Back up of our business software

[ubonr1971]

We have thai developed software that enters our customer data. They told us how to do a backup. I ran the procedure a month ago

and a 'Data.mdb' file was created size 3072kb. I saved the file on a kingston 32gb memory stick.  Today I ran it again and the file is the same size

 

We called 'tech support' and the guy was a bit annoyed. He said it would not increase much as its only data. But we've added a hundred or so customers data in a month. 

 

I suspect the backup is not working

 

I get an error when trying to open up the mdb file. What app can i open it with

 

Any advice on this is appreciated

[manarak]

mdb sounds like Microsoft Access.

 

if it is indeed MS Access, you can do a crude backup yourself simply by copying the files. and zip them to save space.

[CharlieH]

You can also put the file on a pc, right click on it and select "troubleshoot compatibility" that will give you options too.

[ThaidDown]

If a MS access database file there are plenty of ways to open just search 'open .mdb file''

 

As an example this freeware utility to view/edit could do the job.

 

http://www.alexnolan.net/software/mdb_viewer_plus.htm 

 

 

[bendejo]

You can try this:

find a PC that has Access installed, or do a fresh install of it,

turn off network access to the machine,

copy the backup onto this machine,

try to open the backup, and see if the new entries show up.

 

It would do no harm to have extra copies of this backup, and doing the above may alter the copy, if nothing other than time last accessed.  Putting it in a pw-protected zip is one way, burning onto a non-rewrite-able CD or DVD is good too.

 

 

[Mike Teavee]

Assuming it is an Access Database (If it is then it's very old, MS switched to using ACCDB as the File Extension with Office 2007)... 

• The Guy is probably correct, Databases don't necessarily grow each time you add a little bit of data, simplest way to check is to check the file attributes to see if the last modified date has change.
• An MDB is just a file, no need to run anything to "Back it up" you can just copy it to the memory stick
• If you want to take regular copies use Windows Backup, you can backup individual files / Directories straight to the Memory Stick, Windows will do for you automatically when you plug the stick in & remind you to do it though you can Ignore this if you're version of Windows is as old as your version of Office

 

You can link to MS Access tables from something like Excel (I believe Open Office also works) to view what data is in them.
 

It would help if you provided details of what version Windows & Office you're running.

Edited November 28, 2018 by Mike Teavee