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BACKUP.TXT
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1992-03-31
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Instructions on how to use the Automatic Backup procedures:
You access the program through 'GO.BAT', not through 'PROGRAM.EXE'. This
'GO.BAT' file will perform the backup automatically outside of the program
once you indicate your preference for a backup upon exiting the program.
Adopt a strategy for your backup disks. A simple two-disk, rotating
procedure will save you grief later if you experience a hard drive crash.
Format two disks and label them 'Backup 1' and 'Backup 2'. Place a write-
protect tab on 'Backup 2' and put that disk into your software vault. Use
the other disk, 'Backup 1', for your routine automatic backups.
Place the current backup disk into drive A. When you exit the program, it
will ask you if you want to back it up. At this point, enter a '1' without
an 'Enter' to show acceptance. The next screen will then display 'A:'.
Press the 'Enter' key to accept that value. At this point, the program
will drop you into your subdirectory, and the 'GO.BAT' file will perform
the backup.
Let's say that you backup the data on January 15. the backup procedure
will create this file:
0115ACS.ARC
The '01' stands for the month, while '15' shows the day. In this way, the
backup files will not overwrite each other on the backup disk. When full,
the backup procedure will tell you that 'for some reason, the program
cannot copy over the file to the disk.' At this point, place a write-
protect tab onto backup #1, format a second disk, label it 'Patient Backup
#2', use it until full, then swap the write-protect tab with Backup #1,
reformat #1, and use it from scratch.
By doing this, you will always be alternating back and forth between the
two backup disks as each becomes full.
Backup your data frequently, every two or three hours of new data entry.
You do not have to check the backup disk to see if it is becoming full.
Once full, the backup procedure will show a message on the screen that 'for
some reason the procedure cannot copy the file over to the disk.' When you
see that message, then you know the disk is full.
You could make a mental note that the backup disk WITHOUT a write-protect
tab is the 'Production Backup Disk'. As it becomes full, place a write-
protect tab on that disk and put it into the software vault. Take the disk
that had the write-protect tab and remove it. Then reformat that disk and
begin using it as the 'Production Backup Disk'. You need not keep any
elaborate lists of what data is on which disk. As long as you see a disk
WITH a write protect-tab, you will know that this one belongs in the
software vault. The disk WITHOUT the write-protect tab is the 'Production
Backup Disk'.
The data, by the way, is squeezed together on each date on which you make a
backup. If, for example, you backed up data on September 15, 1986, then
you would observe this file on your backup disk: 0915ACS.ARC. The '09'
reflects the month of the backup, while the '15' shows you the date. 'ACS'
is my company name, while 'ARC' shows that this is an Archive file. The
program does not perform an incremental backup. Every 'ARC' file is a
self-contained image of ALL the program's data on that date. Why are
multiple backups necessary? Experience has shown that when a hard drive
goes down, its' controller is often bad PRIOR to the last backup. If this
happens, the most recent backup may be corrupted and you would then be
forced to use the backup prior to that one.
Retrieving your data later:
All of your data files will be saved into one archive file and date
'stamped' to help you later in determining which of the archives
has the most recent data. Let's say, for example, that the data for
today was stored in this file:
A:1109ACS.ARC
The first two letters stand for the month, while the last two
identify the date during the month on which this backup was made.
Let's say that you see '0804ACS.ARC' on your data disk. This means
month '8', day '4', or August 4. If you saw '1123ACS.ARC', this file was
created on month '11', day '23', or December 23rd. The purpose
for this numbering scheme is so that you can have multiple back up
files on one disk, space permitting, and yet tell at a glance which is
the most recent one.
Retrieving your data in the presence of
'NEW1REAL.BAT'
If you observe 'NEW1REAL.BAT' in your subdirectory, then execute these
commands:
NEW1REAL <=========== you type this, follow by 'Enter'
ARCE A:0520ACS.ARC /R <======== you type this, followed by 'Enter'
[you adjust the '0520' portion for the
actual date: '05' is May, '20' is 20th day]
This will take all of your data from the most recent backup and restore it
to your hard drive.
Execute 'GO' from your subdirectory. The program will again lead you
through the installation process. The 'NEW1REAL' command you entered
earlier has forced the program to reinstall. Once you go through the
installation menus again, the program will ask you to reboot or restart the
system. At this point, ignore that restart message and invoke 'GO' from
the subdirectory. You should be greeted as a Registered User. If not,
repeat this entire process ONCE. If you are still not greeted as
Registered, then call me.
Retrieving your data in the absence of
'NEW1REAL.BAT'
If you cannot observe 'NEW1REAL.BAT' in your subdirectory, then delete all
files ending in 'NTX' and 'MEM' files with these commands:
DEL *.NTX <=========== you type this, follow by 'Enter'
DEL *.MEM <=========== you type this, follow by 'Enter'
ARCE A:0520ACS.ARC /R <======== you type this, followed by 'Enter
[you adjust the '0520' portion for the
actual date: '05' is May, '20' is 20th day]
This will take all of your data from the most recent backup and restore it
to your hard drive.
Execute 'GO' from your subdirectory. The program will again lead you
through the installation process. The 'DEL *.MEM' command you entered
earlier has forced the program to reinstall. Once you go through the
installation menus again, the program will ask you to reboot or restart the
system. At this point, ignore that restart message and invoke 'GO' from
the subdirectory. You should be greeted as a Registered User. If not,
repeat this entire process ONCE. If you are still not greeted as
Registered, then call me.
Alternate methods of backing up the data:
In the event that your floppy is full and will not hold any more data, you
have another option. In \DENTIST.ACS you should observe these two files:
CRISIS-A.BAT
CRISIS-B.BAT
Note that 'CRISIS-A' backs up one half of your files to one floppy, while
'CRISIS-B' does the other half to a second one.
You would enter these commands:
CRISIS-A {======= you enter this
CRISIS-B {======= you enter this
Make sure if you use the 'CRISIS-A'/'CRISIS-B' methodology, that you have
matched sets of disks for the backups and that you rotate them in sets.
Later on, if you wish to bring this data back into \DENTIST.ACS, you would
enter these commands:
NEW1REAL {======= you enter this
ARCE A:CRISIS-A /R {======= you enter this
ARCE A:CRISIS-B /R {======= you enter this
Another method exists to backup your data. Though slower than 'CRISIS-
A/'CRISIS-B', it places twice the data into each backup.
In \DENTIST.ACS, you should observe this file:
BIGBU.BAT
'BIGBU' creates a 'big-backup' of your data onto one disk.
To create this 'big-backup', you enter this command:
BIGBU {======= you enter this
Once invoked, 'BIGBU.BAT' creates this file onto floppy A:
BIG-BU.LZH
This single file contains all data from the program.
Retrieving data later from BIG-BU.LZH in the presence of
'NEW1REAL.BAT'
To retrieve data from BIG-BU.LZH in the presence of 'NEW1REAL.BAT', please
enter the following commands:
CD \DENTIST.ACS <========= you enter these commands
NEW1REAL
CD \
MKDIR TEST
CD \TEST
COPY \DENTIST.ACS\LHARC.EXE
LHARC E A:BIG-BU
CD \DENTIST.ACS
COPY \TEST\*.DB?
GO
Retrieving data later from BIG-BU.LZH in the absence of
'NEW1REAL.BAT'
To retrieve data from BIG-BU.LZH in the absence of 'NEW1REAL.BAT', please
enter the following commands:
CD \DENTIST.ACS <========= you enter these commands
DEL *.NTX <=========== you type this, follow by 'Enter'
DEL *.MEM <=========== you type this, follow by 'Enter'
CD \
MKDIR TEST
CD \TEST
COPY \DENTIST.ACS\LHARC.EXE
LHARC E A:BIG-BU
CD \DENTIST.ACS
COPY \TEST\*.DB?
GO