Good for you! You've decided that making a backup copy of your data is a good thing to do. You should make a backup on a regular basis. Don't wait for data loss...yes, it CAN happen to you!  Once every couple of months, a customer calls in a panic. We really hate having to break the news that the poor troop leader has lost all her data due to a computer crash or some other calamity.

Backing up is very easy to do. There's a great big ol' button right on the TroopManager Plus main menu. Stick a diskette in drive A: and click the button. When finished, store the diskette in a safe place and rest easy knowing your precious data is safe and sound.

If you need to make a backup copy and can't run TroopManager Plus, look for a file called TROOP.MDB in the directory where you installed TroopManager Plus. Usually this is C:\TroopMgr, but can be different if you installed the product somewhere else. If you can't find a file called TROOP.MDB, but do see one called TROOP, that's probably your database file. Click here for information on Windows file extensions if you see TROOP but not TROOP.MDB.

Does it have to be a diskette?

You can make a backup to a recordable cd-rom or any other storage device. We recommend diskettes because they are cheap and easy to use, and something we can automate on the TroopManager Plus main menu. If you use other devices you'll need to make the backup manually and not through TroopManager Plus. See the database technical details for information about the exact name of the database file.

Don't rely on a backup copy on your local hard disk -- if your computer crashes you'll lose the backup as well. The best kind of backup is one that remains separate from your computer.

Many troop leaders use e-mail as a form of backup. You can send your TROOP.MDB database file to yourself from a home e-mail account to your work account, or perhaps a spouse's account.  You can send a copy to a co-leader or a helpful parent in the troop.

Can you use the same diskette?

Ideally, no. Use at least three diskettes in rotation. The reason is that should something go wrong with your data, you might copy the bad data on top of your only good backup! By rotating through three diskettes (or more) you are less likely to copy bad data over good data. Periodically pull a diskette out of rotation and label it as a permanent archive copy. Someday you might need to go back in time. Diskettes are very cheap relative to the value of your data entry time. A box of diskettes is well worth the investment.

Backup how often?

Backup whenever you would not mind doing all of your work over again. For example, if you spend two hours entering badge activity history, would you want to invest that time all over again? Of course not! Make a backup copy and protect your investment.

How do you recover from a problem?

Click here for the page devoted to disaster recovery.

TroopManager Plus, BadgeManager Plus and SUManager Plus are trademarks of Forevergreen Software Company. All other products mentioned are registered trademarks of their respective owners. This web site is not affiliated in any way with the Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) organization. Questions or problems regarding this web site should be directed to FSC@tds.net. Copyright © 1999-2006 Forevergreen Software Company. All rights reserved. Last modified: Saturday February 09, 2008.