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SUPPORTBacking Up Sage Correctly

Protect your vital Sage files. The Sage product family employs different internal databases and requires different backup techniques. The following advice applies to Sage Accounts and Sage Line 50.

Why backing up Sage is different.

Do not attempt to simply backup your entire Sage data directory. There are several reasons for this.

Sages employs complex file handling, where it updates its database at certain points in time, whilst holding other files in the computers internal memory in the intervening period. When the backup software attempts to take a copy of your entire Sage data directory, files can be incomplete and not synchronised. These files may not be recoverable into Sage as it demands complete database integrity.

How to backup Sage correctly.

Use the Sage inbuilt BACKUP facility in collaboration with the Backup Direct Professional PC Backup software.

Use the Sage inbuilt Backup facility to perform a backup when exiting the application - Sage will prompt you to do a backup when exiting the program
Store this backup data in an appropriate folder, such as C:\Data\SageBackup
Ensure that this folder is SELECTED in your Professional PC Backup software, just as you would any other folder.

Create different file versions.

You may wish to have the ability to restore Sage from different points in time. There are two options here:

Create different file versions. You should routinely name the backup files sensibly. This will help you restore files at different points of time. An example of naming could be:
Backup Direct software will create up to 10 versions of the same file.
- Create a file called ‘sagebackup’ and allow this to be overwritten each day from the sage software.
- The Backup Direct software will backup this file each day, but will retain up to 10 different versions of this file for up to 90 days. So if you really need to see a file to check for mistakes or changes, you can access this.
- You can still create manual files, for your most important times of the year, such as ‘Sage Backup January Month End’.

We highly recommend employing both processes to ensure you have the best options available to you when you need to restore data.

Why it’s important to create different versions.

Whilst overwriting the backup file saves space and time, it can have unwarranted effects. As Sage is a ‘live’ database, it can often create problems, where some data has been deleted or some reports have become corrupted. Sage may appear to be working fine, but a problem may be lurking that has not yet manifested.

If you do not create different versions, an automatic backup may simple override any good backup data. Leaving you with two copies of bad data.

Remember to backup data regularly, creating different versions and do a test restore. These simple steps now will ensure that in a real emergency, your data works.

Make sure it is backed up.

Ensure your Professional PC Backup software is scheduled to automatically backup at the appropriate time of day, such as end of the day.

After Sage has finished backing up, you may want to use your Backup Direct Professional PC Backup software to do a manual backup on top of your automatic backup. To do this, simply open up your Professional PC Backup software and click ‘Backup Now’

Test the data.

Test your data! There is no harm in testing this data, just to ensure that it is working. Either:

Open your Backup Direct Professional PC Backup software and use the retrieve tab; or
Use the MyRoam online portal to retrieve this data.

Once you’ve restored the data, import it with Sage and check that everything is in order.

Backing up Sage in real time.

Larger Sage packages designed for accounts departments with multiple users rely on a SQL Server database and these packages do not prompt for a backup on exiting. The backup facility is present as a function of the SQL server database that powers Sage. It may not be obvious to the general user how to access the SQL Server backup function.

Backup Direct has a number of backup solutions that interact with SQL databases to provide continuous data protection up to every 15 minutes. Contact Backup Direct for information.

Further support

For further assistance in backing up Sage, or if you have any questions about backup, then please do not hesitate in contacting us on 0800 0789 438 or by sending an email to support@backupdirect.net.