We don't want to spread fear and paranoia, but you definitely don't want to use a computer to generate weeks or months of work without a backup. Given that your data is stored on media that is susceptible to either physical defects, electrical defects or just accidental erasure, having a fail-safe procedure is necessary. 

These two sections give you an overview of options you have for backing up FF&EZ data as well as the entire software system and restoring them. Where applicable, they include links to the instructions for specific utilities. First, be sure you have a plan:

Preparing for Disaster Recovery

Among all the potential setbacks that can happen with regard to your FF&EZ data, the worst likely one is the failure of the disk drive on which the data is stored. However a disaster recovery plan will minimize the risk. Your best option is a plan for your entire computer or network, however FF&EZ's own internal backup utility may be the easiest method of recovering that system (and makes a very good secondary backup in case your main backup also fails). It requires only three things:

1. Storing or moving your FF&EZ backups on another device, preferably one that is not in the same computer or at the same site (a cloud service is ideal for this, however a USB disk drive or 32 GB USB "stick" drive that goes home with you is also a viable choice). You can set a specific location as the permanent target when you run a backup, including the drive letter your system assigns to a USB drive (but verify it does not change).
2. After you install any program update (including report updates), use one of the backup options (see next section) to back up the data files and the support files. This is a "full version" backup.

Remember: If you use the internal backup utility, check your initial backups for "zero-byte" files. If any are found, your system isn't compatible with the "internal" FF&EZ backup command. Use the alternate backup procedure described under Create External Backup Command instead.

3. Make a daily backup of the data (or data and images) when you finish using FF&EZ. Again, this backup should be made directly on or copied to another disk, preferably one not built into your computer.