Tape back-up log form and instructions on how to use it.

    Tape (or disk) Back-Up Log (Print from browser) Month:____________

    Backup  |  Drive Name:   | Volume  |Type:| Tape  | Starter | Logger
    Date:   |  or Path:      | Name:   | F/M | Name/#| Initials| Initials
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________
            |                |         |     |       |         |
   _________|________________|_________|_____|_______|_________|_________

 Clean Tape Drive Head and Roller every 60-90 days. Date:___________


F/M --- F=Full Backup of total Drive.  M=Modified Backup of files
changed or added since the last Full backup. (This is sometimes called
a "Differential Backup") Tape Volume Name : Suggest you use
Date + F or M. Example: "010630F" for Full backup made June 30th of 2001.

Copyright©2001 by First Business Systems, Ltd.
Reproduction allowed if totally unaltered.

Using The Tape Backup Log -- March 2001: Re Tape (CD-ROM) Back-up Log form.

This is a form that we use with our clients to insure that they have valid tape backups of critical business information. However, it does need some explanation. - Suggest you use one sheet per month. Clean tape drive once a month also. Keep sheets in a 3 ring binder.

- Starter Initials" This is the person responsible for starting the backup procedures each day.
- "Logger Initials" This is the person responsible for checking the backup program "error log" the following morning to insure that you have a clean backup from the night before.

- In a small business the starting and ending person is likely to be the same, but you still fill in "ok" in the logger box to indicate successful procedure. If the procedure is unsuccessful, then you should probably print out the tape system software error log and refer to your tape software manual or person who installed the backup system for how to correct the situation.

- Reformatting of tapes: (not needed with CD-ROM's) Probably should do every 50 to 100 uses. 3-M tapes seem to last substantially longer than anyone else which make them well worth their premium price.

- Suggest you name tapes in an arbitrary way such as 1001, 1002, etc. Can also name for days of week.

- At the very least, you should always have 2 to 3 clean FULL backups of your hard drive. Keep one off site.

- Strategy: Do a full backup at end of week and Modified (differential) backups on Mon. - Thur. While you can use the same tape for all of the Modified backups in a week by appending each new backup to the last Modified backup, what happens if the whole tape goes bad??? You've just lost all the days that were on that tape. Modifieds usually take up very little space and time. You can use a lower capacity tape for these there by saving money - However, the costs of tapes has dropped to 10% of what it was 2 or 3 yrs. ago.

- Some accounting systems, notably ACCPAC, can be impossible to restore from differential backups, so be careful. If you have multiple users on a network, part of the responsibility of the "Starter" is to insure that everyone is logged off the network before the backup starts because open files will not be backed up with most software!

- CONFIGURE THE SOFTWARE ROPERLY! Be aware that the "default" set-up on some backup software will not give you the most secure backup. For best results you want to "compare" or "verify", use maximum compression, always overwrite, run "unattended" with about a 15 second delay, never retry (unless on a network), etc.

- On older non-Windows 95, 98, NT or 2000 systems ALWAYS use the DOS version of the backup software, because if any of your Window files become corrupt, you could be out of luck trying to restore them and this happens all too often! If on Win 95, 98, NT or 2000 you MUST use 32 bit versions of software to correctly back up files with long files names!Good Luck and Good Backups ! First Business Systems, Ltd. 773-486-1171 or E-mail: wrs@firstbiz.com

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