Summary – Protect your data and avoid downtime

Data corruption is a serious risk to any business and the resulting data loss can be costly.  This is why it’s important to protect your accounts data, by running the Check Data option and backing up your data on a regular basis. 

If the Check Data shows any errors, you must suspend processing and resolve these as soon as possible.

What is ‘Check Data’?

You can use the Check Data option to validate and check the integrity of your data files.  You should be running this on a regular basis, especially before taking a backup and after completing a data restore.

To run a Check Data, select File, then click Maintenance and click Check Data.

The Check Data option examines the data files to detect errors and groups any issues into the following categories:

• Errors – indicates corruption within your data. 
  You must stop processing until they have been resolved and no longer appear. You can access the A to Z of fixing errors here.

• Warnings – Issues that aren’t necessarily caused by corruption and where you should be able to correct them.
  We recommend you check these from time to time.

• Comments – These are for information only. 
  They indicate minor inconsistencies in the data, which you can investigate. We recommend you check these from time to time.

Taking a backup

It’s a good idea to take a backup daily for each company, to protect your data. You should also back up before routines such as a Year End or a VAT Return in case you need to restore back.

It normally only takes a few minutes to complete, but if you have a large amount of data, it takes a little longer.

1. Open the required company and click File, then click Back up.

2. Note the suggested file name or edit the name as you require.

3. Click Browse, locate where you want the file to be saved, then click OK. This could be a certain folder you want it in, your computer’s desktop, a USB stick or server etc.

4. The company’s data is backed up by default, if you want to back up other files such as report and layout templates, select them from the list or choose Select all file types to include in backup. We recommend backing up data every day, but layouts and reports can be backed up less frequently to save storage space.

5. Click OK, then if prompted to check your data, click Yes, then click Close.

6. Click OK.

You have now successfully backed up your company’s data. This means you can restore your data back to this point at any time if you need to, giving you peace of mind.

Scheduled check data and backups

Sage 50 Accounts and above includes Backup Manager making it easier to manage your check data and backups. 

You can schedule these to run automatically, even if you don’t have the software open, or while you’re still working.

1. Log in to Sage Accounts with the Manager logon name and password.

2. Click File, click Schedule back up then click the Settings tab.

3. Enter your backup schedule settings as required.

4. To save the backup schedule, click Save

Once you have set up your schedule, you can manage your backups and check data results all in one place.

If you ever want to turn off scheduled check data or backups, simply click File then click Scheduled back up and click Settings and clear the check boxes as required.

NOTE: The scheduled backups are created on the computer where your data is held, so this computer should be left on for scheduled backups to work.

Further Information

If you have any questions about this or need assistance, then please contact the GCC Group Support Team on 0345 260 1151 or servicedesk@gccgroup.co.uk