Backing Up MIDSA

Computers will crash and it is important to back up your MIDSA data frequently. You need to be concerned about saving respondents’ responses, reports and the Administrator’s historical information (Session Managers, respondents, and assessment versions).

Backing up Reports

When you receive reports from MIDSA Central, they will be saved to the folder of your choice (Documents, unless you choose another place). These reports should be saved in at least two different places (and not on the same hard drive). 

Backing Up MIDSA

Whenever you logout (Exit), MIDSA saves a backup of your respondents’ answers to the assessment and the historical information. Windows users will find the automatic backup files in the ProgramData directory (C: ProgramData\MIDSA Backups).  Macintosh users will find their backup files in Documents/MIDSA/Automatic Backups (you may need to make invisible files visible—enter Command-Shift-Dot all at the same time). The files are named by the date, which can be tricky to search for, but it has the extension “.bak” that you can use to search for.

You can also backup manually. From the Tasks menu, select System Backup/Save Backup. By default the it is saved in Documents/MIDSA/Backups. To change the location click the Browse button. Click the Finish button. The file is named “MIDSA Backups” followed by the date. It also has the extension .bak.