Backup Devices

We cannot stress the importance of backing up your information. Unfortunately, there has been many stores that have called us on the phone to get a new code for the program because they're computer crashed, store burned down, computer got stolen... and they didn't have a backup.

But more and more I am having customers calling me and just asking me how to restore their data because they had a backup on a zip disk or a flash drive.

Although any backup is better than nothing, we recommend Iomega Zip 100 USB for your normal backup. The reason disks are better, is because you need at least 2 backups, not just one. Usually, by the time you find out you data got corrupted, you've already backed it up. So with at least 2 backups, you can go back to the day before. So you would do a backup to an odd day disk, and an even day disk.

The wiser of our customers has 7 disks, one for each day of the week.

You can backup to flash drives, but they are small, expensive, and can easily get lost. That being said, the owner or manager should have a flash drive they carry in their pocket or purse. This is the data that gets taken out of the store. That way if anything happens to the store, you can use the data to turn it in to the insurance company.

You can click on the graphic below and go directly to the 100mb disk drive we recommend. We've been using them for years. Don't worry about the small size (100mb). It is enough room to backup 30 years worth of data.

Ray Rippey - VMT Software

P.S.

Some people want to backup to their CD's. That's OK. However, our software is a backup program not a burning program, so you must have a CDRW with a formatted CDRW disk available. And, if your computer goes down, the new computer must have a compatible CDRW drive. Some people do use a CDRW, but I've had people have problems with them, and sometimes it is so much of a hassle that the employees (and sometimes the owners and managers) skip doing the backup.

If it's a hassle, it probably won't get done!

Don't even think of backing up to your hard drive. Well, you can. But that's like not having a spare tire on your car. When you get a flat, you're going nowhere!