A common question is “How often should I backup my data?” The answer to this question is “How much data are you willing to re-enter if something happens to your database?” Are you willing to reenter all the data you entered last quarter? Last month? Last week? Yesterday?
If you open Keystone and there is a problem with the database, you can use the most recent backup to restore it. If you have not created a backup in three months, you will have lost three months worth of data entry. Generally, most affiliates choose to back up their database once a day at the end of each day.
It is important to plan your backup strategy based on these four criteria.
The following backup strategies are ranked from most safe (#1) to least safe (#6). You should choose the strategy that works best for your affiliate. Keep in mind, however, that if something happens to your database and you have no working backup, your data may be lost forever.
If something happens to your office building, you could lose your data.
Again, if something happens to your office building, you could lose your data.
If your computer is damaged or the hard drive gets corrupted, you could lose your data. Also, someone can break in to your office and steal your computer.
If this disk fails, you could lose your data.
If anything at all happens to your data file, you may lose it.
Keep in mind that your database contains your partners’ personal and financial information. Always store them in a secure location.
Given the many possible configurations of computer systems and networks, Keystone defaults to providing a basic form of backup (option #5). Most computers come with software to assist you in backing up your data to a variety of media. We recommend you institute policies and procedures for the highest level of backup appropriate to your affiliate.
Be sure to check periodically that you can recover your database from a backup file. Restore a backup to a test directory from time to time and open it in Keystone. Be sure you do not overwrite your existing database! For more information, see the How to Restore Keystone Data section.
Keystone assumes by default that you are running Keystone on a single computer. Each time you exit Keystone it will prompt you to back up your data.
On a peer-to-peer network, only one computer should have the responsibility for doing backups and the backup prompt should be turned off on all other computers.
For a server network, while the server should already be set to back itself up regularly, you should designate one computer on your network that is running Keystone to also run Keystone's automatic backup. This feature should then be turned off on all other computers. For more information, see the Keystone Backup section.
You can disable the Backup prompt that appears when you exit Keystone by opening the Tools tab in the Keystone ribbon, clicking Options, then unchecking the Prompt for Data Backup upon Exiting? box on the File Maintenance tab, Likewise, you can re-enable the prompt by checking this box. It is enabled by default.
If you use the default backup level provided by Keystone, Keystone stores backups but does nothing about deleting old backups. Over time your system can accumulate so many backups that they will take up a large amount of disk space unnecessarily, which may cause your computer to slow. Therefore, you need to periodically save and delete old backups. This process is described more fully in the Keystone Backup section.