How to Backup and Restore your Sage 300 ERP Database

When was the last time you backed up your Sage 300 database? When was the last time you tested the backup to ensure everything was working properly?
Taking backups for Sage 300 and restoring backups is crucial to every company and should be a part of your regular business practices. Our recommended backup procedures include backing up your database regularly and keeping a copy of that backup in a secure location. At a minimum, you should create a backup before an upgrade, before and after processing year end, and before any major system updates.
The Sage 300 ERP System Manager ships with a set of database utilities that let you move data easily from one database format to other, including Database Dump and Database Load.
Follow these steps to create a database backup in Sage 300 ERP:

1. Click the Start button >All Programs >Sage >Sage 300 ERP >Tools, and click Database Dump.
2. Enter the password for the Admin user in Sage 300 ERP, and then click OK.
3. Select the database that you want to Dump.
4. Click the Set Directory button to enter the location where you want to save the files.Database Dump extracts data from a Sage 300 ERP database. It creates a control file with filename extension .DCT in the folder you specify, and puts the actual extracted data in a subfolder of the same name as the DCT. The default location of the folder is . . .\Sage Accpac\Runtime. The name of the control file is the database ID with the .DCT extension.

Note: When storing extracted data, you must retain both the control file and its associated subfolder.
5.  Click OK to return to the Dump Sage 300 ERP Data screen
6.  Click the Dump button to proceed. A confirmation message will appear

7.  Click OK to continue.
8.  A Dataset Description screen will display in which an optional description of the database may be entered. Enter a       description, then click Done.

9.   A summary message will then display. Click OK, this will return to the Dump Sage 300 ERP Data screen.

10.   Click Close to end the session.
Follow the following steps to restore a database backup in Sage 300 ERP.
Note: Database Load takes a dataset (extracted data) and loads it into your Sage 300 ERP database. Any data already in the database will be deleted. 

1. Click the Start button >All Programs >Sage >Sage 300 ERP >Tools, and click Database Load.
2. Enter the password for the Admin user, and then click OK. The Datasets window lists the Sage 300 ERP datasets available for loading.
3. Click the Set Directory button to select the directory for the datasets that you want to restore if they don’t appear in this window.
4. Click the Details button if you want further information about a highlighted dataset. The load utility will allow you to select, in turn, each of the databases you want to load.
5. Click Next. The next window lists the databases existing on your system.
6. Select the target database that you want to load into, then click Next.

Make sure you select the correct database. The Load will delete all existing tables in the database you select and replace all existing data.
7.   Click Next to load another dataset. After you have selected as many datasets as you wish for this load, the Load Data window reappears, displaying the databases ready to be loaded.

8.   Click Finish to load the data. If the target database already contains data, Database Load warns that existing data will be overwritten. If you are loading more than one dataset, this message appears for each set that already contains data.

9.    Click OK when you have checked that you are loading the data into the correct location. You will see messages that the data is being loaded, and then the Load Data screen reappears.
10.   Click Next to load more datasets into other databases, or click Cancel to end the session.
If you require any further assistance with Sage 300 or other Sage ERP or CRM products, we look forward to your call at 1-866-320-8922.