Every time a student’s Palm handheld completes a HotSync operation, the student’s data is transferred from the Palm handheld to the PC. Specifically, the session is transferred to a database file, DTA.mdb.

Because the file, DTA.mdb, contains all the data for all of the students it is critically important to create back up copies of DTA.mbd on a regular basis.

There are two methods that agencies should consider for creating backups of important data.

First, there are many commercially available backup utilities that you can purchase and then install on your computer. You can configure the backup utility to back up some or all of your hard drive to an external drive. Most of these utilities allow you to specify how frequently you want to create backups.

Second, you can manually create backups of your data. To do this, you will need an external drive (such as an external hard drive or a CD-R or CD-RW drive) connected to your computer. Simply copy the folder found at C:\Program Files\Mobile Thinking\ to the external drive whenever you want to create a backup.

If you would like suggestions or need more information on backup utilities, please send e-mail to support@mobilethinking.com.