Restoring Data from a Backup

If you need to restore data from a backup, we strongly recommend that you contact our help desk to discuss the issue and formulate the best method to save the day !!!   If you really do want to be self-sufficient, here are some guidelines to help you:

General Principles

Restoration of data from a backup needs to be done carefully.  Obviously, once you have overwritten your data, it is gone for good.  There is therefore merit in making a precautionary back up of your current data as it stands (albeit perhaps corrupted in some way) before restoring over it, just in case you subsequently find that you need something from it.  If you are able to produce printed reports of the data you are about to lose when restoring, it is a good idea to do so, to assist with re-keying it later.  This is especially so if people enter their own timesheets as they work through their day, as they are often unable to remember some of the minor things that they did on the same day, let alone going back several days.

You then need to plan what files you will restore.  Restoring everything is simple to do, but often might result in unnecessary loss of significant amounts of data entry - that has been done since the backup was made.  If Murphy's Law is really out to get you, there is also a risk that the Backup copy may be corrupted in some way, and consequently perfectly good files could be overwritten and corrupted unnecessarily, leaving you then with no option but to restore from an even earlier backup (unless you made a precautionary backup as suggested in the previous paragraph).  We therefore expect (and want) any users who have problems with corrupted data (or who have made a big mess of some data entry or an operation like creating a batch of invoices - and seemingly need some training) to contact our HelpDesk to talk through the issues and get the best possible assistance.

Data Integrity Considerations

If you find that you need to restore a particular file for some reason, you need to be very mindful of both what has transpired since the last backup (i.e. that you will lose when you restore), and the inter-relationships between it and other files.  For example, consider the following scenario:  Let's say that some of your Invoice Lines have been corrupted somehow, such that you need to restore the InvLine files from a backup (note that the DBF has an FPT companion in this case).  You need to know whether you have created or edited any invoices since the previous backup.  If so, then you will need to also restore the Invoice header file and also Timesheets, so that they match the restored invoice lines.  If you have posted the intervening invoices to Debtors, then you will need to restore all the files in the "Debtors" folder too, so that they match what you are restoring.  (If you are lucky, you won't have entered too many receipts/deposits, that will have to be done again.)  Failure to restore any of the files mentioned in this scenario would lead to serious data integrity problems.  Hopefully this helps you better appreciate why it is usually worth discussing such problems with our help-desk.

The data files are all free FoxPro tables (i.e. with a DBF extension).  Note that some data files have free form text fields associated with them, which are stored in a companion "memo" file (with an FPT extension and same root file name).  In such cases, you must restore both files together.  

Integrity implications of respective data tables:

  • Clients: can have impact on nearly everything

  • Jobs affects Timesheets and invoices but not as seriously.  You only need to re-enter any new jobs that are lost when you restore, and the associated secondary data will be OK again.

  • Timesheets (WorkLog.dbf), Invoice Header (InvHead.*), and Invoice Lines (InvLine.*) are inter-related.  If you have made changes to any invoices since the last backup, you need to restore them all.

  • Invoices and Debtors are inter-related.  If you have posted invoices to debtors since the last backup, you will need to restore them all (and probably timesheets too). 

Examples for greater clarity and to reinforce the principles:

  • Clients:  If you have just edited a few addresses and other details or added new clients but not used them yet in any other data entry, you can restore the Clients.* files (in "Address" folder) by themselves.  However, if you have changed the name of one or more clients since the last backup or entered timesheets, notes and other data associated with any new clients, restoring just the Clients files would leave all the associated secondary data hanging without a matching client.  In such cases you are probably best to restore everything (all data files).

  • Timesheets (WorkLog.dbf in "TimeCost" folder):  If you have not done any invoicing since the last backup, you can restore this file by itself.  (If you are running creditors and have entered some supplier invoices that have been coded through to jobs, you will either need to restore all Creditor files too, or raise Expense "timesheets" matching those supplier invoices.)  However, if you have created invoices, or edited invoices since the backup was made, you will need to restore your invoice header and invoice line tables too.

If Murphy's Law has got you such that you need to restore, we welcome a quick support call, just to ensure that you don't create a worse mess for yourself.

Restoring from Microsoft or Third Party Backups

The only special consideration when restoring Adminsoft data from backups produced using Microsoft or other backup software, (as opposed to restoring a Word document say), is the inter-relation between data tables, and the associated data integrity issues (as described in the previous section.

Restoring from Adminsoft Backups

While the Adminsoft install program should create a backup shortcut on your desktop, it doesn't create a matching Restore shortcut.  We do this quite deliberately because, if you ever need to restore from backup, it is usually to recover just one or two files rather than everything.  Having said this, there are times when you do want to restore all data, such as loading a copy of data sent from a branch office, or transferring your data onto a new computer (when no network is available).

If you you use the Adminsoft Backup facility, and it is creating its backups as ZIP files (i.e. using 7-Zip) , then you can use Windows Explorer or any ZIP compatible data compression/uncompression tool (including 7-Zip) to extract and restore selected files from a backup.  When restoring from a Zip backup file, be very careful to preserve data integrity with associated files !!!  

Note that the Adminsoft backup routine produces an intermediate backup file (GEBackup.zip) on hard disk in a "\Adminsoft\Backup" sub-folder in your main Adminsoft data.  (e.g. \Adminsoft\Backup\GEBackup.zip).  If you are wanting to restore files from your last backup, you can get them from there instead of your NAS drive or removeable media.  Just remember to make a copy of (or just rename) this file first, before you do any precautionary backup, as it will be overwritten when you run another backup.  Obviously, if you do need to recover files from an even earlier backup, then you will need to get the compressed backup file from your other media.