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Restoring Your BigTime Database

If you ever need to use your backup files to restore your BigTime database, you can step through the following process.

  1. Select Maint... Backup Database... Restore Now from the Monitor's menu.
  2. The system will ask you for the name of your BigTime Backup file to restore. Select that file from the dialog that pops up on screen. Note that the file you are restoring from should be on the same physical machine as the server (SQL Server can't restore from a network drive).
  3. Create a new database. It's a good idea to restore your file to a NEW database name, and that's what BigTime does by default.
    1. Change your settings in View... Database Info. Once you enter the name of your new database, you can tell BigTime to use that new database by changing the Monitor's Database Info settings (under View... Database Info).
  4. Restart the Monitor. Once you have restored your database and changed the settings under View... Database Info, it's a good idea to re-start the Monitor to make sure that your changes have taken effect.

See Also

BigTime Database Maintenance

Backing Up Your BigTime Database

Changing Database Login Data

Moving BigTime to Another Location

You may, at some point, need to move/restore your BigTime database onto another computer.

Since all the files that BigTime uses are located in a few specific locations, moving your existing BigTime system from one computer to another is fairly simple. The most important thing to verify is that both systems are running the latest release of BigTime (since a database from one release will be incompatible with a different release).

Before You Move Your System
  1. Make sure that you've run the most recent BigTime Update (from Monitor, choose Maint…Check for Updates to verify that no new updates exist). Also - make sure that you have a copy of the most recent installation program from the BigTime FTP site (or from your installation CD).
  2. Backup your BigTime database and save a copy of the BAK file it creates onto your new server. You can create a database backup using Monitor's Maint...Backup Database...Backup Now menu item. Once you do, you can copy the file that is created to your new server.
  3. If you use the LIBRARY feature in BigTime, then create a copy of the BTLibrary folder under c:\Program Files\BigTime. You'll need that folder once you install BigTime on your new computer.
  4. Print out the general settings page from your system (Tools... System Settings...General). This is really important. Some settings are not saved in the database, so you'll need to re-create this page when you install your new system.
Installing BigTime on a New System
  1. Install a new copy of BigTime onto the new system. Treat it just like a new system setup, and make sure that you run all of the updates that were run on your old system. You won't need to run a QuickBooks integration (because you'll be restoring your QuickBooks data when you move the database).
  2. Use Monitor's DATABASE RESTORE to restore your old BigTime database onto the new server. You can do this by selecting the Monitor's Maint...Backup Database...Restore Now menu item. The system will ask you for the name of the BAK file you created in above. Note that the file MUST be located on a local drive (SQL Server cannot restore from a file located on a network drive).
  3. If you use the BigTime Library features, then copy the BTLibrary files/folders from your OLD system's folder into your new one (make sure that the system rights are setup correctly so that your IUSR_ user has full access to this directory).
  4. Login to BigTime and update your Tools...System Settings...General Settings page with the correct information (based on the printout of your old system's settings).
  5. Choose the Tools.. Manage BigTime Database menu item and click the first update action in the Lists/Lookups section ("Reset Lookup Lists"). This will make sure that the lookup values on your new system match the values you have stored in your database.
Additional Things to Consider