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Gym Assistant provides multiple methods to backup your data:
You should set up and maintain backup systems for all of your data to avoid losing important business information in the event of a hard disk failure (the most common cause for data loss), or in case of fire, flood or theft.
Here are some guidelines for keeping your data safe:
Fact: The average life span of a hard drive is 3-5 years. There is a very good chance that your hard drive will fail during the life of your computer.
Your hard disk will fail, so be prepared!
Always backup data to a location other than where you store your data, so that if your main hard drive fails your will have backup data from which to restore.
Never rely on only one form of backup. Murphy’s Law has been proven on many occasions -- Any backup system will fail at the worst possible time!
Always move a backup of your data offsite at the very least every few weeks. If your facility burns or floods you want to make sure that you have your data safely stored in another location. This can be online, in another building or even at home.
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You should regularly backup your data to some form of external drive. The simplest and cheapest external drive is a basic USB Flash Drive (purchased from any computer or office supply store). The smallest flash drive you can buy should be able to store hundreds of Gym Assistant data backups.
When you back up your data to a flash drive:
Days between backup reminders: This value determines how often Gym Assistant will remind you to back up your data. Set it to a time spacnning less than 1 week. If you have a system to automatically back up files to another location (such as a server) then you can set this value up to 99 days.
Backup Path: Sets the default path for manual backups. Backups should always be placed on a different drive from your main data so that if your main drive fails you will still have a backup elsewhere.
Add date to backup file name: Keep this box checked to ensure that each backup file has a different name. If this box is unchecked then each new backup file will replace the previously-created backup, and you will not have the option of restoring from a particular date.
Gym Assistant can upload a backup of your data (excluding photos) to a secure area of the GymAssistant.com web server (in “the cloud”). Online backup utilizes Online Connect, which is provided free-of-charge while your software is within the annual maintenance period.
Note that only one online backup file is permitted, so each online backup will replace the previous online backup.
Backup Data Online every day at: Check this box to enable an automatic daily online backup.
Note: Gym Assistant will only backup online automatically if the computer is ON and Gym Assistant is running.
Gym Assistant will automatically make a daily backup of your data. The program archives a daily “snapshot” for each of the past 90 days. Each archive backup contains all of your member data and logs, excluding photos. The archive backups are stored in the same folder as your member data.
Archive Data at Shutdown: If this box is checked then Gym Assistant will automatically create an archive backup when you exit the program each day.
Archive Data Every Day at: If this box is checked then Gym Assistant will automatically create an archive backup at the same time each day. Set a time at which you would like the automatic archive backup to begin. Note that the archive backup takes only a few seconds.
Note: For optimal archiving, we recommend that you check both of these boxes.
In addition to the backup methods included in Gym Assistant you might also consider the following alternatives:
Online Backup Services -- such as Carbonite.com and Mozy.com provide automatic online backup of your computer data. You should set up the service to create a backup at a specific time interval (e.g. every 6 hours) rather than continuously, because continuous backup can cause problems when you are using Gym Assistant to modify data files while they are being backed up.
Back up to a Server – If your business or organization has access to a file server that is regularly backed up then you can either (a) locate your data on that server, or (b) set up Gym Assistant to automatically back up your data to that server.
Back up to Another Computer – Simply copy your most recent backup file occasionally to another computer on your network. If your main computer hard drive dies then you’ve got a backup immediately available for restore.