On the Offline edition, every bill, batch and udhaar record lives on your main PC, so MediPOS backs up the pharmacy data by itself and installs updates in a way that can be undone. This guide is for the owner. It explains when backups are made and how long they are kept, how to copy them to a USB drive, and how signed automatic updates install and roll back.
When MediPOS makes a backup
| When | Details |
|---|---|
| Every night at 10 pm | The hour is set per PC; support can change it. |
| When a cash shift closes | For example after the day-end cash count. Counters closing at about the same time share one backup. |
| Before every update | If this backup fails, the update does not start and tries again an hour later. |
Each backup is checked straight after it is made: its checksum, and that its contents can be read. A backup that fails the check is never offered for a restore.
If the main PC is off at 10 pm, the nightly backup is not lost: it is made as soon as the PC is switched on again, later that night or the next morning. So a shop that always closes at 9:30 pm still gets one backup a day, made when the PC starts. Closing the cash shift before you switch off also makes a backup, so the day's last bills are safe the same evening.
Where backups are kept
Backups are in C:\ProgramData\MediPOS\backups on the main PC. The folder is hidden, so type the path into the File Explorer address bar. Each backup is two files:
medipos-20260924-170012-daily.dump, the data;medipos-20260924-170012-daily.dump.json, its check details.
The time in the name is UTC, five hours behind Pakistan time, so 170012 is 10:00 pm. The last word says why it was made: daily, shift-close, before-update or manual.
How long backups are kept
After each backup, MediPOS keeps:
- the newest backup of each of the last 14 days on which a backup was made;
- the newest backup of each of the last 12 months.
Older files are deleted. On a day with a shift-close backup at 6 pm and the nightly one at 10 pm, only the 10 pm one stays. The backups made before the last 3 updates are always kept as well, whatever their age, so there is always a point to go back to from before an update.
How to copy backups to a USB drive
A backup on the same PC does not help if its disk dies or the PC is stolen. Make a habit of copying one out, for example every Sunday:
- Plug in the USB drive.
- In the MediPOS app on the main PC, open Settings → Backups. Under Copy a backup to a USB drive, click Copy to a USB drive….
- Choose the USB drive (or a folder on it). MediPOS copies the newest backup that passes its check, the
.dumpfile and its.dump.jsonfile, and says which one it copied, for example Backup of 12 Oct 2026, 10:00 PM copied. If the drive is full or pulled out half-way, it says so and leaves no half-copied backup. - Eject the drive and keep it away from the shop PC. A drive left plugged in can be hit by the same virus or ransomware as the PC.
The button is on the main PC only and needs the Manage backups permission, which only the Owner role has by default (not Admin). You can still copy by hand: in File Explorer, go to C:\ProgramData\MediPOS\backups (Windows may ask for administrator permission), sort by Date modified, and copy the newest .dump file and its .dump.json file. A restore needs both.
These copies are not encrypted. Anyone with the file and MediPOS could read your sales and customers, so keep the drive locked away.
Cloud copy of your backups
Hourly cloud backup is an add-on to your plan: Rs 5,000 a year (some plans include it). Buy it at medipos.pk → Plan & billing → Add-ons, signed in with the owner account. Once the payment is verified, the PC starts at its next licence check, or straight away with Account → Licence → Check now.
With it on, every hour that your data changed (a sale, a purchase, a new product…), a fresh copy goes to the MediPOS cloud: encrypted on your PC before it leaves, and sent in small pieces, so a slow or broken connection simply carries on later. An hour with no work, such as the night, sends nothing. Without internet, it tries again the next hour. If the PC dies, you lose at most the last hour. MediPOS keeps every copy of the last day, one a day for 7 days and one a month for 3 months.
The copy is encrypted with your pharmacy's own key, which MediPOS keeps locked with its server key. The files alone cannot be read by anyone, and when you move to a new PC, MediPOS support brings the copy back there once the new PC is activated with your owner account.
Switch it on or off under Settings → Backups (with the Manage backups permission), which also shows when the last copy went, whether the last one failed and until when the add-on is paid. Without it, keep a USB copy (above) instead. If the add-on runs out, the copies already in the cloud can still be brought back to a new PC.
Encrypted copies
MediPOS can also write an encrypted copy of a backup to a USB drive or a second disk. This needs a backup key, which MediPOS support sets up on the main PC; support can make the copy with you. Keep a copy of the key somewhere safe outside the PC. Without it, nobody, not even MediPOS support, can open the encrypted copy.
How automatic updates arrive
The MediPOS Host service looks for a new version every hour, and each time the MediPOS app opens. It downloads it in the background while you work; if load-shedding cuts a download, it carries on where it stopped. Every update is signed by MediPOS. A file that does not match its checksum and signature is deleted and never installed.
There is nothing to click. A downloaded update installs by itself at the next quiet moment: no bill, held bill, return, purchase, stock adjustment or expense for 5 minutes, and no cash shift open. A security update installs after 5 quiet minutes even with a shift open.
Swipe to see the whole screen · tap to close
Settings → System & updates shows the version on this PC, when MediPOS last looked, and Check for updates to look now. While an update waits for its quiet moment, you can also:
- Install now: it first asks "Install MediPOS 1.0.4 now?", shows what is new, and warns that billing stops for a few minutes on every counter.
- Postpone: the update waits one more day, at most twice. A security update cannot be postponed.
What happens while an update installs
- A fresh backup is made and checked. If that fails, nothing is changed.
- Billing pauses on every counter, with the banner "Installing MediPOS 1.0.4. Billing pauses for a few minutes — please do not turn this PC off."
- The new version is put beside the old one and your database is updated.
- MediPOS checks the database and every module.
- If all is well, you see "MediPOS 1.0.4 is installed." Open windows offer Restart now to switch to the new app.
- If anything fails, MediPOS rolls back by itself: it restores the pre-update backup and the previous version, so your data is exactly as it was, and tells MediPOS support. You see "The update could not be installed and was undone. Your data is safe; MediPOS support has been told." That version is not tried again automatically; the banner offers Try again once support has checked it.
- In the rare case that even the pre-update backup cannot be put back (for example the disk failed at that moment), MediPOS stays closed rather than run on a half-updated database. When the app opens on the main PC it says: "MediPOS is closed: the update to 1.0.4 could not finish and your data was kept safe as it was before. Call MediPOS support (medipos.pk) to open it again; do not reinstall." Until support has restored the backup and reopened MediPOS, no update is installed and the nightly backup waits, so nothing touches the data. Call support; do not reinstall.
Counter PCs hold no data, so they update their own app and service at any time.
Rules and tips
- Install now, Postpone and Try again need the Manage settings permission. Anyone can click Later on the banner of an update that could not be installed.
- Do not switch off the main PC while an update installs. A UPS protects both updates and backups from power cuts.
- Updates need internet. A PC that was offline for weeks catches up when it next connects.
- Backups run by themselves on the main PC. Settings → Backups has only the USB copy and the hourly cloud copy; there is no restore screen (see Restoring a backup).
Common questions
How do I make a backup right now?
Close the cash shift under Money → Shifts. On the Offline edition, closing a shift makes a backup a moment later. Then Copy to a USB drive… under Settings → Backups copies it out.
Will an update delete my data?
No. A checked backup is made first, and a failed update puts that backup and the previous version back by itself.
Can I stop updates?
No, and there is no need: an update never installs while you are billing or while a cash shift is open, and it makes a checked backup first. From Settings → System & updates you can postpone one twice, a day each time. Security updates cannot be postponed.
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Last updated 13 October 2026. Still stuck? Contact us.