A Note from One of Our Clients:

"I have an old copy of QuickBooks (2000) that runs fine on my old computer. All I use it for is for keeping track of checks I write. I try to back it up regularly but sometimes do not do so.

My computer has been acting strange lately, sometimes freezing and running slow. I was told the other day that my computer hard drive was close to failure at 4 years old which brought concern to mind about the safety of my files.

Although QuickBooks recommends I backup my files on a regular basis, I seldom do this.

In reviewing my options, I realized that an inexpensive online backup was the best way to insure that I would not lose any of my valuable files. Many software programs offer a built in utility to save a backup copy on the computer. Then through the use of an online backup service I found I can automate the process reducing the risk of loss to near zero.

Needless to say, I signed up for an online backup, and ran the file copy program they provided. Two days later my computer had a heart attack and refused to load anymore.

The next day I had the drive replaced, and reloaded my QuickBooks and the backup program. I then restored the backed up files and all works fine now.

I guess you can say that I dodged the bullet this time, I wish I had been so fortunate in the past. Now we backup every night online."

It is recommended that you do not purchase any database software that does not have some sort of a backup built in. Even copying to a USB Flash drive is better than nothing at all, be sure to backup to some sort of a removal device as computer hard drives do fail regularly.

Dell computers offers a free online backup service for small file backup. As most data files from Quickbooks and other database applications are small, you will pay no fee. If you wish to store up to 10 gigs of pictures and other large files the cost can be up to $150 yearly, a cheep price to protect priceless sentimental items.