Instructions on how to use the Automatic Backup procedures: You access the program through 'GO.BAT', not SERVICE.EXE. This 'GO.BAT' file will perform the backup automatically outside of the program once you indicate your preference for a backup upon exiting Service Plus [TM]. 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 'Service 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 progam'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 'NEW2REAL.BAT' If you observe 'NEW2REAL.BAT' in your subdirectory, then execute these commands: NEW2REAL <=========== 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] DEL NAJ*.DBF <========= Please enter this. Ignore this message, if present: 'File Not Found' COPY *.TXT *.FIN <========= Please enter this. Ignore this message, if present: 'File Not Found' 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 'NEW2REAL' 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 'NEW2REAL.BAT' If you cannot observe 'NEW2REAL.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] DEL NAJ*.DBF <========= Please enter this. Ignore this message, if present: 'File Not Found' COPY *.TXT *.FIN <========= Please enter this. Ignore this message, if present: 'File Not Found' 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 \SERVICE 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 \SERVICE, you would enter these commands: NEW2REAL {======= you enter this ARCE A:CRISIS-A /R {======= you enter this ARCE A:CRISIS-B /R {======= you enter this DEL NAJ*.DBF <========= Please enter this. Ignore this message, if present: 'File Not Found' COPY *.TXT *.FIN <========= Please enter this. Ignore this message, if present: 'File Not Found' Another method exists to backup your data. Though slower than 'CRISIS- A/'CRISIS-B', it places twice the data into each backup. In \SERVICE, 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: *.LZH This single file contains all data from the program. Retrieving data later from *.LZH in the presence of 'NEW2REAL.BAT' To retrieve data from *.LZH in the presence of 'NEW2REAL.BAT', please enter the following commands in your subdirectory: NEW2REAL <========= you type these commands, followed by 'Enter LHARC E /CHM A:*.LZH [overwrite all files, as asked] DEL NAJ*.DBF <========= Please enter this. Ignore this message, if present: 'File Not Found' COPY *.TXT *.FIN <========= Please enter this. Ignore this message, if present: 'File Not Found' GO Retrieving data later from *.LZH in the absence of 'NEW2REAL.BAT' To retrieve data from *.LZH in the absence of 'NEW2REAL.BAT', please enter the following commands in your subdirectory: DEL *.NTX <=========== you type this, follow by 'Enter' DEL *.MEM <=========== you type this, follow by 'Enter' LHARC E /CHM A:*.LZH [overwrite all files, as asked] DEL NAJ*.DBF <========= Please enter this. Ignore this message, if present: 'File Not Found' COPY *.TXT *.FIN <========= Please enter this. Ignore this message, if present: 'File Not Found' GO Alternate backups within the program: You can execute these and other alternate backups from within the program. From the Main Program Menu, please enter '2' for Other Options. Once there, please observe selection 'D': D) Disk Backups After you have selected 'D', you will see the Alternate Backup Options Menu. As you enter 'H' for Help, you will be then able to read about all of the alternates available at this menu.