Preventive Maintenance

Paradoxically, the most important thing to know about any
data-recovery system is how to avoid ever having to use it in the
first place. The programs and techniques in this Support Pack
will recover your data if there's any way at all to do so, but
you're far better off if you never lose your data in the first
place.

What can you do, short of making sacrifices to the gods of data
processing, to protect your data? Several things:

o  Implement a standardized backup routine and then stick to it.
Admittedly, this is only slightly easier than staying on a
1,000-calorie-a-day diet, but the first time you have a data
disaster you'll be thankful for your earlier diligence. The type
of system you employ is not as important as how consistently you
use it. In the case of database systems, a backup copy should
ideally be made after any process that modified a database file.

o  Don't write over a good backup. Many a database user has
corrupted a database without realizing it until after he or she
had written over the last good copy of the data with a bad one.
To avoid this, keep several "generations" (at least two) of
backups. That way, if you discover data corruption, you've a much
better chance of finding an uncorrupted copy of your data on one
of your backups.

o  Treat your data media with respect. Don't remove floppy
diskettes from the disk drive while the red light is flashing.
Equip your PC with a surge protector. Back up and park your hard
disk before moving your system. These sorts of common sense
measures are too often overlooked.

o  Run CHKDSK to protect data on your hard disk. If you want to
be sure that your hard disk has not been damaged in some subtle
fashion, run the DOS CHKDSK program every time you boot your
computer. You can make this part of your Autoexec.BAT file for
convenience.

o  Use dBASE programming techniques that safeguard your data.
While you are programming in dBASE, an ounce of prevention can
save a pound of records. For instance, if you USE your database
periodically while record entry is in progress, you can reduce
the likelihood of data loss as a result of a system crash.

o  Don't exchange diskettes in disk drives while running dBASE.
Always CLEAR ALL before switching diskettes unless running under
program control where the program does this for you.

o  Don't shut off or reboot your computer while still in dBASE.
Always QUIT to the DOS prompt. One of the most common
misconceptions among users is that Ctrl-End (Ctrl-W) saves data
to the disk. On the contrary, the only way to save data to the
disk is to CLOSE or USE the file.
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