USB JumpDrive works great as backup media

[BillG49]

Just thought I would post a note here that I tried a USB "JumpDrive" for a backup last night and it worked great. This is especially useful for me, because as Treasurer I keep a copy of the church's program and data files on my home and work computers.

Now I can just pop in my tiny USB device and backup/restore in a hurry. The system creates new backup files on the drive, so I can go back to a previous dataset easily, without having to juggle disks.

Thanks!

[Zaphod]

That's awesome!

PowerChurch has been compatible with Iomega Zip Drives since version 8, and in 8.5, we added the ability to back up to CD R/RW. The "Jump Drive" is not a device we tested, but it's good to know that it's working for you.

Thanks for the tip!

[Admin]

Thanks, BillG49!

This is exactly the kind of posting we like to see on the forum-a knowledgeable PowerChurch user sharing tips with his peers.

[najlaa]

I also used both the Jump and Thumb Drives on the XP platform and they worked great for backing up data. That is much better than having the storage of CDs.

[BillG49]

As I noted in the original post to this thread, I have been using my USB thumb drive to back up the data files and then restore on another computer. Multiple backups were kept on my USB drive, along with other data files, pictures, etc.

I just did a backup for the first time after upgrading to V9. All files on my USB drive were deleted! A warning message was given if drive A was selected, but this was drive F, and no warning was given. Not only have all of my other files been obliterated, but it was done without warning, and in my opinion the functionality of this backup procedure has been degraded.

[BillG49]

OK - I brought the USB drive back to my office and plugged it into my laptop and restored the data files. Then I backed up the data files to my USB drive. It added a backup file to the already existing file. I added a couple of picture and doc files to the USB drive and backed up again. It added a third backup file to the two already there and left the other files on the drive as well.

Is it possible that this problem will not occur again, unless I rename the drive volume and/or delete the backup files? When the first backup was done, it named the drive volume as PKBACK# 001 in addition to deleting all the content.

[Keats]

I tried my USB JumpDrive for backups for the first time after applying maintenance release #7 on Dec 27th. It didn't erase all of the other data on my JumpDrive as others have reported. HOWEVER, when I later tried to backup to a CD, the backup module would only recognize the A drive.

I don't know whether this was a problem introduced by the latest maintenance release or an existing problem. I am running XP Pro.

[Zaphod]

:cry: I tried my USB JumpDrive for backups for the first time after applying maintenance release #7 on Dec 27th. It didn't erase all of the other data on my JumpDrive as others have reported. HOWEVER, when I later tried to backup to a CD, the backup module would only recognize the A drive.

I don't know whether this was a problem introduced by the latest maintenance release or an existing problem. I am running XP Pro.

Has the backup to CD ever worked? There weren't any changes to the backup/restore in the last two releases. There are a handful of drives that the backup control doesn't recognize. You may want to contact us to see if your drive is one of them. Also, if you're using a DVD-R/RW drive, that won't work, even if you're using it to write to CD-R/RW.

[BillG49]

Zaphod,

Since you skipped over my issue and replied to the next poster, does that mean you don't have an explanation/answer to my situation? Or has this been discussed before and I just couldn't find it?

[Keats]

Zaphod,

I have successfully backed up PowerChurch data to my CD drive dozens of times from my current CD drive.

[Jeff]

BillG,

I don't know exactly why the files on your USB drive were removed. The program will do a quick format of the media if the drive size is reported as less than 3145728 bytes (3Mb). If I undestood your post correctly, you said this is not continuing to happen. Was the drive very full when this happend? This should not make a difference in that we are not looking at how much space is free but at the whole size of the volume.

[Zaphod]

Sorry Bill!

I really don't have an answer for that problem, because it shouldn't be happening! For some reason, PowerChurch treated your USB drive like a floppy. I just looked through the code for this with one of the developers, and PowerChurch only deletes the contents of a drive in very specific circumstances. If your USB drive is less than 3MB in total space, then that may happen, but I don't think they made any that small. The fact that it worked the 2nd time is just weird. That's how it's supposed to work. It may be a problem with the name of the volume. That's valuable information, and we'll check that out.

Keats,
Does the problem exist after rebooting with the USB drive disconnected?

Confession time: We didn't originally design PowerChurch to work specifically with USB drives like this, it just sort of worked. We eventually got a couple here and tried them out with varying degrees of success. We have noticed that some are recognized by Windows as removable media, and those work. Some are recognized as hard drives and those don't. Most of the folks we've talked to who use them seem to have success with them. Basically, the fact that they work at all is technically a bug, but it's one we have opted not to fix - for obvious reasons. Any information about failures is useful so we can make the backup feature more robust. Eventually, that whole function should be rewritten, but that's not on the table for the short term. Keep letting us know about this stuff, and we'll check it out.

Thanks.

EDIT: Jeff beat me to the punch!

[jeffkoke]

:cry: I tried my USB JumpDrive for backups for the first time after applying maintenance release #7 on Dec 27th. It didn't erase all of the other data on my JumpDrive as others have reported. HOWEVER, when I later tried to backup to a CD, the backup module would only recognize the A drive.

I don't know whether this was a problem introduced by the latest maintenance release or an existing problem. I am running XP Pro.

It seems to me that your OS "lost" the interface to your CDROM. I've seen this occur at times with a SCSI CDROM.

If it happens again, I suggest that your do a full shutdown of the computer to include a power off. Then power up, log in and see if PC+ sees the CDROM. If it does not, run explorer and see if the OS sees the CDROM.

As always...YMMV,
Jeff

[Keats]

I discovered that my inability to backup to my CD drive after I had used my USB JumpDrive was an XP Pro account issue.

For the edification of those XP techies out there, I had changed the user rights of the account name I used to originally configure my PC from "administrator" to "power user". In order to even use the JumpDrive as a "power user", I had to change permissions in all of the usb*.pnf files in %systemroot%/inf. I figured out that this was causing my Powerchurch problem when I discovered that Roxio drag-to-disk didn't work either. When I gave myself administrator rights again all devices and software work correctly. Next I'll try logging on as a power user under an account that was NOT used to configure the PC in the first place!

[BillG49]

Jeff & Zaphod,

My USB drive is a 64MB Iomega. I also have a 256MB USB drive that won't work at all, because as you noted, it is recognized as a hard drive.

The 64MB drive may have been nearly full, but it didn't have anything priceless or unique on it. I did rename it again, and have not had any further problems. PC adds backup zip files like it did in v8.5, and doesn't erase files or format the drive.

I think I'll fill it up with pictures, etc. and try backing up again.

Or maybe it was the alignment of the moon and the mouse?