Happy Valentine's day everyone! Today I will continue on the very unromantic topic of securing your data. Taking up where I left off about backing up...
It isn't good enough to have a regular back up procedure if you don't check your backups periodically. Discs and tapes can get corrupted or worn out, hardware can malfunction and best intentions can be thwarted. Imagine the horror we experienced recently when a client with a crashed hard drive went to restore his most recent backup and the backup file was empty! The client followed a diligent back up protocol, but had never checked to see that it was working!
Many of my clients do back up regularly; but rarely (or never) check the integrity of those backups. So be sure to not only follow a regular back up procedure--but also to check those backups on a regular basis!
You can check your backups by doing a test restore of the data. How easy is it for you to access the backup file you need to restore? Some clients with complete system backup tapes have no idea how to find the needed file. If you are dependent on an outside tech person to restore your data, you will be in trouble if you need something and this person is unavailable. System backups are essential, but you should also periodically perform a manual backup of just your Peachtree file onto a portable storage device (flash drives are my current favorite--they are inexpensive and reliable). Then practice restoring the backup. With a current Peachtree backup on your flash drive you can sleep better at night!
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