It is time to back that up!

Do you have a continuous backup strategy for your control system?Don’t just back up your data once per season.  Instead, back up your data frequently. This protects your data in the event of an operating system crash, hardware failure or virus attack.

To make things easier, many larger systems may have a network-attached storage device (NAS) that can be used to copy backup files such as content, configuration, reports and other recovery files. Smaller systems can back up their content to an external hard drive. For recommendations on how to transfer content, check out last week’s post: How do I securely transfer content to my Daktronics system?

How often should you create backups?

Always make copies of any important configuration files before any big changes or updates. For example, if you are going to make changes to your in-game look, you would want to back up any layout or configuration files before you test out anything new. On the other hand, creative is often backed up daily or up-to-the-minute. For example, SyncBack users often schedule their content to copy to a backup player every five minutes.

The process for how to back up content or any important configuration files may vary depending on the type of system. To learn more, we have a number of resources to help you create a backup strategy for your control system. Here are a few examples:

• How to Install and Configure SyncBack – This can be used to mirror files onto a backup computer or onto a network-attached storage (NAS) device. This is often used to back up any creative files.
• DakStats external backup – These instructions describe how to back up your season information in DakStats.
• How to use the Nucleus Server Database utility – This tool can be used to back up your Show Control workspace.

Search the Daktronics Knowledge Base for more information on how to back up and restore files.