Q.  I recently needed to retsore data from my backup and it didn't work. What could be wrong?

It seems that there is problem with your backup file. The error message indicates that your computer cannot read the data on the floppy disk which holds your backup. Any other errors stem from this first one, since the backup was not fully restored, leaving holes in your data structure.

This is why I constantly urge people to make multiple backups, since disks are fallible, including (as you probably know) hard drives.

Here are our options...

If you have more than one backup disk, insert the next older disk in the drive and use it instead. The data from that disk will not be as current as the one which failed, but it is far better than starting over again. Any information entered between backups will have to be re-entered.

If you only have the one backup disk, but still have the original computer, then you should be able to create a new backup and use it. Take a fresh, formatted disk to the old computer and make another backup and try again.  If that also fails, format the disk on the new computer and try again making a backup on the old computer. If that fails too, then finally try re-formatting again on the new computer and going to the old computer to make a backup, except this time, check the  "Erase Current Backup First?" prompt, in case the problem reading the backup occurred in the original file.

If you only have one backup disk and don't have the old computer, but sent me a backup to store in the vault, then send me an email asking for the copy you sent me. I will happily send it to you with instructions on how to restore it to your system.

If you only have one backup disk, then you may be learning the first rule of backups the hard way - the more the better. Don't panic. We may be able to extract single files from the backup and re-create the missing ones. In that case, you should attach a copy of your backup to a message to me, asking for my assistance in piecing the backup back together. 

If none of the above work, I'm afraid we'll have to talk on the phone. Give me a call at (613) 834-0049 and we'll discuss what we can do to get you back up and running.