August 2005

Backing up Your Company to CD or USB Drive

Think of a back up as a digital insurance policyóyou hope youíll never need it, but you really canít afford not to have it because it allows you to recover from problems caused by both hardware and software. Backups of your QuickBooks data are particularly important since all data is stored in one large data file. If any portion of the file becomes corrupted, you could lose everything.

One of our readers, Jack Logan, wrote to the Q&A column asking if it would be possible to back up his QuickBooks data to CD. Since CD burners have become so popular and inexpensive, Jackís question prompted us to test a number of back up scenarios that we thought would benefit many of our readers. In addition, we thought weíd introduce backing up to a USB drive, a highly portable device that is easy and inexpensive to use.

 

Backing Up to CD

First, you can use two different methods when you back up to CD, and the method you choose depends on the type of CD you use.

 

The Terminology

Before we get into the ìhowî of things, letís define the terms weíll be using in this article.

  • A CD burner is a drive that can both read and write CDís. You can use two different types of CDís in a CD burner:

  • A CD-RW disk is a disk that you can use many times

  • A CD-R disk is a disk to which you can write only once

While you can write to a CD-RW disk many times, CD-RW disks are more expensive than CD-R disks; while shopping on-line, we found CD-R disks for about $.25 per disk and CD-RW disks for about $.75 per disk.

The type of disk you choose determines the method youíll use to back up your QuickBooks data to CD.

There is some risk to backing up to CDís; it is possible that the CD on which you store your backup can only be read by the computer that wrote the backup file to the CD. Under these conditions, you may find it impossible to restore a CD backup made on one computer to another computer.

 

Backing up Using CD-RW Disks

While using CD-RW disks to back up is more expensive than using CD-R disks, using CD-RW disks also is an easier process than using CD-R disks. If you choose to use CD-RW disks, you first format them using special software that typically comes with your CD burner, so you donít need to buy anything extra.

 

Once you format a CD-RW disk, it can only be read by a CD burner drive; a regular CD-ROM drive canít read a CD-RW disk.

 

Using a formatted CD-RW disk, you can back up your QuickBooks data files using the QuickBooks backup routine, very similarly to the way you back up to diskettes.

1.   Open the File menu and click Back Up. The Back Up Company File tab of the QuickBooks Backup box appears (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. You have some new options for backing up in QuickBooks.

 

2.   Click the Disk option and then click Browse. QuickBooks displays the Back Up Company to dialog box.

3.   Navigate to your CD burner drive, which is the F drive in Figure 2.

 

Figure 2. Backing up to a CD-RW disk.

 

4.   Click Save. QuickBooks redisplays the QuickBooks Backup dialog box.

5.   Place a check in the Verify data integrity box. This option verifies your data before QuickBooks backs it up. While checking this box will increase the time QuickBooks takes to make a backup, youíll have the added peace of mind knowing that the data you backed up is valid and will restore if you need it. Since youíre backing up so that you can restore if a problem arises, knowing that youíve got a good backup only makes sense.

6.   Click the Set Defaults button. QuickBooks displays the Set Defaults box shown in Figure 3. In this dialog box, you can set the following options:

Figure 3. Use this box to set defaults for your backups.

  • You can check the Remind me to back up when closing the data file every X times box and supply a number to have QuickBooks remind you to back up after a specified number of times that you close your company.

  • You can set a default location to store backups you initiate if you type the location in the Default Backup Location box or click the Browse button to navigate to it.

  • You can tell QuickBooks to add the date and time to the name of the backup file so that youíll know when a particular backup was made. This technique also enables you to store more than one backup in the same location without overwriting prior backups.

Tip: Uncheck the Use Windows CD Writing Wizard box to bypass the Windows CD Writing Wizardóa Windows XP only featureóand write your backup directly to your CD.

7.   Click OK to close the box.

To restore, open the File menu and choose Restore. In the Restore Company Backup dialog box, click the Browse button in the top portion of the dialog box. In the Restore From box that appears, open the Look in list, navigate to your CD burner drive, and youíll see the backup file for your company (see Figure 4). Click the file and then click the Open button. QuickBooks will restore your data file the same way it would if you had used diskettes.

Figure 4. The backup file you created on the CD.

Scheduling local backups

The Schedule a Backup tab contains options that help you control when QuickBooks backs up data. You can base your backup schedule on the number of times you close QuickBooks. This option works the same way that the option you saw in the Set Defaults dialog box works. The option in the Set Defaults box causes a reminder to appear. The option on the Schedule a Backup tab automatically backs up your company data (no reminders) at specified intervals to a folder named Autobackup on the hard drive containing QuickBooks. QuickBooks will create the folder if it doesnít exist. You also can set up a schedule based on the days of the week and times of day. QuickBooks will perform the scheduled backup if the computer you use to run QuickBooks is on and the data file you want to back up is not in use.

 

Backing up Using CD-R Disks

To take advantage of the less expensive CD-R disks, you donít need to format the disks, but you must use special software to write to the disks. As we mentioned earlier, the special software usually comes with your CD burner; one of the more popular software packages bundled with CD burners is Easy CD Creator from Roxioóand weíll use it to show you how to back up to CD-R disks.

To back up using a CD-R disk, you first back up your QuickBooks data to your hard disk. By default, QuickBooks suggests that you store the backup in your companyís folder. For this example, donít change the default location. Open the File menu and click Backup. In the QuickBooks Back Up box, click the Browse button and, in the Backup Company to box, make sure that you see the QuickBooks folder in the Save in box; the filename will be the same as your company name with an extension of .QBB (see Figure 5). Click the Save button and then the OK button to let QuickBooks create the backup file.

Figure 5. Save a backup of your QuickBooks data in your QuickBooks company folder.

 

Next, open the software you use with your CD burner and follow the softwareís instructions to identify the file you want to place on the CD. In Figure 6, you see that weíve included the backup file we just created.

Figure 6. Using your CD burner software, identify the file you want to place on a CD.

Then, following the instructions for your CD burner software, record the CD. In Easy CD Creator, we click the Record button, and the software copies the selected file to the CD.

Backing Up to a USB Drive

USB drives are known by a variety of nicknames that try to describe either their size or their function. Among these nicknames, youíll find key drives, jump drives, thumb drives, pen drives, or flash drives. These small devices, typically about the length of a house key and can be thinner than your thumb, can hold anywhere from 32 MB of data to 2 GB of data (see Figure 7), and shopping on the Internet, we saw USB drives from $12 to $160.

Figure 7. A typical USB drive.

 

USB drives attach to any USB port on your computer; most computers manufactured in the last three or four years have USB ports on both the front and the back of the computer, making the port easily accessible. If you use Windows ME, XP, or 2000, you can simply plug in your USB driveówhile your computer is on or offóand Windows will recognize the drive and assign a drive letter to it. You can view the drive assignment in the My Computer window (see Figure 8).

Figure 8. Windows assigned the drive letter E to the USB drive.

 

The drive is ready to use and you can back up to it using the same steps described earlier in the article in the section, ìBacking up Using CD-RW Disks.î You also can restore a backup stored on a USB drive from inside QuickBooks as described earlier in this article.

Because the USB drive is so small, you can easily put the device in your pocket and take your backup home with you. As a matter of practice, you should, whenever possible, store your backups in a different geographic location than the computer containing the data you backed up. Why? Suppose that thereís a fire in your office; if you store both your backups and your computer in your office, chances are good that both will be destroyed in the fire. Similarly, if thieves break into your office, the chances are good that they will steal both your computer and your disks. The portability of a thumb drive makes it easy to remove from the office and bring back to the office each day.

Backing up to a USB drive has one major advantage over backing up to CDís. You can attach the USB drive to any computer and that computer will be able to read the data stored on the USB drive. Therefore, you can easily restore a backup made on one computer to a different computer using a USB drive.

Backing up on line

You also can back up your data online. When you use this option, you donít need to know which files must be backed up or where the files are located. You must register for this service, which is fee-based. Intuit offers a free trial for the online backup service that you might want to try.

When you use the online backup service, you store your QuickBooks data on a remote server. You use the Internet to make the backup, so, a high speed Internet connection such as DSL or cable modem works best. Your data is compressed when you backup online to speed up the process; for example, using a DSL connection, 900 megabytes of data compresses to approximately 120 megabytes and takes about 20 minutes to reach the remote server.

Summary

You can back up using CD-RW disks pretty much the same way you back up to floppy diskettes from inside QuickBooks. If you back up to CD-R disks, you must use the software that accompanies your CD burner to copy a QuickBooks backup from your hard disk to the CD-R.

If you use Windows ME, XP, or 2000 and a USB drive, you can back up to the drive from inside QuickBooks and restore a backup from inside QuickBooks by simply navigating to the USB drive to store your backup or to select the file to restore. The USB drive is our method of choice because it is fast and easy and because you can easily take your backups off-site each day. We hope the information in this article helps you take advantage of the fast and inexpensive options available for backing up your QuickBooks data.

Tyler Martin is a Certified Public Accountant and QuickBooks Pro Advisor. His practice is in the Willow Glen area of San Jose.

Tyler Martin CPA
1080 Minnesota Ave. #1
San Jose, CA 95125