Q: How can I restore the database from a backup?

A: All recent versions of RTG Bills and RTG Timer have this menu choice: File > Restore From Backup.

Since the need for a "restore" is rare, we omitted the File > Restore From Backup command from both programs for a long time. Our experience has been that a common mistake is to accidentally "restore" something when the user meant to "back up" instead. The result of this mistake is that there is no current backup and the current data has been wiped out by old data. There is no way to undo this error!

If you are certain that you wish to restore old data, choose File > Restore From Backup and click Yes.  This will start RTG Restore, which will lead you through the steps needed to restore your data from a backup.

Note:
In versions prior to V2.04, the File > Backup command simply copied files to the backup folder. Do not start RTG Restore.  Just copy the files from the backup device (on tape or disk) to their original location, which is the same directory that the program is in. The RTG Bills database is stored in the file Rtgbills.mdb and the RTG Timer database is stored in Rtgtimer.mdb. However, the backup will contain other files as well and you should restore all of them.

Generally, you would only restore the database from a backup if the file was corrupted by some other program or by a hardware failure. For example, if you created a word processing document and stored it with the name Rtgbills.mdb in the RTG Bills directory, and allowed it to overwrite the database file, then you would certainly need to restore the database from a backup.

If your hard disk crashed and was replaced, the restore procedure is similar to moving to a new computer. Click here for details.

Minor problems sometimes occur if the computer crashes while the program is working, but these can be corrected with the command File > Compact Database for Version 2 or File > Repair Database for Version 1. Also, see the Database is corrupted, Unrecognized database format, and Error opening Bill Index questions.

It is still possible to accidentally "restore" the database with a backup/restore program when you meant to back it up instead. The best defense is to make frequent backups using the File > Backup command. You should do this even if you do a backup of your hard disk every night (which we also encourage you to do).