Overview

"Backing up" refers to the process of making multiple copies of your data files as a precaution against the original data being destroyed or corrupted.   The back up copies are usually made on storage media that can be stored away from the computer that holds the original data.  Examples of storage media for back ups include the familiar floppy-disks and the larger capacity Zip disks (not to be confused with "zip" files).

The importance of data back up cannot be overstated - not only does your data represent hours of work, but it also produces the valuable management information that can help make your business more efficient.

You should get into the habit of backing up your data on a regular basis.  Where a large amount of data is being entered, it is advisable to back up intermittently, for instance, before and after entering data for a milk recording.

How frequently should I back up my data?

To answer this question, you should ask yourself how much time you are willing to spend re-entering data that has been lost  -  not many people could entertain the thought of losing even one hour's data-entry work.

If you use the program frequently, we strongly recommend a comprehensive approach which involves having a set of disks, one labelled for each day of the week.  These are used for daily back ups and are overwritten from week to week. A set of 5 weekly back up disks should also be maintained, so that at the end of each week you do an additional weekly back up.  A set of 12 monthly disks completes the back up methodology; at the end of each month you do a monthly back up.  In this way, you can guarantee the security of your data.  Remember that it is common for floppy disks to become corrupted, so this fact lends more weight to the case for a comprehensive back up approach.

Backup strategy for situations where data is input on a daily basis.  This is the most comprehensive and robust type of backup strategy.

A Daily backup disk set:

A Weekly backup disk set:

In this example, the weekly backup is taken on a Friday, using the correct disk for the date (as above).

A Monthly backup disk set:

The monthly backup should be taken on the first Monday of each, using the correct disk for the month (as above)

Backup strategy for situations where data is input infrequently

Label three disks 1, 2, and 3.  Use each disk for your backup in rotation. It is worthwhile remembering that floppy disks can become corrupted and unusable, for example if they stored in adverse conditions. Always keep floppy disks in a box, away from electrical appliances that generate magnetic fields.

It is very important that the back up disks are not all stored at the same physical location; this is done to guard against catastrophes like fire or theft.  The person responsible for the back up procedure should arrange for the previous day's disk to be removed to another location. The weekly and monthly back ups should also be guarded in this way.

As an alternative,  consider using a USB Pen Drive (aka Flash Drive), particularly if you have a new PC which does not have a floppy disk drive. A pen drive plugs into a spare USB port on your computer. USB ports are fitted to most recent PCs and are used to connect devices like printers or scanners.  Pen drives are inexpensive and hold considerably more data than a floppy disk, so you could use one to backup other farm data as well as Herd Management data.  Pen drives have the following advantages over floppy diskettes:

Data transfer is much quicker
Store more data - available from 64 MB up to gigabyte(s) in size
Pen drives are more physically robust
Data is less prone to corruption

No backup device is guaranteed 100% safe from corruption or damage, so you could consider purchasing two lower capacity pen drives (e.g. 64 MB) and alternating them for your backups.

The backing up operation for Herd Management data

The software will prompt you to make a backup when closing the program; the frequency of these prompts can be altered by opening the Setup | Program Settings window and clicking the Backup Settings tab.  Notice also that the program will create an additional internal backup to the computer hard disk in a folder named AMSBackup.   This is an additional safety feature to help safeguard you data.

There are several settings that you can adjust for the backing procedure as shown in the screen shot below:

Backup settings are adjusted by clicking the Setup | Program Settings menu item.  You can specify whether you wish to prompt you to make a backup when closing the program.  You can also instruct the program to make additional backups to the computer hard disk.  It is not a good idea to rely entirely on these hard disk backups because the data would be lost if the hard disk was destroyed or became corrupt; ensure your backups are stored on a removable media that be kept separately.  The final option on the tab allows you to specify a default backup drive; in most cases this will be floppy disk drive A:

The back up procedure for the program is also available from the Herd Management program group (Start | Programs | Orchid Herd Management | Utilities | Backup Database).  The end result of the backup process is a single file which is named "AMS_BACKUP.ZIP".  This is a special file type called a "zip" file which compresses your data so that it takes up less disk storage space.

To back up your data to a floppy disk (the "A: drive") proceed as follows:

1. Close the Herd Management program
2. Insert a blank, formatted floppy disk into the "a:" disk drive
3. Start the Backup Database program from the Herd Management program group
4. The Backup Data window will display (see below)  The line below the heading "Source Data Location" will show the location of your data and is set by default.  If you wish to back up to another drive, use the button to select the drive and folder location for your backup.  Remember to double-click on the destination folder, so that it is "open" (shown below):
   
5. Notice that the second line under the heading "Backup Destination" is a drop-down box.  This should be showing the letter "a:"  If this is not so, click the drop-down box and select "a:"
6. The large box under the heading "Backup Destination" shows the folders on the floppy disk.  Since you are using a blank disk this should be showing "A:\" (the root folder)
7. Click the Backup button to start the backup process.  Note: if you have a large amount of data the final zip file may occupy more than one floppy disk; if this is the case, the program will prompt you to insert another blank disk during the operation.   Make sure the disks are correctly labelled as disk 1, 2 etc. when the procedure is complete.