Gone . . . It's All Gone

[Kevin Kelly]

Church employees come and when the Lord leads, they go. While there they can do things that seem totally harmless at the time, but two to three years later, their totally harmless act can lead to serious and expensive circumstances.

Our possible serious and expensive circumstance was a result of someone loading their personal copy of Windows Vista on the same computer that our ChurchPowerPlus (v9) is loaded on. When we recently upgraded to MS Office 2010, it wasn’t long before we started receiving pop up messages on the computer that our Windows OS (Vista) was not valid, but if we thought we had received the message in error, we needed to re-enter our product key code. Churches are not above copyright rules and regulations, so we purchased a copy of Windows 7 OS and installed. Since the MS Vista software wasn’t ours, we couldn’t do a simple Windows OS upgrade, so we had to purchase to total Windows 7 OS system.

We didn’t create a backup in ChurchPowerPlus, but we did do a complete computer backup (about 12 CD’s) a week ago and Carbonite (online storage/backup site that can take up to two or three days to do the initial computer backup) scans our system and saves newly created data every hour.

It took 2 days to restore our information saved in Carbonite. Well once the restore was complete guess what was missing? Everything in ChurchPowerPlus. 30 years of membership information gone, tithes dating back several years, gone. Tithe information is no big deal because we save tithing envelopes for a period of seven years. 30 years of membership information is a HUGE problem. Our membership records are tied to contributions via envelope numbers. I contacted ChurchPowerPlus and was told that Carbonite sometimes corrupts ChurchPowerPlus data, but since we don’t pay for ChurchPowerPlus tech support, the representative couldn’t go into other details unless we paid a fee. Now PowerChurchPlus doesn't even ask for a password, it's as if we just downloaded the software today.



Let’s say Carbonite did corrupt the data, shouldn’t the data be on the complete back-up that’s on the 12 CD’s? Could the information be there and we just can’t see it? Are there any download updates that could help? I have noticed that some data I saved over a two year period was restored to the computer, but are no longer in the files I saved them in. We are praying that is the case with ChurchPowerPlus and somehow files are scattered here and there. What are some of the formats that ChurchPowerPlus uses (example: if I saved a Word document the format would be .doc, an Excel spreadsheet would be .xls, etc.

Any suggestions are welcomed on how we might restore the membership data (name, address, phone, dated join, birth day, etc.). Say a prayer. Thanks.

[NeilZ]

Let’s say Carbonite did corrupt the data, shouldn’t the data be on the complete back-up that’s on the 12 CD’s? Could the information be there and we just can’t see it? Are there any download updates that could help? I have noticed that some data I saved over a two year period was restored to the computer, but are no longer in the files I saved them in. We are praying that is the case with ChurchPowerPlus and somehow files are scattered here and there. What are some of the formats that ChurchPowerPlus uses (example: if I saved a Word document the format would be .doc, an Excel spreadsheet would be .xls, etc.

Any suggestions are welcomed on how we might restore the membership data (name, address, phone, dated join, birth day, etc.). Say a prayer. Thanks.

Kevin,

I'd definitely look at the 12 CDs of the backup. You should be able to do a selective restore of the entire setup.

You should look for the directory under C:\POWERCHURCH, or C:\Program Files\Powerchurch. I would then restore the entire directory structure underneath that top directory.

That should restore the entire setup as Powerchurch stores all its data under that top directory. Then once its restored, you should IMMEDIATELY, do a Powerchurch backup using the Backup utility available in Powerchurch. If you have any problems let us know, and those of us on the forum may be able to give you some additional pointers.

FWIW ... its always a good idea that along with a full computer backup, you do (at least) a weekly backup of Powerchurch using the Powerchurch backup utility. I forget with V9, but you should be able to backup to a CD, or external USB hard drive. We backup our Powerchurch data to a ZIP drive (I know, old but the technology still works) on a daily basis, and a USB thumb drive weekly. The thumb drive is kept in the manse, not in the church office.

Now, after you finish all that, I'd secure that computer and give whomever did the 'upgrade' a strong talking too. I would have recommended taking them out and having them shot, but that's kinda drastic

I'd also think about upgrading to a newer version of Powerchurch, as versions 10 & 11 have added additional features and utilities.

[Zaina]

The article that specifically lists the version 9 PowerChurch data is:

http://www.powerchurch.com/support/kb/k ... icle_id=74

The names of those files may be followed by .dbf, .cdx, .fpt, or .pca. Example: atdata.dbf, atdata.cdx and so forth. You will need all you can find. Other software can use these same file types so you might even find more than you need.

The biggest issue with automatic backups, besides potential corruption, is that files in PowerChurch are typically connected in so far as contributions has very strong connections to membership but contributions may get updated when membership doesn't so you may have to go back over a few days to get all the required files. This in itself can cause potential issues.

As Neil stated, it is a very good idea to do regular backups within the PowerChurch software itself. Typically these backups are quick and small so many will fit on a single CD or flash drive. They will save you a lot of work and stress in the long run. The auto backups are wonderful, but still a very good idea to do them within the PowerChurch software too.

Hope this helps.

[bnoftsier]

Since the MS Vista software wasn’t ours, we couldn’t do a simple Windows OS upgrade, so we had to purchase to total Windows 7 OS system.

In the future - if you have a legal Windows XP underneath that got installed with a non legal copy of Vista you can legally still use Windows 7 Upgrade. And a full Charity license of 7 Pro is around 79 dollars.

I second the suggestion to backup without Pchurch.

[NeilZ]

Something to consider .. upgrading to v11.5, if you've not already done that .

11.5 added a new executable that will allow you to setup an automatic Powerchurch backup using the Windows scheduler. You can setup a backup to local CD/DVD or to a network storage drive.

We have this setup to backup to network storage every week on Sunday. We would do it more often if the database was updated more often.