This document was written to assist Librarians in creating a usable backup of their Alexandria data and any other valuable information that may be contained in the Alexandria v5 folder on their data station. This document was created for Macintosh users only; Windows users should see the document titled Tech Note 16, "Creating a Backup of Alexandria's Data for Windows Users."

The Purpose of Backing up data

In explaining the process of creating a backup, it is important to explain both the need for a backup and proper use of a backup.

Whenever you have data that you wish to preserve, there is a need to create an effective and efficient backup procedure. There are several ways to lose your data including: data corruption; hardware failure; incorrect modifications through utilities; to natural disasters such as fire, flood, or theft. Anytime there is a chance of losing your data, you should create a backup. This includes: creating a backup prior to running a utility or update; nightly backups to record daily transactions and weekly backups you store off site in the case of natural disaster or theft.

The second chapter of your Alexandria user's manual deals exclusively with creating a back up strategy. The reason this information was placed at the beginning of the book is that it is the single most important thing you can do to keep your library up and running.

As suggested by the manual, it is recommended that you create at least three backups: two that remain on site and one that is kept in a different location. All three should have separate schedules. Bear in mind that in addition to having separate sources, the reason for keeping three backups is so that you can recover from various times in your data's history. This adds an additional dimension to your backups; you now have the ability to recover if the problem occurred yesterday or even if it occurred weeks ago. A well thought out backup schedule should allow for daily back ups which are kept for a whole week, weekly back ups that are kept for a whole month and monthly back ups that are kept for a whole year. A back up plan such as this should also accommodate changes that may need to be made throughout the day.

Backing Up

Your entire collection including items, patron and circulation information is contained in the Data folder, which is located in the Alexandria v5 Folder. By default, the Alexandria v5 Folder is found just inside your Macintosh Hard Drive on the Data Station.

NOTE: IN VERSIONS BEFORE 5.43, THE DATA FOLDER WAS CALLED ALEXANDRIA DATA.

Please follow these instructions to create a backup:

Go to the Data Station.

Quit Alexandria.

Open your Macintosh Hard Drive.

Open the Alexandria v5 Folder.

Hold down the Option Key and drag the Data folder to your storage media.

NOTE: HOLDING DOWN THE OPTION KEY WILL COPY THE DATA TO THE MEDIA RATHER THAN MOVING IT THERE. THE SAME OPERATION CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED BY HIGHLIGHTING THE DATA, CLICKING DUPLICATE UNDER THE FILE MENU, THEN DRAGGING THE DUPLICATE COPY OF THE DATA FOLDER TO THE STORAGE MEDIA.

Other folders that you may consider backing up include the Log folder and the Bulletin Board folder. The Log folder contains text file logs of all actions and transactions done in Alexandria. The Bulletin Board folder contains all the maps and bulletin board items.

NOTE: WHILE YOU MAY BACK UP THE ENTIRE ALEXANDRIA V5 FOLDER, THE NECESSARY INFORMATION IS CONTAINED IN THE DATA FOLDER. SOME ADMINISTRATORS LIKE TO KEEP A BACKUP COPY OF THE PROGRAM. THIS IS NOT NECESSARY AS THE ENTIRE ALEXANDRIA PROGRAM CAN BE REPLACED, AND THE LATEST VERSION OF THE APPLICATION IS AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE OR CAN BE MAILED OUT ON CD. ONCE AGAIN, THE ONLY CRITICAL INFORMATION IS CONTAINED IN THE DATA FOLDER.

Alternative Method for Backing Up

Some networks are set up in such a way that the Data Station is unavailable to the librarian. In such cases, the Data Station is running at all times. Because the Data folder will be locked and is inaccessible during operation, an alternative method may be used to create a backup.

To create a backup with the Data Station still running:

Go to Edit and then Preferences.

Click on Administration to activate the pull-down menu, and then click on Archive.

Click on the Archive Now button to create a new archive.

Go to the drive where Alexandria is installed.

Open the Alexandria v5 Folder.

Open the Archive folder.

An Archive with today's date will be inside this folder, the folder's name will be in the following format: Archive YYYYMMDD TTTT.

Copy the newest archive to your storage media.

NOTE: IN MOST CASES, THIS PROCEDURE IS DONE USING FILE SHARING OVER YOUR NETWORK. IT IS A GOOD IDEA TO COPY THE FILE TO YOUR COMPUTER FIRST AND THEN TO THE STORAGE MEDIA.

NOTE: IF THERE ARE QUESTIONS ON BACKING UP YOUR DATA, PLEASE REFER TO THE SECTION OF YOUR MANUAL TITLED BACKING UP YOUR DATA, OR CALL TECHNICAL SUPPORT AT (800) 347-4942.