All of your SurveyGold data (including your surveys, questions, respondents, responses) is stored in a single database file that is typically located on your computer's internal hard drive. The reality of today's computing environment is that hard drives fail, computers get replaced, and sometimes files even get unintentionally erased.
To prevent you from having a bad day when the inevitable occurs, your SurveyGold application periodically invites you to create a backup of your data as you exit SurveyGold. Every time you accept the invitation to backup your data, SurveyGold creates a unique copy of your database file as it exists at the time the backup is made.
To prevent you from having a bad day when the inevitable occurs, your SurveyGold application periodically invites you to create a backup of your data as you exit SurveyGold. Every time you accept the invitation to backup your data, SurveyGold creates a unique copy of your database file as it exists at the time the backup is made.
Where to Backup Your Data
When you accept SurveyGold's invitation to create a backup, the only thing that you need to tell SurveyGold is the name of the folder where you want SurveyGold to make the backup copy of its database file.
It is a very good idea to make the backup copy on to a different media (i.e., USB flash drive, network folder, external hard drive) rather than backing up your data to a folder on the same drive where the SurveyGold database exists. The motivation for doing this is to avoid losing both your SurveyGold database file and your backup database file in the event that your computer's hard drive fails.
It is a very good idea to make the backup copy on to a different media (i.e., USB flash drive, network folder, external hard drive) rather than backing up your data to a folder on the same drive where the SurveyGold database exists. The motivation for doing this is to avoid losing both your SurveyGold database file and your backup database file in the event that your computer's hard drive fails.
How the Backup File Is Created
When SurveyGold creates a backup of your data, it does so by copying its own database file (a file named survey.db) to a folder location that you specify. It names the backup file as follows:
survey_backup_<clientID>_<datetime>.db
Note that <clientID> is replaced with the client ID for your SurveyGold application and <datetime> is replaced with the backup date and time (right down to the hour, minute and second). The client ID is a number that uniquely identifies your SurveyGold application. For example, if you made a backup of your database file on December 5, 2012 at 10:51AM, and your client ID was 123123123123123123123123 the resulting backup file would be named:
survey_backup_123123123123123123123123 _20121205105100.db
survey_backup_<clientID>_<datetime>.db
Note that <clientID> is replaced with the client ID for your SurveyGold application and <datetime> is replaced with the backup date and time (right down to the hour, minute and second). The client ID is a number that uniquely identifies your SurveyGold application. For example, if you made a backup of your database file on December 5, 2012 at 10:51AM, and your client ID was 123123123123123123123123 the resulting backup file would be named:
survey_backup_123123123123123123123123 _20121205105100.db
How to Restore Your Data from a Backup File
In a typical scenario, you restore your database because you moving your SurveyGold application from an old computer to a new computer or because you inadvertently deleted some data that you want to recover.
Note: In this case, you would download and install the SurveyGold application directly from our website. You do not need to register the SurveyGold application because the database you are about to restore already contains this data.
Step 1
Close SurveyGold if it is running.
Step 2
Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the network folder where your survey_backup_<clientID>_<datetime>.db file is located and copy it to the folder where SurveyGold looks for its database files:
The SurveyGold Database folder is located at:
C:\Users
\YOUR_WINDOWS_LOGIN_NAME_GOES_HERE
\AppData
\Local
\SurveyGold
\Database
Note: If you cannot see the specified folder via Windows Explorer, it is most likely hidden. Here is how to resolve this:
1. Open Windows Explorer holding down the Windows key and pressing E.
2. Select the Tools menu.
3. Select the Folder Options menu item.
4. Select the View folder.
5. Check the option entitled "Show hidden files and folders".
6. Select OK.
You should now be able to see this folder. If it does not appear, please consult with your IT staff as to where this folder is located in your particular environment.
Step 3
Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the SurveyGold Database folder (as specified in Step 2). Locate a file named survey.db and rename it to surveyold.db. Rename the survey_backup_<clientID>_<datetime>.db file to survey.db
Step 4
Launch SurveyGold and you will see your data as of the last time you backed up your data.
Note: In this case, you would download and install the SurveyGold application directly from our website. You do not need to register the SurveyGold application because the database you are about to restore already contains this data.
Step 1
Close SurveyGold if it is running.
Step 2
Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the network folder where your survey_backup_<clientID>_<datetime>.db file is located and copy it to the folder where SurveyGold looks for its database files:
The SurveyGold Database folder is located at:
C:\Users
\YOUR_WINDOWS_LOGIN_NAME_GOES_HERE
\AppData
\Local
\SurveyGold
\Database
Note: If you cannot see the specified folder via Windows Explorer, it is most likely hidden. Here is how to resolve this:
1. Open Windows Explorer holding down the Windows key and pressing E.
2. Select the Tools menu.
3. Select the Folder Options menu item.
4. Select the View folder.
5. Check the option entitled "Show hidden files and folders".
6. Select OK.
You should now be able to see this folder. If it does not appear, please consult with your IT staff as to where this folder is located in your particular environment.
Step 3
Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the SurveyGold Database folder (as specified in Step 2). Locate a file named survey.db and rename it to surveyold.db. Rename the survey_backup_<clientID>_<datetime>.db file to survey.db
Step 4
Launch SurveyGold and you will see your data as of the last time you backed up your data.
If You Do Not Have a Backup of Your Data
If you do not have a backup database file it is a worst-case scenario because there is no other way to recover your data. We do not keep a backup of your database file nor do we keep a backup of your web survey responses on our website. You have the only copy of your data. So, play it safe and always maintain a backup copy of your SurveyGold data.
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