A good backup of your Keystone Tax Solutions Pro programs and data is critical to your business security. Keystone Tax Solutions Pro recommends using an external storage device that can be removed from the business location for safety. Most of the malware and viruses today will search out all connected drives and attempt to infect them, thus it is important that the backup be disconnected from the computer after the backup is complete. Disconnecting the backup and removing it also protects your data from natural disasters such as fire, flood or earthquake. A backup is of no use if it is destroyed by the same disaster as the computer.
Only by having your backup offline (not connected to your computer or network) and stored away from your office will you be truly protected from these threats. Many Keystone Tax Solutions Pro customers use external hard drives or USB flash drives for their backups. USB flash drives work great since they are small, easily transported, and inexpensive.
Many experts recommend a backup strategy referred to as the 3-2-1 method. There must be at least 3 copies of any file. These copies should be on at least 2 different types of media. And at least 1 of these copies of the files should be off site.
A backup strategy that follows the 3-2-1 strategy might be as follows:
- Purchase 3 (or more) USB flash drives of sufficient size. Label the drives A, B and C. Take the USB drives out of the office to a safe location sufficiently far enough from the office that the same disaster that destroys the office data will not destroy the backups. This might be your home.
- On the first day bring USB drive A to work.
- At the end of the day, plug the USB drive into the computer and run the Program Backup Utility. This is located on the #8 Utility Menu.
- Make sure the Backup option is chosen and then select the USB drive from the drop down menu. Then click the Start button.
- When the backup is complete, remove the USB drive and take it to the safe storage location.
- Each day repeat steps 2-5 using the next drive in the series.
If you are using Keystone Tax Solutions Pro in a networked environment, backups must be run on the computer designated as the File Server. Running it on a Workstation computer will not save return data since the returns are stored on the File Server.
To back up current year return data, see the knowledgebase article here.
To use the Program Backup Utility to create a disaster recovery backup of the files on the computer, follow the steps below:
- Insert the removable drive you wish to use into the computer. It will be assigned a drive letter by Windows. Make a note of this drive letter.
- From the Main Menu of Keystone Tax Solutions Pro select:
- Utilities
- Program Backup Utility
- The Keystone Tax Solutions Pro program will now close and the Program Backup Utility will open. Select the Backup button.
- Select the appropriate Target Drive using the drop down list.
- Select Start.
- The backup will begin and you will see the following screen.
- When the backup is complete:
- Click the OK button.
- Close the Program Backup Utility by clicking on the red X in the upper right corner.
- Remove the drive and store it safely.
To use the Program Backup Utility to restore files to the computer, follow the below steps:
- From the Main Menu of Keystone Tax Solutions Pro select:
- Utilities
- Program Backup Utility
- The Keystone Tax Solutions Pro program will now close and will see the Program Backup Utility open
- Select the Restore button
- Select the appropriate Target Drive using the drop down list
- Select Start
- The restore will begin and you will see the following screen
- When the restore is complete:
- Click the OK button
- Close the Program Backup Utility by clicking on the red X in the upper right corner
- Remove the drive
- Your files will now have been restored to a directory on the Target Drive with the name Keystone Tax Solutions Pro_Restore
If you need assistance in restoring files from your backup to a new computer, please call Keystone Tax Solutions Pro Support at 706-868-0985.
NOTE: You will still need to have all years of the program downloaded and installed to the new computer before contacting support to complete the process.