In Keystone Tax Solutions Pro, the secondary backup path specifies the Windows directory location for a secondary backup of the return data. This secondary backup can be a USB thumb drive, an external drive attached to the computer by a USB cable, or a second internal hard drive. The data is written to this backup drive upon exiting the return. The drive used for this backup needs to be one that is always attached to the computer, and it cannot be cloud-based storage. Important caveats:
- If a secondary backup location is specified but a drive is not installed, you will receive an error upon exiting the return. No work will be lost, but no secondary backup will be saved. Therefore, if you customarily remove this drive for safekeeping at the end of the work day, to avoid errors be sure it is inserted before starting Keystone Tax Solutions Pro.
- If a secondary backup drive is removed from the computer, when it is reinserted Windows may assign a different drive letter to it. If that happens, the Secondary Backup Path configuration will be incorrect and will need to be fixed. This is an unavoidable hazard of removable drives.
- The secondary backup is a temporary backup that may prove useful in case of a problem with a return and needing to revert to the last previously saved version of the return. The secondary backup is not a substitute for a backup created using one of the backups under the Keystone Tax Solutions Pro Utilities menu, or a backup created outside the program, e.g., by third-party backup software or your own manual copying in Windows.
- Only return data is saved on the secondary backup. PDF copies of the return, return attachments, and other ancillary documents are not included.
- Since return data is only written to the secondary backup upon exiting the return, the only returns on the secondary backup are those that have been opened and exited after configuring the secondary backup.
- The secondary backup path needs to be specified as the absolute DOS path, i.e., the drive letter followed by a colon plus the directory location on the drive with each directory separated by a backslash, e.g., E:\TaxSlayer\2019Net\
To set up a secondary backup path, from the Main Menu of Keystone Tax Solutions Pro select
- Configuration
- Path Menu
- Secondary Backup Path.
Select a backup path from the list of installed drives. For a given drive, we recommend using the path shown, i.e., [drive letter]:\TaxSlayer\20XXNet\DATA, where XX is the program year. However, if you would like to customize the path, select Enter Path and type in the desired path. If the path does not exist, you will be asked if you’d like the path to be created. Click YES or NO as desired.
Additional Information: