Does the latest backup I did contain all the business data? Do I need to keep all the other copies as well? I backup daily so there are a LOT of files. Can I delete the old ones and just keep say the last 10?
Every backup contains the entire current database. If you deleted a transaction, though, it cannot be recovered. There is no “undo” capability. But your data file contains full information on all transaction forms you entered, including custom field content, all custom themes, and all attachments.
Of course, if you discover a mistake, you can always edit a prior transaction.
In my opinion, there is no reason to keep more than the most recent backup, as long as you are satisfied that any recent software update is functioning correctly. (There have been a very few updates that contained bugs, but these have always been promptly fixed.) The only reason to have an older version of your database is for compatibility with and older version of the software.
Yes, the backup fine has all the data.
You can safely delete old backups and keep the last few - 10 is more than enough, imho.
You should keep some offsite.
Thank you very much Tut, appreciated!
I have a question though, everytime when I do a backup and restore it, as I recently had to do, my transactions are not there, my invoices are wrong and show incorrect data. I have the latest version and it still happened.
Then you did not backup or restore correctly, one or the other. Did you follow this Guide: Backup, restore, import, and transfer businesses | Manager?
If you did, and things came out incorrectly, you will need to furnish much more information about exactly what you did and what the results were.
No, that is not the case. You see, when I do a backup and restore it later as I had to do, my bank statements that I imported had to be redone, the rules I created too. All my invoices had to be manually readjusted, all my receipts/payments too.
For example, a payment was recorded, but after the restore of the back up it was not. I also, have the problem with statements being imported and invoices being paid, when I check it, the amounts are in the payments column, but not reflecting as paid in the invoices, though I manually enter the invoice number in the receipt window.
So, my transactions are all not correct and I fear it is affecting my entire database. It happens with every backup I make and yes, I do follow the procedures as in the User Guide. This is a problem I picked up.
Nothing can be understood from your verbal descriptions. You will need to illustrate with screen shots. Take some screen shots that show things you think will disappear. Then make a backup and import it and navigate back to the same places and take the same screen shots.
Ok, let me put it this way. I made a back up of my entire hard drive onto my external disk as I was about to a Linux installation onto the same disk, different partition. For precautionary and safety reasons, I made a backup of my entire Manager database as explained and illustrated in the guide.
After I did the entire Linux installation and even testing Manager on the latest Ubuntu, I went and formatted the entire hard drive, I reinstalled Windows 10 and then reinstalled all my applications. I restored my Manager backup, but strangely all my invoices that existed before the backup was missing in the new backup, all my transactions, payments and receipts may have been there, but the created invoices and receipts of payments were not. I lost many invoices and had to recreate them from invoices I emailed clients. Then I had to manually recreate all the receipts of payments.
This may be strange, but all the latest bank statement transactions that I import every month, was as well. When I reimported them, many of the transactions were not there (existent in the backup, while they were in the database prior to making the backup), and some of the transactions were duplicated.
I have three laptops, so I tried the procedure on each of them ( the restoring of the backups) and they all lacked the information which as explained above as missing from the restored database.
Can you look at this and explain why perhaps? This never happened in the older versions but is now happening in the new versions.
I agree a backup should be done regularly.
Why are you regularly doing a restore? A restore should be done to go back to an older version and thus not include more recent changes. If you make an operator error while doing this you will loose recent changes.
I understand what you ask. I do regular updates of all my files, and as a result, I back up all my manager databases as well. Eg. I make a backup every week and upload it to my cloud storage and external hdd. I overwrite all old backups with latest versions and import them when I restore them on one of my other laptops I also use for work. I will not explain why I sometimes use different machines, but note that it has to do with electricity loadshedding and drained batteries. When that happens, I would usually before the loadshedding start create a backup and upload it to cloud and my external hdd. Hence, when I did this new maintenance check with Ubuntu, I noticed the backup error. The imported businesses (backups) had not any of the recent transactions and invoices. Do you understand my issue and request? All the information was missing and was not in the backup. It had all the old information but not the last three weeks transactions etc. Why? How is it possible. The backup procedure is also very straight forward, so I know I made no mistake at all.
When you do the backup do you backup directly to the Cloud or do you backup to a local disk and then upload the backup to the Cloud?
It is possible that your connection to the Cloud is not as good as it should be
Your operation process has a high risk of accidentally overwriting a later version.
Have you considered always running Manager from a single external device and never overwriting during normal operation. Backing up to other locations.
@HRIHInvestments, you initially mischaracterized and incompletely described your situation. You first wrote about backing up and restoring data files. And you said invoices were wrong and showed incorrect data.
Next, you wrote that bank statement imports had to be redone and bank rules were gone. You also said invoices and receipts/payments had to be adjusted, implying that they were present, but corrupted.
You were asked to illustrate the problem, but did not. Instead, you revealed that you completely reformatted your storage drive. You described reimporting a backup and described how some things were present, but others were not. You gave no examples.
The one thing you did say that was useful was that the same thing happens on three different machines when importing the same backup. That means the backup is not what you thought it was.
You later went on to describe a complex process of database backups, uploads, overwrites, and restorations that I—and I believe others—could not really follow.
Throughout all of this, I kept wondering whether you realize the application data folder (and the active files within it) are hidden. They may very well be missed by the process you think is backing them up. In other words, when you think you are copying all your files, you may only be copying visible files. See Manage application data folder contents | Manager.
If you want to store Manager data in the cloud, a more reliable solution might be to simply change your application data folder location. See Move desktop application data to another folder | Manager.
It is fine, I have explained what happens as well with the backups. The fact that I formatted my hdd should not be a problem, I am saying that when you make a backup, which is really so simple as just click and save the backup and then later importing it, I do not understand why transactions and invoices are missing from the imported backup.
Do you understand me? This is it. If I had an invoice #92 that existed before I made a/the backup up. If I restore that very same backup on any of my other laptops, that invoice#92 does not exist, no matter how you search for it. Also, Payments and Receipts, including created customers, would also not exist. Not all but a good number of them, especially if they were added within a 3 week period before you made the backup, this eg. from today count back 3 weeks, all clients and invoices and transactions created in this 3 week window period would be missing from the backup, though they existed in the database before the backup was made.
I must manually recreate the transactions and invoices and then double-check everything to ensure I do not have duplicate transactions in the system.
Still, you will not illustrate the problem. You only insist that it happens. But what you describe is exactly what you would experience if, somehow in your elaborate process, you ended up importing a three-week-old backup file.
Users around the world backup and restore files every single day. No one else reports such a problem. Believe me, the forum would be on fire if this was a problem caused by Manager.
I will show you what I am referring to. Can we set up a remote desktop session then you can see it happen for yourself? I am pretty sure that what I do is right and will show it to you via a live feed, or create a screenshot recording for you to observe, which will mean that I will lose my current work and sit with reentering 3 weeks worth of work
No. I am a forum moderator, not the developer.
If things happen as you insist they do, you will be able to reproduce the problem in a test business. Illustrate it in the forum with static shots. That is how this support community works.