A good backup of your TaxSlayer Pro programs and data is critical to your business security. TaxSlayer 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 TaxSlayer 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 TaxSlayer 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.
For information on how to back up or restore return data only, see the knowledgebase article on backing up and recalling individual tax returns here.
For information on how to back up or restore the entire TaxSlayer folder, including all years and both returns data and saved PDFs, see the knowledgebase article on the Program Backup Utility here.
If you need assistance in restoring files from your backup to a new computer, please call TaxSlayer 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.
