lose any recent work.

Thus, it's important that you always start with the Back-up dialog box. Make sure that you have Royalty and/or Purchase Order boxes checked here first. Then run a back-up. Now you know that you have the most recent files on your back-up disk. Should you need to do a restore, the boxes will be automatically checked (because they are checked on the Back-up dialog box), and the most recent files will loaded into the program.

If you have plenty of room on your back-up disk, the best bet is to place checkmarks on two boxes (while in the Back-up dialog box), and keep them checked. You'll never have to worry about them again

The proforma invoicing system is found in Levels 5 - 7. Proforma invoice files are automatically backed-up when you do a regular back-up. It is not necessary to do anything special.

The Back-up dialog box also gives you the choice of creating one zip file containing all of the backed up files. Zipping your back-up files is very useful for special situations. Use it when a small and compact file is required, such as for emailing purposes. Note that the zip file program that comes with AnyOrder may not be compatible with some operating systems. If you would like to use zip files, you can configure AnyOrder to use a different zip file program.

The zip file will be named: MyBackUp.zip. Indicate where you want the zip file placed in the "Drive/Directory" blank, and then click on OK. AnyOrder is also able to restore from the zip file that you create. For more information on zip files, see Zip Files.

The zip file back-up is handy, but for day-to-day back-ups, we recommend that you NOT use it. While it is very, very rare, zip files can be corrupted. By using the normal back-up method, you increase the odds that your back-up files will be in good shape should you ever need them. Albeit, there's only a sliver of difference in safety between the two methods, but we believe even a sliver of difference is worth it.

For your back-up drive choice, select a floppy, Zip, Jazz, CD, DVD or other type of drive that is different than your main hard drive. Often when a failure occurs, it occurs with the hard drive. It's very important that you back-up your files to a separate disk.

CD's and DVD's are a great medium to use for backing up your data files. They are fast and provide all the storage capacity that you'll ever need for AnyOrder. Most importantly, they provide that essential secondary back-up to your hard drive. Remember, you want to do back-ups to a drive different than your hard drive, and a CD or DVD, like any removable media, allows you to do that.

To back-up to a CD or DVD, you need to format the disk first. Normally, you can't copy files directly to a CD or DVD. The usual process buffers the files first. The buffering process, unfortunately, takes too long, and that makes it impractical for back up purposes. But if you format the disk, then you can copy files to it in much the same way that you copy files to a floppy disk or removable drive. It allows you to use Windows Explorer, Microsoft Word, Excel -- and, yes, AnyOrder. There's no wait for buffering. It's fast and practical.

To format the disk, you'll need a copy of a software program called Roxio Easy CD Creator. It's often found among software that's provided free with new computers. But no worries if you don't have a copy. You can easily purchase it on-line. If you do a bit searching around on the web, you should be able to purchase it for less than $10. (At the time of this writing, Amazon.com listed a number of prices in the $6-10 range.) You really don't need the entire program. All you need is the Direct CD Format Utility include in the Roxio software package.

Use Roxio's Direct CD Format Utility and format the CD or DVD. Formatting a CD or DVD takes quite a while so start the format before you go to lunch. When you come back the CD will be ready to use as a back-up disk for AnyOrder.

The Rover Module comes with the networked version of Levels 5 - 7. In most cases, the files in Rover are there on temporarily basis and back-ups are not necessary. But if you are using Rover for more permanent purposes, you may wish to back-up the files.

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Zip File. The default method backs up the files to a zip file. That's useful since backed up files can be mixed up with those of the main AnyOrder program. Additionally, its files could be confused with the backed-up files of other Rover Modules (if you use more than one on a computer).
With the zip file method, files created by Rover use the name that you've given to that particular Rover module. It also tacks on a suffix of "_BU.zip" (meaning "Back Up"). For example, if you've named one of your Rover Modules: "Division_One," the zip file will be called Division_One_BU.zip. If you haven't already named the Rover Module, you can do so by selecting FILE >> BASIC PROGRAM BACK-UP and click on the "Miscellaneous" tab.

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No Zip File. Some operating systems, however, are not compatible with the zip file program that comes with AnyOrder. In that case, you can back-up files without a zip file using the same method that the main program uses. To do that, place a checkmark beside: "ROVER BACK-UP: Use regular method instead of zip file." If you utilize this method, use extra caution that you don't mix up Rover's back-up files with the main program's. In other words, make sure that you assign a different directory for Rover back-ups than you are using for the main program. As long as you are using a different directory, you'll be fine.

There's another reason for regular back-ups. Windows can be configured for automatic updates. That's good. It's important to keep your operating system updated, but there is also a downside. Some updates will trigger an automatic re-start of your computer -- and that's dangerous if AnyOrder is open. It's a dangerous situation for any database program. Database programs such as AnyOrder need to be shut down properly by selecting FILE >> EXIT. That closes all open files, and, at the same time, AnyOrder, in particular, runs several protective processes to help secure your data. But if AnyOrder remains running while the computer is shut down or re-started, open data files can be damaged or corrupted. That means AnyOrder should not be open and running when your computer is being updated. You can set the time when the updates occur by selecting START >> CONTROL PANEL >> Automatic Updates. Make sure that you select a time when you're sure AnyOrder will not be in use. And, don't forget to back-up too!

The type of files (dBase files) used by this program have been time tested over the years and are some of the most stable and reliable in the business. Under normal conditions, you shouldn't experience problems. Your files, however, can be damaged from one of the following events: a power spike or power outage occurs, the computer is turned off without exiting the program, or the hard drive containing your files malfunctions.

If any of the above potentially damaging events occurs, and if your program is still running, exit the program, but do not do a back-up. If your data files have been damaged, you'll not want to back-up the damaged files. When it's safe, re-start the program. If the program starts with no problems, take a close look at your invoices: page through a number of your invoices and make sure that all the information is there and that the information lined up correctly in the proper blanks. Generally, if there's a problem with the files, the program will detect it right away before the Invoice Screen appears.

A special module has been built into the program that is automatically activated when file problems are detected. The detection process occurs when the program is first started, and the module will appear if it finds a file problem. It will, then, analyze the problem and lead you through some steps to try to correct it. If it is unable to correct the problem, it will ask you to put your back-up disk in a drive. The back-up files will be restored. As long as your back-up files are not corrupted, that should be the end of it, and you'll be able to use your program again. You may end up losing some of the work you did when the damaging event occurred, but the remainder of your files should be intact.

Note that if you use the two disk system (as described in "Use Two Alternating Disks," above) even if you lose a back-up because of a power outage or computer/software malfunction. The data on one of your disks will be preserved.

The back-up procedure will back-up all important data files. There are, however, several files which are not backed up. They are listed below. To make sure that you won't lose any of this information, you can use the local back-up function. Local back-up is not something that you need to use daily. It's only necessary to use it if you make a change any of the items listed below.

1) Any graphics files (*.bmp) that you are using on your invoices, billings or royalty reports

3) Any forms, documents, mail merge letters or label lay-outs that you've created in Microsoft Word and are storing the in the C:\AnyOrder\My_Files or C:\AnyOrder\Labels directories.

4) Network Users: No local settings are backed-up, including the path to the server (or common data directory).