Backing Up Files

Backup is the process of making a copy of information to be used in the event that the original copy is lost or damaged. The copy is usually transferred to a backup medium.

In subsequent text, the use of the general term backup medium or media will replace references to specific types of backup devices unless differences between them must be distinguished. It should be noted that the mvBase tape commands are used for all types of backup media mentioned above.

All backup procedures can be performed from the SYSPROG account. In some cases, backup can also be executed by logging to special accounts that have been enabled to do backups.

While backup can be performed for all data or the data in any single account, file, or record, this section will focus on the routines for backing up either the entire database or the data in a single account.

This section contains the following topics:

Backup and Why It is Important	Discusses causes of database corruption.
Types of Backup	Discusses the two main types of backup: full and partial.
Backup Strategies	Discusses some backup strategies to follow.
Full Backup Procedures	Discusses full system backup.
Partial Backup Procedures	Discusses partial system backup.
Selective Backups	Instructs how to exclude accounts and files whose data rarely changes and for which you already have adequate backups.
The File Statistics Report	Explains the use of this report, which lists information about files in all saved accounts as of the last full or incremental backup.

NOTE	The process of copying information from backup media to the disk drive is called restoration. System restoration is discussed in Restoring Files and Accounts.