Backing Up and Restoring

Whether through hardware failure or some cataclysmic mistake on the part of your staff, data loss is a problem that plagues many businesses. The difference between a mild inconvenience and total disaster is how well you prepare for this eventuality. Backing your All Orders database is quick, easy, and can really save your neck in the event of data loss.

To back up your All Orders database, just choose File > Backup... Just how long the backup takes depends heavily on the size of your database, but it should be relatively quick and painless. Once the process completes, you'll receive an alert message that looks like this:

Notice that the filename contains the current date. This allows you to make incremental backups and organize them by date.

But your job isn't done just yet. To truly protect yourself, remember to include this file in the periodic file backups you make of your general business data, whether you back up over a network or save to removable media like DVD-ROM or tape. It's vital to keep a periodic copy of your data off-site, in a different building than the file server that normally houses it. That way, in the event of a catastrophe like fire, natural disaster, or theft, you'll have a copy of your data safe someplace away from ground zero.

Restoring a backed up copy couldn't be simpler. Just choose Restore... from the File menu. You'll see a dialog that looks like this:

Click Yes to begin the restore procedure. All Orders looks in the SQL Server backup directory for the .bak file you created. In the event of multiple files, All Orders takes the one with the most recent date.