restoring back-up from a floppy disk
Billie McDaniel
keep getting a message saying that my disk is corrupted or
is not a money back-up file. Is there anything I can do?
Dick Watson
one set of problems that will need more info like what version of money
backed it up and what version is restoring it, if not it's probably a
damaged diskette.
The FAQ:
---
Q): You must help me! My only floppy backup has a data error reading. What
do I do?
A): If you are dependent on restoring a Money data file from floppies and
are getting a message like "cannot read from the specified device," there is
nothing anybody here can do to help you. It's really sad how many people
show up at the newsgroup with this story because they were depending on a
$0.10 floppy to hold one of their most important data files.
Error messages stating that the system cannot read from the specified device
are typically due to poor quality media (what do you really expect when you
buy white box diskettes for $0.10 apiece?), media damage (scratches from
dirty floppy drives or worn out diskettes), or media interchange problems
(writing floppy drive out of alignment one direction and different reading
drive out of alignment the other direction). Other things like CRT proximity
to floppy drives can cause transient problems--though this doesn't happen
much anymore.
Morals of story: #1) Always test backups to be sure they really are. #2)
Never depend on just one backup as your only backup. #3) Never trust floppy
drives and diskettes. Corollary: the less you use the floppy drives, the
more likely you are to have problems with data errors. They get dirty and
the dirt chews up diskettes. Corollary 2: using diskettes cleans the drives
by ruining the diskette.
My Money data is **far and away** my most important data file. It gets
backed up over the net to a second system on every exit. Once a week it gets
backed up to floppies and to a) another system as copy not backup, b) to an
MO drive on primary system as copy, and c) to a Jaz drive on primary system
as a copy of the second system backup file. Every time I do anything major I
make a copy before doing it and keep it around 'til the next time I do
something radical. This way if a problem creeps in and doesn't get noticed
for a while, I can go further back than one week. Think all that's anal?
Every time I go to the safe deposit box (twice a year minimum) I take either
or both of a Jaz cartridge and an 8cm CD-RW or CD-R with a copy of the Money
data file as a minimum.
YMMV. But consider yourself advised.
"Billie McDaniel" <mcda...@wilnet1.com> wrote in message
news:023701c2a6d4$62aa7110$d3f82ecf@TK2MSFTNGXA10...