The information in this article applies to:
When attempting to resolve errors in data, you are often instructed to make a temporary backup and further cautioned to not overwrite the existing backup. This warning is given because it may not be possible to fix your current set of data thus requiring that you restore from a backup. If you overwrite your most recent backup when you make a temporary backup, you can no longer restore to that backup. Although it is entirely conceivable that your most recent backup may also have the problem you are trying to resolve, you want to keep all recovery options open.
Many firms have a backup system in place where a new backup is made every night. In order to run this backup, all users need to exit all software. This may not be practical during business hours. As an alternative, you can use the built-in backup program to make a temporary backup. However, the built-in backup always overwrites the last backup made. This article provides a work-around by which you can keep your most recent backup when using the convenient built-in backup program.
The built-in backup program always uses the same file name when making a backup, as shown in the following table (i.e., ??BACK.ARQ).
Product |
Backup File Name |
Reserve Backup |
| All Version 14.2 and later Products | STBACK.ARQ | STBACK.BAK |
PracticeMaster Version 10.6 and later |
PMBACK.ARQ |
PMBACK.BAK |
Case Master Version 10 to 10.5 |
CMBACK.ARQ |
CMBACK.BAK |
Briefcase Version 10 and later |
BCBACK.ARQ |
BCBACK.BAK |
Tabs3 Version 10 and later |
T3BACK.ARQ |
T3BACK.BAK |
GLS Version 10 and later |
G5BACK.ARQ |
G5BACK.BAK |
APS Version 10 and later |
A3BACK.ARQ |
A3BACK.BAK |
TAS Version 10 and later |
T4BACK.ARQ |
T4BACK.BAK |
System Configuration Version 10 and later |
SCBACK.ARQ |
SCBACK.BAK |
Tabs3 Version 9 |
T3BACKUP.ARQ |
T3BACKUP.BAK |
If the ARQ file already exists, then the ARQ file is renamed to a BAK file after the backup has successfully completed and the new backup is renamed to the ARQ file.
Before making a temporary backup, you can use Windows Explorer to manually rename your ARQ file to a different name, thus preserving the backup in the event you would need to use it. For example, you might rename the STBACK.ARQ to STBACK2.ARQ. If you should need to restore the file, you must manually rename it back to STBACK.ARQ.
Although the built-in backup program renames the previous ARQ file to a BAK file before creating a new backup, this causes the BAK backup file to be lost, thus eliminating a potential recovery option. Manually renaming the ARQ file retains an additional backup that may be extremely valuable if you should have to restore from a backup in attempting to recover from data corruption problems.
Caution: This backup procedure is a temporary backup and is not intended to replace your regular backup procedures. It is important to make sure that regular backups are kept off site in case of hardware failure, theft, flood, etc.
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