How often to backup and how should you keep those files

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christybeth
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Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2016 12:35 pm
Location: Washington State
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How often to backup and how should you keep those files

Post by christybeth »

I am just wondering what the recommendation is on how often to backup PowerChurch and how long should you keep those files? I usually backup daily or every few days and keep the files. Now that I am online though, the files are saved to my computer and are taking up space. Thanks in advance!!

NeilZ
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Location: Dexter NM
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Re: How often to backup and how should you keep those files

Post by NeilZ »

christybeth wrote:
Thu Mar 04, 2021 7:17 pm
I am just wondering what the recommendation is on how often to backup PowerChurch and how long should you keep those files? I usually backup daily or every few days and keep the files. Now that I am online though, the files are saved to my computer and are taking up space. Thanks in advance!!
It's really up to you, however, having daily backups is a good thing, as one of the users here found out the hard way. Trying to fix something when the backup you have is over two weeks old is time consuming, and if you only do full backups of the entire system, can cause inadvertent losing of other data.

I have my system to backup each night when I'm at the office plus Sundays. We don't have a full 5 day work week, so each day I work I have the Windows task manager setup to backup. We also do Sundays, as Contributions are entered. I also do manual backups of Accounting before and after each time I do a post transactions or reconciliation. This gives me the ability to back out if there's something I missed,

When you say you're 'online' do you mean you're using Powerchurch Online? That does not exempt you from doing backups, yes their system is backed up, but that's more to restore after a system failure, then for you to restore your data.

Another thing, you don't have to store the backups on your local computer. You can store them on Dropbox, or One Drive, or any other cloud storage. We have our backup at the office going to One Drive. While its linked as though its on the local drive; Powerchurch does complain about backing up to the 'local computer' when doing manual backups, the link to cloud storage works fine.
Neil Zampella

Using PC+ since 1999.

christybeth
Posts: 72
Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2016 12:35 pm
Location: Washington State
Contact:

Re: How often to backup and how should you keep those files

Post by christybeth »

Thanks for your reply and feedback. How long do you keep your backups though? I back up several times a week to as much as daily during the week when I am working. I use PowerChurch online and it was my understanding when we started with it last year that PowerChurch recommends storing backups on your computer rather than on One Driver or another cloud-based program. Since mine are physically stored on my computer I am just wondering if I can delete the previous months and just keep a few weeks' worth in case of any issues? Thanks again!

NeilZ
Posts: 10209
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2003 1:20 am
Location: Dexter NM
Contact:

Re: How often to backup and how should you keep those files

Post by NeilZ »

christybeth wrote:
Tue Mar 09, 2021 5:34 pm
Thanks for your reply and feedback. How long do you keep your backups though? I back up several times a week to as much as daily during the week when I am working. I use PowerChurch online and it was my understanding when we started with it last year that PowerChurch recommends storing backups on your computer rather than on One Driver or another cloud-based program. Since mine are physically stored on my computer I am just wondering if I can delete the previous months and just keep a few weeks' worth in case of any issues? Thanks again!
By 'your computer', they mean at your location. Now using your organization's One Drive, or Dropbox is basically 'your computer'.

As far as backups ... I keep a year or two's worth of backups. Now, as to the type of backups, I normally only do a 'full' backup once a week, I'll backup Accounting each day I'm at work in accounting, and Contributions is done on Sunday evening. Both accounting and contribution backups are relatively small in size compared to a full backup, especially if you have pictures saved in membership.

That said, if you don't have pics, the normal backup can be anywhere from 2 to 10 MB in size. Relatively small in the scheme of things today.
Neil Zampella

Using PC+ since 1999.

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