Auto Backup

[larry1400]

Having a Vista problem. I recently upgraded FM to ver 9 from ver 6. I'm having a problem with auto backup. It is set to backup after every session, however it does not seem to be working. The progam files are under C:\users\larry\downloads\fundmgr\ and the backups are specified to be under C:\users\larry\documents\fundmgr\autoback. It works fine when I back up manually using the file string, and i've logged in as administrator and rechecked all permissions. I do have a portfolio named Master which contains all investments for ease of price updating under ver 6 , but renaming it does not seem to make a differance. ( Have not converted to the new portfolio structure yet.) Any ideas are welcome.

[Mark]

Hi larry1400,

How are you determining that it is not working? Are you getting some error message, or you just don't see any backup files? In version 9 the backup files are a single *.fmb file, unlike older versions where there was a copy of all investments and portfolios individually.

I would suggest checking your settings under "Options / General Preferences... / Data", and make sure they are all as expected, and that the backup destination is a valid/existing folder. Use the "Browse..." button there to go pick the desired backup folder.

[larry1400]

Hi Mark, I was amazed to see an answer so quickly!! At your suggestion I went back in and reviewed all settings for the Autoback file. Under the General tab, the file is marked as "read only", however I can find no method of changing it. (Am I overlooking something?) The other tab settings, including the advanced and permission settings, are all correct.

There is no error msg when the portfolios are closed, nor can I find them in the virtual store. I am looking at the date on the .fmb files to determine if they are newly created. I am wondering if the fact that the individual portfolios contain no sub-portfolios might be the problem.

This is not a high priority problem, since I can back-up manually, so don't spend a lot of time on it. Thanks for your help!!

Larry

[Mark]

Hi Larry,

Please try this:

1) Create a brand new folder somewhere, like "My Documents \ Fund Manager \ BackupNew". Do this in Windows.

2) From within Fund Manager select "Options / General Preferences... / Data", and select this new folder to do your backups to. Set it to backup every session, so you can easily test it.

3) Make sure you have some portfolio open, and then exit FM, so the autoback should happen.

4) Go look in this "BackupNew" folder, and see if you have a new backup file?

[larry1400]

Good morning Mark, Created a new folder with string of C:\users\larry\documents\fundmanager\backupnew . Reset the attributes and permissions to allow full access. Went into FM and browsed to find the file string and selected it for backup location. Closed the portfolio, and checked the new file. Rec'd msg "file is empty". Tried with different portfolio with same results. I have the feeling I'm overlooking something simple!

Thanks, Larry

[Mark]

Hi Larry,

Where did you receive the message "file is empty"? Was that from within Fund Manager somehow? Were you doing a "File / Restore..." with it? If you go look in that folder in Windows, do you see a backup file in there? Does it have a non-zero size?

The auto-backup doesn't happen when you close a portfolio, it happens when you exit FM. Could this be the problem? While you have your portfolio open, exit FM using "File / Exit", and that portfolio that was open should be automatically backed up.

[larry1400]

I made the backup location change in general preferences and closed FM.
Then opened it again, and opened a portfolio. then opened a portfolio value
report, then closed the report, closed the portfolio, and exited FM. Used explore to locate the selected file (Backupnew) and opened the file. That is when I rec'd the "file is empty" msg. Went back and restarted FM, and opened a different portfolio, closed the portfolio and the program, and again used explore to locate the file, tried to open it received the same windows error message "file is empty". Now I'm going to go take out my frustrations
by TRYING to hit a little white ball around the golf course. (About the only advantage of getting old!!
Thanks
Larry

[Mark]

Hi Larry,

Sounds like there are 2 problems:

1) Do no 'close' your portfolio before you exit FM. When you exit FM, it will automatically back up whatever portfolio is open. If you've closed it, there is nothing to back up.

2) You can't open the backup file using Windows Explorer. It doesn't know what this file is. You can only open it within Fund Manager by selecting "File / Restore...". After you do an auto-backup, check that it the file exists, and is a a non-zero size. If you want to double check it is valid, use "File / Restore..." in Fund Manager to make sure it can read it, and then just Cancel before completing the restore.

[larry1400]

Hi Mark,

Well, you found the solution to my problem. It never occurred to me to exit a program with a file open. It goes against everything I was ever taught in the past. (make that distant past). At any rate, that was the solution.

Incidently, despite the file string under FM/general options/data/ which directed the backup to the "Backupnew" folder, it was placed in the Autoback folder, which is fine. I reset the file string to agree with the results.

Also, I was not trying to open the files with explorer. I had simply right clicked the start button and used "explore" to check the folders contents.

Thanks for taking the time to solve the problem!!!
Best regards, Larry