Copying Your Database


    Your Q&A program includes several features designed to protect 
your data files from damage and contamination.  In spite of these 
safeguards, occasionally a data file can be damaged by fluctuations in 
the power supply, static electricity, problems with the disk medium or 
other hardware problems.  You can provide the best protection against 
these possible sources of trouble by using a regular program of 
sequential backups.  For more information on how to do this, consult a 
standard DOS reference.

    The error message you received indicates that your data is 
probably still intact, but that there may have been some damage to a 
portion of your database file that Q&A can rebuild for you.

    To have Q&A rebuild your database, do the following.  From Main 
Menu, choose File, then Copy.  Enter the name of the database which 
has given the error message and press <enter>.  Now at the Copy Menu, 
Choose D to Copy Design Only and enter a new temporary name for the
database.

    After copying the Design, Q&A will return you to the Copy Menu.  
This time, choose S to Copy Selected Forms and press <enter> to copy 
to the same temporary filename.  Then press F10 on the Retrieve Spec 
and Merge Spec.  When the process is completed, test the new database 
to verify full functionality.

    When Q&A successfully completes all tasks with the new database, 
you can choose DOS file facilities in the Utilities Menu to delete the 
old database and then rename the new one.  We also suggest making a 
backup of your new database at this point.  If you want to continue to 
use the Intelligent Assistant with your database, you will need to 
reteach it.























Q & A Application Note         Rev. 6/92           #2003   Page 1 of 1