You're most likely aware that backups are essential to ensuring your data can be recovered in the case of data corruption or data loss. But did you know that backups can be useful for referencing information from an earlier point in time as well? Depending on your current problem, you may wish to revert to a recent back up, or simply look at your data as it was at a certain date. For instructions on both methods, please keep reading.
Before you begin
If you’re not sure what backups are, or how to maintain them, you will want to start with our article on Backups.
First determine whether you are restoring a backup for reference, or because you are facing data corruption. The methods for restoring a backup in the event of data corruption should only be used if you are no longer able to access your live data file (i.e. it has become irreparably damaged or corrupt). If you do experience data corruption, please contact Genie Support before attempting to restore a backup.
Before restoring a backup, you will also need to know where your backups are stored and what format they are in—Genie’s automated backup format (Genie.4BK) or an alternative format? For more information on the difference between Genie's backup process and alternative formats, you should familiarise yourself with the Backups article, linked above.
As your live data is stored on the server, your backups will likely be running from the server as well. If you are not sure where your most recent backup would be, the Genie server machine is the first place you should look.
However, if no one at your practice is sure who maintains your backups, you may wish to seek assistance from your nominated IT support as they will most likely be the ones taking care of this for you.
Restoring a Genie.4BK backup for reference
Restoring a Genie Automated Backup converts the Genie[XXXX].4BK file to a folder containing the Genie data file (i.e. Genie.4DD).
1. On a computer that is not your server computer, create a new folder and name it GenieRestore.
2. Run the Genie Installer (contact Genie Support if you do not have an installer file for the version of Genie you were running when your backup was taken).
3. Follow the prompts that appear on the screen, including accepting the Customer Service Level Agreement.
4. When asked to select the destination to install to, click the Browse… (Win) or Select Other… (Mac) button, select the GenieRestore folder you have just created and click OK/Open.
5. When asked which components to install, from under the Full Installation option select Single User Application.
6. Select Next and in the new window click the Install button and wait for the installation to complete. Once complete, the Installer Wizard window will have a Finish button for you to click.
7. Inside the GenieRestore folder that you have created, double click on the Genie Solo application and immediately press and hold the Alt/Option key on your keyboard until the ‘You pressed the “Alt/Option” key’ window appears.
8. Select the Restore a backup file option.
9. You will be prompted to select a 4DD backup file. It will be in the format of Genie[XXXX].4BK and will be stored within your backup folder location. Navigate to this location, select the backup file and click Open.
10. In the Restoration of Data window, click the Restore button.
11. Once the restore has completed successfully, you will receive the message below to tell you that the restored data file is ready.
12. A folder will be created in the same location as the Genie[XXXX].4BK file called Genie[XXXX]. This will contain your restored Genie data file (i.e. Genie.4DD).
13. Copy the Genie.4DD file from your backup location and paste this file into the GenieRestore folder that you have created.
14. Inside the GenieRestore folder you have created, double click on the Genie Solo/Single User application and immediately press and hold the Alt/Option key on your keyboard until the ‘You pressed the “Alt/Option” key’ window appears
15. Choose the Select another data file option and click Continue
16. Navigate to the GenieRestore folder.
17. Select the Genie.4DD and click Open.
18. Genie Solo will open and you can check that your backup contains the data you require. You will then need to take any necessary precautions to ensure that new information is not accidentally added to this restored backup.
Restoring an alternative backup for reference
This process is for restoring a backup made by a third party program. For this process you will require the following files: Genie.4DD, Genie.4DIndx, Genie.Match, Genie.4DSyncData, Genie.4DSyncHeader or if using Genie Version 7, Genie.4DD and Genie.4DR.
1. On a computer that is not your Genie Server computer, create a new folder and name it GenieRestore.
2. Run the Genie Installer (contact Genie Support if you do not have an installer file for the version of Genie you were running when your backup data was taken).
3. Follow the prompts that appear on the screen, including accepting the Customer Service Level Agreement.
4. When asked to select the destination to install to, click the Browse… (Win) or Select Other… (Mac) button, select the GenieRestore folder you have just created and click OK/Open.
5. When asked which components to install, select Single User Application from under the Full Installation option:
6. Click the Install button and wait for the installation to complete. Once complete, the Installer Wizard window will have a Finish button for you to click
7. Copy the data files from your backup location and paste them into the GenieRestore folder that you have created. The data files are the Genie.4DD, Genie.4DIndx, Genie.Match, Genie.4DSyncData, and Genie.4DSyncHeader, or if using Genie Version 7, Genie.4DD and Genie.4DR.
8. Inside the GenieRestore folder that you have created, double click on the Genie Solo/Single User application and immediately press and hold the Alt/Option key on your keyboard until the ‘You pressed the “Alt/Option” key’ window appears
9. Choose the Select another data file option and click Continue
10. Navigate to the GenieRestore folder
11. Select the Genie.4DD and click on Open
12. Genie Solo will open and you can check that your backup contains the data you require. You will then want to take precautions to ensure that you do not enter new information into this restored file by accident.
Restoring a Genie.4BK backup for use as live data
Restoring a Genie Automated Backup converts the Genie[XXXX].4BK file to a folder containing the Genie data file (ie. Genie.4DD).
1. Quit out of the Genie Server application
2. Double-click on the Genie Solo application and immediately press and hold the Alt/Option key on your keyboard.
3. When the 'You pressed the Alt/Option key' window appears, select Restore a backup file and click Continue.
4. You will be prompted to select a 4D backup file. It will be in the format of Genie[XXXX].4BK and will be located in your backup location. Navigate to this location, select the backup file and click Open.
5. In the Restoration of Data window, click Restore.
6. A folder will be created in the same location as the Genie[XXXX].4BK file called Genie[XXXX]. This will contain your restored Genie data file (i.e. Genie.4DD).
7. Navigate to the location of your live data file. By default this is Applications/Genie (Mac) or C:\Genie (Windows).
8. Either move the live data files to a temporary location (e.g. desktop) or rename them (e.g. 'Genie_old.4DD'). It is not recommended that you do not delete the live data file until you are certain the backup data has been restored successfully.
9. Copy the Genie.4DD file from your backup location and paste this file into the Genie folder.
10. Double-click on the Genie Solo application and immediately press and hold the Alt/ Option key on your keyboard.
11. When the 'You pressed the Alt/ Option key' window appears, choose Select another data file and click continue.
12. Navigate to the Genie folder.
13. Select the Genie.4DD file and click Open.
14. Thoroughly check your data file to make sure that it contains the expected data.
15. Close Genie Solo, open the Genie Server application and reconnect the clients.
16. Delete the old data file that you moved to a different location or renamed.
Restoring an alternative backup for use as live data
1. Quit out of the Genie Server Application.
2. Navigate to the location of your live data file. By default this is: Applications/Genie (Mac) or C:\Genie\ (Windows).
3. Either move the live data files to a temporary location (e.g. desktop) or rename them (e.g. 'Genie_old.4DD'). Note, you must not delete the live data files until you are certain the backup data has been restored successfully.
4. Copy the data files from your backup location and paste these files into the Genie folder.
5. Double-click on the Genie Solo application and immediately press and hold the Alt/Option key on your keyboard.
6. When the 'You pressed the Alt/Option key' window appears, choose Select another data file and click Continue.
7. Navigate to the Genie folder.
8. Select the Genie.4DD file and click Open.
9. Thoroughly check your data file to make sure that it contains the expected data.
10. Close Genie Solo, Open Genie Server and reconnect the Clients.
11. Delete the old data file that you moved to a different location or renamed.
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