Is it OK to just zip an fdb?

afarr

I have found fbk backups to be very troublesome and time-consuming to restore (for different clients, both in SQL and native versions).
We tell our clients on SQL to use SQL backup, which is much faster and straightforward.

We also have a client on native Nav 5, and we have told them to just zip the fdb file (actually:
1. make sure no one is using the dbase;
2. make a copy of the fdb;
3. zip the copy).

Is there any disadvantage to making backups like this with WinZip (or some other compression utility)?
I can’t see the point of using fbk’s (except for backing up just selected companies or parts of the database).

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Timo_Lässer

afarr wrote:

We also have a client on native Nav 5, and we have told them to just zip the fdb file (actually:
1. make sure no one is using the dbase;
2. make a copy of the fdb;
3. zip the copy).

You can also use "hotcopy" to make a copy of your fdb during users are logged in.

tooo

Only problem i've found when zipping fdbs' is that they can very easily get corrupted from the zipping on the customer end to the sending/recieving and un-zipping on your end.

DenSter

I never zip fdb files, I always use fbk's or SQL Server backups for the purpose of backing up a database. I don't see how it can be bad though, as long as you are careful not to copy a database that is in use.

bbrown

If you do zip the FDB make sure to stop the NAV Server beforehand.

Eugene

when you create fbk file you do not store indexes in it
when you zip fdb file then you have indexes in it

so zipped fbk file would take less space than zipped fdb
but because fbk does not hold indexes it means the restore process will be recreating them and it takes ALOT of time