Backup Database

How do I back up my database, and how often should I do it?

As to how often, that's entirely up to you. The guidance I always give regarding how often to back up is this: Only back up often enough that, if your computer died, you wouldn't mind re-entering all of the data you've entered since your last backup. In my case, I think I could survive if I had to re-create a week's worth, but no more. Frankly, the only reason not to back up every day is remembering to delete old backups so you don't fill up your backup disk. If that's not a problem, back up whenever you think of it. There's no down-side other than disk space.

The easiest way to back up your database is to go to the Administrative menu and select "Back Up Database" off of the menu. It will ask you to verify where you want to put your backup, and you can click the "Browse" button to tell it. It will save that location in the database so the next time you do that backup, it will pre-populate that location in the location field.

If you are backing up to an external drive (thumb drive or whatever), make sure it's connected before you do the backup, and make sure there's plenty of room. If you try to do the backup and it won't let you, delete a couple of backups off of your backup drive (one file may not be enough), and try again.

The second way you can back up is to just wait for CILe to pop up the reminder that you haven't backed up in a week. Please, for my sake and for yours, if you ever see that message, do the backup immediately, and try to get into the habit of not waiting that long.

Do your backups often. One day - and that day will come - you will be extremely glad you have it.

How do I delete the old backups?

Currently, it's just the old-fashioned way. You have to use your Windows Explorer and navigate to wherever you have been sending your backups, and delete them manually. My habit is to save the most recent three (at least), and save one from each preceeding month for the past several months. You don't have to, I just do.

Some day I hope to have a built-in routine for deleting old backups, but it hasn't bubbled to the top of my priority list yet.