Whenever one updates computer data, there is the chance that some hardware component may fail at any time, be it your hard-disk drive or your PC. For this reason, it is highly recommended that you periodically back up your Compugene Membership System database(s). Another good reason to backup your data is that in case you make a mistake by entering bad data, you can always start over again by restoring your database from a backup taken before the bad data was entered. There are several ways provided for you to take frequent backups, and they allow you to back up your data to another hard drive, another folder on the same hard drive, a network hard drive or a diskette or other removable media.

Automatic Backup

The system comes with Automatic backup options that you can tailor to your particular circumstances and change at any time you want. These options are set by choosing the Options menu item, selecting the General tab and then clicking the Backups button. (See Options for more details about the Options window). When you click the Backups button, you will see the Backup Options window that allows you to set three items: Action, Interval, and Backup Folder.

Action:

Ignore don't notify when the time to backup has arrived and don't execute an auto-backup
Warnprovide a warning message when the time to backup has arrived
Autoprovide a status message when the time to backup has arrived AND execute the backup

Interval:

This option controls the interval when the warning or auto-backup should take place. You specify the interval type (minutes, hours, days, weeks, or uses of the database) and the interval amount. You can choose whatever interval amount you want, from as low as 1 minute to as high as you desire. If you choose the Uses interval option, the system will take a backup after that many uses of a database has occurred.

Backup Folder:

This option for Auto-backup is the specification of the folder to contain the backups. The system will by default use a lowest level folder name which is the same name as your database name, and the backup file created will have a file name based on the date that the backup was taken. The backup suffix is .EWU.
Example: if you specify a backup folder of C:\backups and your database name is SAMPFILE, the automatic backup will be placed at C:\backups\sampfile\xxxxxxx.ewu, where xxxxxxx is the yymmdd of the current date (yy= last two digits of year, mm= two digits of month and dd = two digits of date).

Manual Backup

You can create a backup anytime you want while the system is in use by clicking the Database|Backup menu option from the main window. You will be prompted to specify where you want the backup placed. The default location is the location specified in the Auto-backup options, as described above. You can backup the database that you are currently open to. To back up a different database, open the different database and proceed as above. Note: backups are stored in a special compressed format and must be restored by the Compugene Membership System restore option in order to be readable as valid data.

Restoring Data from a Backup Copy

You can restore to the currently-open database or any other existing database by clicking the Database|Restore menu option from the main window. After you click the option, you will be prompted to choose which backup to restore from and which database to restore to.