Why and how should I backup my database?

Troy Wolbrink — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:38:47 GMT

Current revision posted to Frequently Asked Questions (English) by Troy Wolbrink on 9/29/2008 12:38:47 PM

Why and how should I backup my database?

Filed under: Managing Database Files

Why and how should I backup my database?

It is possible for a TntMPD database to become corrupted. This condition renders the database completely useless. This can happen if TntMPD is writing to the database during a power failure. Another possibility is that you could have a major hard drive failure. If you don't have a fairly recent backup available you could lose many hours of work and lose much valuable information. You could lose all your notes, history, pictures, tasks, etc. This is why it's important to backup your database.

Knowing that a TntMPD database is [[en:what-and-where-is-my-database|simply a file]], it follows that backing up the database is simply making copying the file to another location. At a bare minimum you should make a copy of your database to another location on your hard drive. For example, my database is called "Troy and Tammy.mpd". I could make a copy of my database and call it "Troy and Tammy - Backup on December 1 2002.mpd" using Windows Explorer. This would protect me in case my database becomes corrupted.

However, if your hard drive fails you need to have a backup copy stored on another physical drive. Here are some ideas on how to do this for you to consider:

Email the file (as an attachment) to yourself. (Check with your ISP on size limits of your email.)
Copy the file onto a floppy disk (If the file is too large for a single disk, you can use WinZip to span the file across multiple floppies.)
Copy the file onto a ZIP Drive, Jazz drive, CD-ROM, USB Drive, etc.
Copy the file onto a memory stick, compact flash memory card, etc.
Copy the file onto an external hard drive or a network drive.
Copy the file directly to another computer by establishing a peer-to-peer network two computers using Ethernet, USB or Parallel ports.

Why and how should I backup my database?

Troy Wolbrink — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:38:47 GMT

Revision 2 posted to Frequently Asked Questions (English) by Troy Wolbrink on 9/29/2008 12:38:47 PM

Why and how should I backup my database?

Knowing that a TntMPD database is simply[[en:what-and-where-is-my-database|simply [[en:what-and-where-is-my-database|simply a file]]a file, it follows that backing up the database is simply making copying the file to another location. At a bare minimum you should make a copy of your database to another location on your hard drive. For example, my database is called "Troy and Tammy.mpd". I could make a copy of my database and call it "Troy and Tammy - Backup on December 1 2002.mpd" using Windows Explorer. This would protect me in case my database becomes corrupted.

However, if your hard drive fails you need to have a backup copy stored on another physical drive. Here are some ideas on how to do this for you to consider:

Email the file (as an attachment) to yourself. (Check with your ISP on size limits of your email.)
Copy the file onto a floppy disk (If the file is too large for a single disk, you can use WinZip to span the file across multiple floppies.)
Copy the file onto a ZIP Drive, Jazz drive, CD-ROM, USB Drive, etc.
Copy the file onto a memory stick, compact flash memory card, etc.
Copy the file onto an external hard drive or a network drive.
Copy the file directly to another computer by establishing a peer-to-peer network two computers using Ethernet, USB or Parallel ports.

Why and how should I backup my database?

Troy Wolbrink — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:38:25 GMT

Revision 1 posted to Frequently Asked Questions (English) by Troy Wolbrink on 9/29/2008 12:38:25 PM

Why and how should I backup my database?

Knowing that a TntMPD database is simply[[en:what-and-where-is-my-database|simply a file]] a file, it follows that backing up the database is simply making copying the file to another location. At a bare minimum you should make a copy of your database to another location on your hard drive. For example, my database is called "Troy and Tammy.mpd". I could make a copy of my database and call it "Troy and Tammy - Backup on December 1 2002.mpd" using Windows Explorer. This would protect me in case my database becomes corrupted.

However, if your hard drive fails you need to have a backup copy stored on another physical drive. Here are some ideas on how to do this for you to consider:

Email the file (as an attachment) to yourself. (Check with your ISP on size limits of your email.)
Copy the file onto a floppy disk (If the file is too large for a single disk, you can use WinZip to span the file across multiple floppies.)
Copy the file onto a ZIP Drive, Jazz drive, CD-ROM, USB Drive, etc.
Copy the file onto a memory stick, compact flash memory card, etc.
Copy the file onto an external hard drive or a network drive.
Copy the file directly to another computer by establishing a peer-to-peer network two computers using Ethernet, USB or Parallel ports.