Starting with the 2010 edition, all versions of Peachtree (Complete, Premium, etc.) now include the capability of configuring an automatic database backup routine. Many users running Peachtree from a networked server will already have some sort of automated, unattended, server-based backup system in place, and thus may well ask “why bother to create yet another backup?”

 Two reasons.

 First, have you ever tried to restore a tape backup file to your server? Chances are this backup system was set up, and is periodically tested and maintained – hopefully! – by your IT person or firm. Chances are also that you don’t really have a clue how to restore a file yourself, or an entire directory, from your backup media, thus requiring you to chase down your IT support resource in the event you need to restore your Peachtree data. By the time that occurs you have either been “down” for longer than you can tolerate, or additional accounting data has been entered into the system, meaning more redundant entry when the database is finally restored.

I still recount a “horror story” from over fifteen years ago, when a client dutifully changed backup tapes every morning, took them off-site every night, and never made an application-based backup. One day they corrupted their database and needed to restore from tape, only to find that the tapes were all blank. No one had ever verified what was being backed up, or tested the restore process to insure its reliability.

 Application-based backups should not be considered as a replacement for an unattended server-based backup system, but as an adjunct to such a system. Server-based backups typically write their data to some type of external storage device, so that if the server drive fails (the most common type of server failure, by the way), your precious data is available to you “detached” from the server drive. It is, however, so much easier to restore an application-based backup file, since the program takes all of the “techno-babble” out of the restore process and guides you through the restore right from within the application.

These types of backups can of course also be stored on external media (thumb drives, USB drives, etc.) but will run much more slowly if directly backed up to an external device. Better to first back up to a local drive, then drag the completed application-based backup file to the external media for secure storage.

 Second, do you really remember – or have the time – to manually run a backup every day? Can you routinely get everybody out of the system, on your schedule, so that you can run the backup? Probably the answer to one or both of these questions is “no”. Peachtree’s automatic backup configuration can eliminate these roadblocks to protecting your valuable accounting data.

 To use the new Peachtree automatic backup feature you run a small “utility” (from within the application, off of the File menu) to specify:

• what company to back up,
• where to store the backup file,
• what credentials you have to permit access to the company database,
• what additional components you may want the backup to include,
• and what to do in the event that a backup file with the same name already exists.

You save these settings in a “configuration file” (one for each company whose backups you want to automate), and then invoke the Windows Scheduler application, which is typically installed on all Windows-based PC’s.

 Windows Scheduler then takes over the process, asking you how often the backup should run, and what time it should kick off. The “no-brainer” setting for this are “daily, in the middle of the night sometime”.  Just be sure that it can complete its backup before your server based-unattended backup starts up, as the one could conflict with the other and prevent a clean backup from either source.

 If you are not yet running on Peachtree 2010, you can still use Windows Scheduler, in conjunction with some old-fashioned “batch files”, to more or less accomplish the same automated backup routine.  Not a simple task, however. You can start a fire with a flint and some straw, as well, but lighters are a whole lot easier. And “easier” usually translates into actually getting the job done reliably and consistently.

When it comes to backing up accounting data, reliability and consistency are the values you are looking for.

 Give us a shout if you would like to learn more about automated backups for Peachtree.