When QB users reach out to Peak Advisers for help there are a  series of questions we ask in order to get an understanding of issues and needs. 

Questions we always ask include:

• When do you backup QB?

• How do you backup QB?

Answers we get to these questions include:

• Our host does that.

• IT backs up the server every day.

• Everyone backs up every 3rd (or 4th or 5th or x) time.

• We schedule backups overnight.

Follow up questions may include:

• Have you ever tested a backup?

• Does your host or IT run the QB process with 100% verification or are they taking an image of the server?

• Why is everyone backing up the same database to different locations at different times with different settings?

• Have you checked the overnight backup?

Points we make are:

• QB backups are designed to provide data verification as part of the backup. 

• IT or hosts almost certainly do not provide data verification.

• It is critical to verify the data. 

• You only need one person responsible for the backup. It is a waste of time for multiple users to make multiple backups at multiple times during the day.

Our recommendations:

• Turn off the backups for all users but one.

• Make sure that user knows a backup must be performed every day and that that backup is made with 100% verification.  Which means the user must be in single user mode.

• Do not rely on scheduled backups overnight because those backups will not run unless the user remains logged in and QB is running. Which is something you do not want to do for security reasons.

• Have a schedule for moving the data from a local machine to offsite media.

• Have a schedule for deleting backups, but always keep year-end and month end backups.

Explanation of QuickBooks backup types:

• Remember a QBB file is a backup file.

• ABU as a prefix means the backup made was an automatic backup. An automatic backup is a backup made when you close QB after x times.  (The standard default in QuickBooks is every third time.)

• SBU as a prefix means the backup was a scheduled backup,  i.e. you used the backup scheduler to run a backup at a certain time.

• A QBB file without either ABU or SBU is a backup made manually. 

• QBTemp files are failed backups, i.e. backups that started but did not finish.

Summary of best practices for backups 

Backups are a fundamental part of your Disaster Recovery Plan; a business needs to know they are being done and that recovery/restoration works.     

• Peak Advisers recommends one person make backups every day in single user mode with 100% verification enabled.

• Move backups to offsite media on a schedule.

• Delete backups that are no longer needed. Never delete month end or year end backups.

• Finally, test your backups on a scheduled basis.

Contact us here, use this link to send us a quick email, or call us at: 303-801-4772 to get more help with QuickBooks now.