MLS 3.2.0 - Backup to File

Discussions around using and interfacing with the Church MLS program.
jfackerson
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Location: Longview, Washington, USA

MLS 3.2.0 - Backup to File

#1

Post by jfackerson »

Before download of MLS version 3.2.0,
"backup files" were usually about size, 1,778KB.

MLS version 3.2.0 now creates "backup files"
with size 642KB.

Why such a large difference?

Because I'm serving as an Assistant Clerk for
Membership Records, am I now only backing up
Membership Data and not Financial Data, too?
cherishj
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Location: UT, USA

#2

Post by cherishj »

The backups previously included saved forms, such as confidential reports, as well as financial statements. These will no longer be included in MLS backups, due to the size.
techgy
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Location: California

Backup Size

#3

Post by techgy »

13thfloorrocks wrote:The backups previously included saved forms, such as confidential reports, as well as financial statements. These will no longer be included in MLS backups, due to the size.
Why would size be a concern regarding a backup? With today's hard-drives and Flash Drive sizes and the fact that they're so inexpensive, making a backup is generally not an issue. It would seem that it would be important to backup EVERYTHING in the MLS package.

Perhaps you can explain the reasoning behind this change?
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jfackerson
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Joined: Mon May 12, 2008 9:34 am
Location: Longview, Washington, USA

Why then Saved Forms?

#4

Post by jfackerson »

If these are not backed up, then why allow for
"Saved Forms". We should then just go back to
printing extra copies and delete "Saved Forms".
They're not going to be restored, should we ever
need to.

Before I was called, about 2 months ago, our ward
was still depending on multiple "diskettes" to contain
all "Backup to file" data.

We now use 2 Gig "flash drives".
I see no problem with including "Saved Forms", etc.
atticusewig
Member
Posts: 308
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:48 am

Size at CHQ most likely

#5

Post by atticusewig »

Because backups are automatically sent to Church Headquarters
from time to time, I imagine the size concerns are more in regards
to saving disk space there. They have a lot of units they're
backing up, and financial statements are already stored on another
system (Hence the 'Request a CUFS' option).

[Paragraph removed as requested.]
jonesrk
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Location: South Jordan, UT, USA

#6

Post by jonesrk »

atticusewig wrote:Because backups are automatically sent to Church Headquarters
from time to time,
Also not all units on MLS have high speed connections. It might be to help reduce their upload time.

That said it might be nice to have a way to backup the saved forms, either as an option in the main backup or as a separate backup.
crislapi
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Location: USA

#7

Post by crislapi »

Two questions, then.

1) Is 3.2 compatible with old backups from, say, 3.1.5?

if so
2) Is it possible to restore from a previous backup from 3.1.5 first (will place old statements, forms back in the database first) and then restore from a 3.2 backup to get the latest membership and financial info?

I guess I'm curious if restoring from a 3.2 backup will erase all statements and saved documents regardless or just leave those areas alone - neither restoring nor erasing any info contained there already.

I am anticipating 2 computers any day now and will obviously be restoring from backups. It would be good to know, particularly the answer to #1 since, as of last Sunday, this ward had not automatically updated to 3.2
techgy
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Location: California

#8

Post by techgy »

ryan jones wrote:Also not all units on MLS have high speed connections. It might be to help reduce their upload time.

That said it might be nice to have a way to backup the saved forms, either as an option in the main backup or as a separate backup.
Agreed. Making a copy of the "Units" folder in the MLS directory would get the database. How about the reports and forms? Where are they stored?
Have you read the Code of Conduct?
russellhltn
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Location: U.S.

#9

Post by russellhltn »

13thfloorrocks wrote:The backups previously included saved forms, such as confidential reports, as well as financial statements. These will no longer be included in MLS backups, due to the size.
How would these be replaced if lost? I doubt if most units are making their own backups outside of what MLS requires.
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aebrown
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Location: Draper, Utah

#10

Post by aebrown »

RussellHltn wrote:How would these be replaced if lost? I doubt if most units are making their own backups outside of what MLS requires.
The financial statements should have been printed already, and they can be requested through MLS if lost. The financial statements probably make up the bulk of the size of huge backups if people aren't cleaning them out regularly.

Confidential forms would be a bigger loss, although they should have a relatively short lifespan, so if there is a data loss, there should be very few such reports that are truly active at any one time.
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