Automatic and Scheduled Data Backups

Overview | Restoring a Backup

By default, your company data is automatically backed up once each day when the Server Workstation exits Point of Sale. If you prefer or if you don't exit Point of Sale each day, you may want to schedule the backup to be made at a specific time each day instead, such as during the night when your computer is otherwise not being used.

To change to a scheduled backup:

1. From the File menu, select Preferences > Company.

2. In the Data Safeguard section of the General page, select the check box for Every Day at and specify a time.

3. Optionally, change the location for the backup file.

Learn about default backup locations and file names

4. (Pro) If you use item pictures, specify whether they should be included in the backup.

5. click Save.

Important Note: Point of Sale must be running on the Server Workstation at the scheduled time and, if logins are required, a user with adequate rights must be logged in. We strongly recommend you lock your computer if it will be unattended at the scheduled time.

Backups to the default location (automatic, scheduled, or manual) afford a degree of protection; however, If your working data and backup files are on the same hard drive, both could be lost in the event of a major hard disk problem, natural disaster, fire, or theft.

For these reasons, we strongly recommend making periodic manual backups to an alternate location, preferably to removable media which is stored off-site. In the event of a computer failure or disaster, you will be very happy that you followed a vigorous backup routine including each of these components.

Notes:

- Point of Sale maintains ten generations of your backup files made to the default location and date/time stamps each one. When an 11th backup is performed the first backup file is deleted.

- Remember that daily automatic backups are made only if the Server Workstation exits the program.

- As an additional precaution, Point of Sale creates backups before running certain other data-related tasks, such as the Clean Up Company Data utility and the Data Import Wizard.

- Point of Sale only backs up your Point of Sale data. Therefore, it should serve as only one component of a comprehensive data protection strategy. You must take separate action to back up other important information for your business (QuickBooks financial software records, payroll records, other applications, etc.).

Related Topics

End of Day backups

Scheduling third-party backup applications