Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Backup requires all users to be logged off? (AC v8.3)

Our Doc (using the "main" computer) would like to back up manually using the AC backup utility during lunch. She obviously would quit AC first. Do the other two users have to quit AC during that time, i.e. do we risk damage to the database if the backup utility is running concurrently on the main computer while users attempt to access the data?

Thank you, Kurt

It is always a good idea to not have read/writes going on while backing up. Having said that many businesses do it all the time. Good backup software such as Veeam or Acronis or even BackupAssist are designed to do backups during work. Some do it in real time, some every 15 minutes.

Of course, you say "main computer" so I am assuming it is not a server OS. I say this, because BackupAssist works directly with the OS backup application. While it will back up everything including SQL, there is a SQL add-on that not only allows you to back it up at say 6 am, but then use log files to back up every five minutes or so. These backups take about 2 to 3 seconds, maybe 8 seconds for the main database. These are designed to back up while working.

I guess my biggest question is why the need to back up at lunch. Is one-half day's work that important? If that info is that important ask her how much she thinks it is worth? Give it a dollar amount.

I say this, and I know it is a broken record, but likely the two of the most important pieces of information are your AC data and your billing data. Why not put it on a server that never gets used by a staff member, runs continuously, is designed to run applications and share files and allows you to use backup software that will do what you want.

And, using the main computer as a work computer is likely more problematic to AC than backups.

The other question is are you backing up just AC or II. If just AC, depending on the amount of data, it shouldn't take that long. I run mine manually, and it takes about three minutes.

Then there is software that just seems to know it doesn't want you backing it up while being used. You don't even have to be using it. With Medware, you can't back it up unless it is closed on every computer. Frustrating when users don't log out when they go home.

Thanks for your quick reply, Bert. We are a tiny office, solo doc, just two AC client computers. With AC 8.3, we've been able to manage OK. I manually backup using AC's own utility every evening at home with no one running AC, and that backup file itself, together with other office files, is backed up to OneDrive immediately. So, I'm just concerned with whether or not other AC users have to log out, should she decide to manually back up during office hours. Needless to say, she wouldn't want to lose any work!

By the way, I do not have OneDrive do any backing up of files that are "live", i.e. being actively used in any application, including AC, of course.

It depends on whether you are backing up II. If not, and the backup is fairly quick, then it shouldn't matter if others are logged in. Now, I say this because I do backups with client ACs still connected. Never done it while people were using AC. Of course, it would only matter if there were read/writes being done, especially writes.

kurt,
I can tell you that we were backing-up midday for a few weeks as you describe with the AC backup with no problems.
Can I ask though, why all this is necessary? Why not just set the AC utility to back up in the evening, and forget about both backups you mention above (saving you and the doc from having to take time to back up manually each day)?

We do backup manually every evening after the doctor has finished her charts. Our chief concern is to avoid the doctor losing all of her work from the morning should a hardware failure occur during the afternoon.
So we will back up over the lunch hour, but we'll make sure no one is actively using amazing charts at the time. Thanks.