The Backup Wizard

This "wizard" leads you through the process of backing up your herd database.  It is important to periodically make a backup of your herd database in case your hard disk crashes or there is an unrecoverable error.  We recommend that you backup your herd database at least once a week.

You can backup your herd database to one of these destinations:

• Floppy Disk(s) -- This method is the slowest and least reliable.  But if you do not have a CD-R (CD burner) or access to the Internet, this may be your only option.  Be warned that floppy disks often fail, especially when they are used over and over.  You may not find out that the disk has failed until you try to restore from it.  If you are using floppy disks for your backups, we recommend that you make two copies.
• CD-R, USB Drive, or other Disk -- If you have a CD burner or USB "thumb" drive, we recommend that you backup your herd database to one of these devices.  If you want to backup to a CD-R, you must prepare the CD media ahead of time so that any application can write to it.
• On-line Backup Using SafeLive -- This kind of backup stores your herd database using the Internet.  Your data is compressed and encrypted with a security key of your choosing and sent to Living Software's SafeLive web site.  This is the easiest way to backup your herd database.  This option requires that your technical support be up-to-date, and, of course, you need to have an Internet connection.

Choose one of the following topics:

Backing up to Floppy Disk(s)
Backing up to Another Drive (CD-R, USB, or other disk)
Backing up Using SafeLive

Backing up to Floppy Disks(s)

You may need more than one floppy disk, depending on your herd database size.  Prepare a disk by labeling it as instructed.  When you are ready, click Next.  If your floppy drive uses a letter other than 'A', click on the Change Drive button to select a different drive.

Backing up to Another Drive (CD-R, USB, or Other Disk)

In the first field, enter the name of a folder where you want the backup to be created.  In the second field, enter a name for the backup file.  The default name will be the same as your herd database.

Backing up Using SafeLive

The first time that you perform a SafeLive backup you will prompted to enter a security key.  (See Managing Your SafeLive Backups.)  A security key is any set of characters that you choose.  It is used to uniquely encrypt your herd database so that no one else can view it.  It is very important that you remember your security key.  If you ever need to restore your herd database from SafeLive, you will need to provide this key.  No one else knows this key, not even Living Software.

The next time you perform a SafeLive backup, you do not need to enter the security key.  DairyLive will use the same one you used the last time.  If you want to change your security key, click on the Manage Backups button to change your key.  In the dialog that appears, you can also change the number of backups you want to keep and delete existing backups.  To delete a backup, you must provide the security key that was used when you made the backup.  Note that each user has a limited amount of space on the SafeLive server for backups.  If you exceed this space, your backup will not be successful and you will be asked to delete some old backups.

See Also

Manage SafeLive Backups Dialog

Restore Wizard