You store critical data in Access databases every day. Have you ever stopped to consider whether you're taking appropriate actions to protect your database in the event of a hardware failure, disaster, or other data loss? Microsoft Access provides built-in functionality to help you back up your databases and protect your organization. In this tutorial, we walk through the process of backing up an Access database.
These instructions assume you are using Microsoft Access 2007 and may vary if you are using a different version of Access. This site also offers directions on backing up Access 2003 databases.
These instructions assume you are using Microsoft Access 2007 and may vary if you are using a different version of Access. This site also offers directions on backing up Access 2003 databases.
Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: 20 minutes
Here's How:
- Open the Microsoft Access database that you'd like to back up.
- Click the Microsoft Office button.
- Click the Manage menu item.
- Click the Back Up Database menu item.
- Access will now open a file dialog. Choose an appropriate location for your backup. You'll also need to give the backup a file name. Access will suggest a default option of your database name with the current date appended.
- Click Save to create your backup.
- Open the backup file in Microsoft Access to verify that it completed successfully.
Tips:
- For optimal protection, store a copy of your database backups in an offsite location on a periodic basis. If it's a personal database that changes rarely, you might want to put a CD copy in a safe deposit box quarterly. Critical business databases might be backed up to magnetic tape on a daily (or more often) basis.
- Make database backups part of your regular safe computing routine.
- You may wish to optionally encrypt your database backups if your database contains sensitive information and you will be storing it remotely.
What You Need:
- Access database
- Off-site storage location
- Media (disk, CD, etc.) to store the backup
