Setting up basic backups

We strongly recommend using InBloom’s dated backup to keep track of your information.  In case of any changes or any deletes to the system, you have an easy way to restore your information from a very recent point.  This applies to both InBloom 1.2.x and v2.0.x and the slight differences in instructions will be addressed.

InBloom 1.2 and 2.0 have two forms of backup: Data Only and Full Backup.  InBloom 2.1 has an additional backup type named Full Non-Data Backup.  The difference between each is:

• The “Data Only” backup exports all of your information into several distinct FileMaker databases.  The files are dated according to the creation date and stored in your Backup Data folder inside your InBloom folder.
  
  Note: When saving backup information as Data Only, the data files that are subsequently created do not have any password protection.  So anyone with a copy of FileMaker would be able to read this information.  You may want to store these data files in a secure location by copying on to an external hard drive and then deleting the data files from your computer.

  This backup type saves files like this:

  • 5-1-2010 Inventory.fp7
  • 5-1-2010 Sales.fp7
  • 5-1-2010 Sales Details.fp7
  • 5-1-2010 Files.fp7
  • 5-1-2010 Checks.fp7
  • 5-2-2010 Inventory.fp7
  • 5-2-2010 Sales.fp7
  • 5-2-2010 Sales Details.fp7
  • 5-2-2010 Files.fp7
• A “Full Backup” saves a duplicate, but optimized and compressed version of your data and InBloom data all in one file.  The file is dated according to the creation date and stored in your Backup Data folder inside your InBloom folder.This backup type saves files like this:
  • 5-1-2010 InBloom.fp7
  • 5-1-2010 Files.fp7
  • 5-2-2010 InBloom.fp7
  • 5-2-2010 Files.fp7
• A “Full Non-Dated Backup” saves a duplicate, but optimized and compressed version of your data and InBloom data all in one file.  The file is NOT dated and each back will overwrite the previous backup.This backup type saves files like this:
  • InBloom.fp7
  • Files.fp7

To set up basic backups follow the steps below.

In InBloom v1.2.x, do the following:

1. Open InBloom with an administrator username and password
2. From the Main Menu, click on Show All
3. Then click on Settings
4. Then click on the Backup tab
5. Specify Data Backup Frequency to Everyday
6. Specify Backup Type to Data Only
7. Go to the File menu > Data > Backup InBloom Data to perform an immediate backup
8. Your system will now perform backups everyday of all your important information, do not cancel out of this process when closing your copy of InBloom

In InBloom v2.x, do the following:

1. Open InBloom with an administrator username and password
2. From the Main Menu, click on Other Modules
3. Then click on Settings
4. Then click on the Backup tab
5. Specify Data Backup Frequency to Everyday
6. Specify Backup Type to Data Only
7. Go to the File menu > Data > Backup InBloom Data to perform an immediate backup
8. Your system will now perform backups everyday of all your important information, do not cancel out of this process when closing your copy of InBloom

Using the Full Non-Dated Backup

As of InBloom 2.1, you can specify the backup type of Full Non-Dated Backup.  This saves a compacted copy of your most current database in the Backup Data folder.  This option is designed for users who use Apple’s Time Machine backup application and is designed to overwrite the previous copy of the backup.

Let us repeat that:  It completely overwrites your backup database copy. It does this because you should only be using this with Time Machine (or a Windows backup software) or a remote backup service where you only need to keep the latest copy of the database.