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Bonus TIPS for Successful Posting

Try a Search First
It is highly recommended that a Search be done on your topic before posting, as many questions have been answered in prior posts. As with any search engine, the shorter the search term, the more "hits" will be returned, but the more specific the search term is, the greater the relevance of those "hits". Searching for "table" might well return every message on the board while "tablesum" would greatly restrict the number of messages returned.

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Back ups

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    Back ups

    I have backed up the table info onto a floppy disk, but is there any way I can back up the database as a whole? Also, how can i back up all the report/letter formats that i have designed (at length!!). If the system was to fail it would take me hours to redesign all the letters and reports etc.

    Thanks for any help/advice

    Mark

    #2
    RE: Back ups

    Mark,

    Folks often recommend storing all related files for a single database in a single folder. This makes it portable. It also makes backing it up easier. Just zip the entire folder and store it safely somewhere else.

    So, to backup just your data, you zip the DBF, CDX, and FPT files.

    To backup your layouts, field rules, and all database dictionary files zip everything else.

    To backup the whole ball of wax, zip everything.


    If you're curious, Appendix 3 to the User's Guide lists the different types of files involved in an Alpha Five database.

    -- tom

    Comment


      #3
      RE: Back ups

      Thanks tom,

      I shall try and do as you suggest. If i fail (i'm a bit dumb!) i shall come back!

      oh, do mean zip as in winzip?

      Mark

      Comment


        #4
        RE: Back ups

        Pkzip or winzip will do the job. Pkzip makes a command line program that can be called from A5 and will automatically zip the tables and place on floppy at the push of a button. There is an article on learn alpha.com that discusses backups. Version 5 has zipping and backup built in the program.

        Comment


          #5
          RE: Back ups

          Mark,

          Ohlen is right. By 'zip' I mean compress. There are a lot of different compression utilities out there. PkZip and WinZip are two of the most popular. It's not, strictly speaking, necessary to compress files in order to back them up. Simple copies will do nicely. However, zipping affords two nice benefits: Less space is required in the archive (the backup files are compressed and take up less room); and it's handy to have a complete set of files in one place (a single zip file).

          -- tom

          Comment


            #6
            RE: Back ups

            Thanks Tom.

            Comment


              #7
              RE: Back ups

              Thanks Ohlen

              Comment


                #8
                RE: Back ups

                Winzip also has a command line add-on that will allow backing up with-
                in A5 from a button, I use it regularly and it does a terrific job. It
                is downloadable free.
                efs

                Comment


                  #9
                  RE: Back ups

                  I have downloaded winzip and have zipped up the whole database (unimaginatively named 'database'). I have emailed it to another computer where the a5 program is installed. I can not load it up to operate it (as we only have license for one). My question is, is this good enough? Zipping the whole database and emailing it to another computer so if the main one goes down it is there, but will it work when loaded onto anotehr computer with Alpha 5 on? As mentioned, I have tried on one, the icons appear very feint in the tables menu and when clicked don't load anything. Also there are no reports or letters whilst in the original I obviosuly have lots of each.

                  Thanks for any help!!!!

                  Comment


                    #10
                    RE: Back ups

                    Let me explain that a bit clearer. If i back it up by zipping and emailing to another computer, how do i know that the information is retrievable from that zipped file as i can not load it on another computer.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      RE: Back ups

                      Mark,

                      without knowing how your network is setup, or where the files were 'sent', it's hard to answer your question.

                      If the zip file was sent to a workstation and if alpha five were loaded and run from that station, it should be able to work with the unzipped files, at that station, without trouble. If the tables are greyed out in the alpha five control panel that means the path to the tables is wrong.

                      In your original database do you have all the database files located within a single folder? i.e. are the DBF files in the same folder with the ADB file?

                      If not, that's going to explain why your database is not portable.

                      -- tom

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