Artikel - Backing Up and Restoring Family Files

Everything You Need to Know

About Backup and File Restoration

by James P. Terry

A Word to the Wise Is Sufficient

The saddest tale heard at the Support Desk is, "My hard drive crashed and I never made a backup. Is there anyway I can get my family file back? I had over 6,500 names and five years of hard work and have a great deal of travel and money invested." As you can see, there are some very good reasons for having a backup "safety net." All kinds of problems can occur: 1. A user needs to return to an earlier version of his/her family file because of a mistake made when Lägg till, deleting or merging records, 2. A computer virus or worm destroys files, 3. A family file becomes corrupted due to sudden power loss or other problem, 4. A user erases a family file by mistake, 5. Hard drive failures, 6. A local disaster destroys equipment and files (fires, water damage, massive power surges, brown outs, etc.), 7. Theft of equipment, and so on and so on.... A word to the wise is sufficient.

Hint: Backing up and restoring is an excellent way of moving your family file to a second PC or laptop. Just backup on the first PC and restore on the second. It makes a perfect copy -- nothing lost.

Backup Basics

If not already done, we recommend that you set your Legacy options to automatically prompt for backups each time you exit the program. Here's how:

1. Click Options on the menu bar and select Anpassa from the options menu.

2. At the Anpassa screen, click on the Other tab.

3. Next, check mark the box to Automatically Prompt for Backup and then click the Save button.

Now each time you quit the Legacy program, you will see a message asking if you want to backup the family file(s) you had open. Just click the Backup button and the process will start. Here are the steps:

1. When the Backup window appears, make the following changes:

Save in = 3½ Floppy (A:) - Make certain a diskette is in the drive first. Optionally choose a tape, a second hard drive or zip drive for the backup.

Fil name = Enter a name - A file name can contain up to 255 characters, including spaces. It cannot contain the following characters: / : * ? " < > |

Save as Type = Make no changes - Leave this as is.

2. Click the Save button.

3. If you have a previous backup file of the same name on the drive, a message box will ask you if you want to overwrite it. Click the Yes button.

4. A message box will ask, "Would you like to Delete any existing files on the disks as we go?" Click the Yes button.

5. If you have a large family file, the backup will be spanned over more than one diskette. The program will ask you to insert as many diskettes as needed to complete the backup.

6. After the Legacy program has shut down, remove the disk, tape or last diskette.

You can also backup at any time while the program is running by clicking Fil on the menu bar, selecting Backup Family Fil from the file menu, and following Steps 1 through 6 above.

Testing Your Backup

We recommend that you test your backup and restore procedures. Testing is done, not because Legacy has a high backup failure rate, but it does make certain you know the steps to properly backup and restore a family file. For the sake of this discussion, assume the current family file is the one you backed up. Don't wait until a problem arises to discover you made some procedural errors. Here is how to restore a backed up family file:

1. Rename the current family file to keep it from being overwritten. Click on Fil on the menu bar, select Rename Family Fil from the file menu, enter a new name for the family file and click the Save button.

2. Put the disk or tape containing the backup file in its drive.

3. Click Fil on the menu bar and select Restore Family Fil from the file menu.

4. If any family files are open, you will see a message box prompting you to close them. Click the OK button.

5. When the Select a Backed up Family Fil to Restore window appears, make the following changes:

Look in = Choose the floppy, tape, second hard drive or zip drive where the backup resides.

The name of the backed up family file will appear in the large box. You can recognize it because it has a .zip extension. Click once on the file name to highlight it.

Fil name = Should be the same as the file name in the large box described above.

6. Click the Open button and the Restore Location window will appear.

7. Check the drive in the small box at the bottom of the screen. It should be your hard drive (not the drive that the backup is on). The default or normal location for Legacy family files is the C:\Legacy\Data folder. Starting with the top folder (the drive) double-click on the folders in the large box until you come down to the subfolder where you keep your family files.

8. Click the OK button.

9. If you get message boxes warning that a family file or file ending with .FG already exist, click the OK buttons and proceed.

10. Next a progress bar will move across your screen as the program restores your backed up family file. When done you will see a message box asking, "Would you like to Open the Restored Family Fil?" Click the Yes button.

11. You should now have two identical copies of your family file, differing only in the names. Since only one is needed, you can delete one or the other.

12. Note, if you are restoring a family file from a backup spanned across multiple disks, the program needs to see the last disk first, then you will be prompted to insert disk one of the set.

Restoring a Family Fil

Follow the steps outlined above. You can omit Steps 1 and 11, which are needed only when testing.

Multimedia Backup

Backing up a family file does not include multimedia (picture, sound and AVI files). These must be backed up by clicking Fil on the menu bar and selecting Backup Multimedia Files from the file menu. To restore backed up multimedia files, you must use a utility like WinZip.

Backup Tips and Pointers

Backup your family file regularly. Create a routine and stick with it. Backup every time you make changes to your family file, no matter how small the changes may be.

When making backups, never save them to the same drive where your primary family files are kept. If the drive fails, you would loose both your primary and backup family file at the same time.

Use a high quality backup media. Although floppy disks are cheap, they have a high failure rate. Seriously consider a different removable media, such as Zip disk, tape drive or CD-RW.

Make numerous backups of the same data. Backup your data and then back it up again to a different set of media. Rotate between two or three sets of backups for added safety.

Most of us keep our backup disks handy -- in a plastic case right next to our computer. Should your home be destroyed by a fire, flood, earthquake, hurricane or tornado, etc., you stand the risk of loosing everything. Keep your backup in another location like your workplace. (Even though the chance of such disasters is rare, you wouldn't cancel your home owners insurance would you?)

Most fire-retardant safes are rated for 1750 degrees for one hour. Paper can withstand heat far longer then magnetic media, which is made of plastic or other materials that warp or melt. Invest in a safe deposit box at your local bank and use it to store your backups.

Do periodic restores to ensure that the backups are working properly. Don't wait for an emergency to discover your backup has a fatal flaw.

Use anti-virus software and keep it updated (major anti-virus software companies publish updates one or more times a month). Do regular virus scans to keep your system clean. Also scan your backup media. Remember, viruses and worms can copy themselves to backup disks, tapes and etc. and then infect a clean hard disk during the restore process, causing repeat disasters.

Although it is a peripheral issue, make certain that you write your Customer ID number in the front of your Legacy manual or on the envelope that holds the program CD. That way if you have to reinstall your program, you will have the number ready to go and can avoid delays and the expense of a long distance phone call to us. In addition, have an emergency boot disk ready if you need to restore your system.

When naming your backup file consider using the family file name and the date of back up, for example "Smith21Mar01.zip." That way you will always know what the back up file contains and the date it was created.

Regularly share your files with other family members. If you ever have problems and can't restore your backup, you can get your information back from your relatives.

When naming a backup file it is not necessary to add the .zip extension. The program will add it automatically.

Zip drives and zipped files (*.zip) are not to be confused. It is merely a coincidence that they have similar sounding names. You can, of course, save a zipped (backed up) file on a Zip drive just like you would any other drive.

When backing up, don't remove your diskette from the drive until after you exit the Legacy program. This will avoid fatal "Read past end of file" errors.

Run a Potential Problems Report and correct record problems, then run Fil Maintenance - Check/Repair on your family file before you backup. Fil Maintenance will reduce the size of your family file by deleting abandoned information and compacting your family file. The result will be an even smaller backup file devoid of serious information problems.

Operations like merging and deleting records and file maintenance will reduce the size of your family file. This is why it may take three diskettes to backup a file one day, but only two diskettes the next. Not deleting existing files on diskettes will also affect the number of diskettes needed to backup.

Error Messages and Backup Problems

The most common reason for backup failures is that people forget to change the destination drive (if backing up on a diskette, zip drive, etc.). If this change is not made, the backup file will be saved to the hard drive and not to the diskette or other medium. The result will be that when you look at you backup disk or tape, there will be no backup there.

You can search for a Legacy backup file on your hard drive by clicking the Start button on your computer Desktop and selecting Find / Files or Folders on the start menu. The Find: All Files window will open. Please type *.zip in the Named: box, then change the Look in: box to My Computer and click the Find Now button. The computer will search itself for any files ending with .zip and create a list. Make note of where any backed up Legacy files exist and restore your backed up family file from the indicated location.

Error 3026 - Error Saving xxxx. Not enough space on disk. Some people open a backup file from a diskette (A: drive) and then try to restore the family file to the same drive. The A: drive quickly fills up as they do the restore. Make sure the restored family file is being saved to the hard disk.

A:\ is not accessible. The device is not ready. There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk and click the Retry button. This error can also cause the computer to hang up (freeze) as it tries to find the missing diskette.

Backup Error - Out of disk space. Delete the contents of the C:\Windows\Temp folder and try again.

Legacy cannot see the backup file. Check your drive path. Use My Computer or Windows Explorer to see the files on the backup disk or tape. Legacy backup files end with the .zip extension. If no file with the .zip extension can be found, there is no backup file on that tape or disk.

Read past end of file error. This error happens when backup disks are removed before Legacy shuts down. The solution is to make a new backup file and leave the disk in its drive until Legacy shuts down.

You do not have permission to open this file. This error can occur when attempting to write a backup directly to a CD-RW. First create the backup on the hard drive and then copy it to the CD following the steps outlined in the CD-RW directions provided by the manufacturer.

Other errors. In rare instances the Legacy program may be damaged so that it cannot backup or restore family files. Please run the Legacy installation again and select REPAIR from the InstallShield options. Also delete the contents of the C:\Windows\Temp folder and delete all files ending with the .usr extension from the Legacy folder on your hard drive. Then restart your computer and try again.

10-0510 : 40101 RK