Restoring a backup or moving to a new PC

When the main PC's disk dies, Windows has to be reinstalled, or you are buying a new computer, your pharmacy data comes back from a backup. This guide is for owners of the Offline edition. It covers restoring a backup, moving MediPOS to a new computer step by step, what MediPOS support does and what you do, and how to check your data once it is back.

Which situation are you in?

Restores are done by MediPOS support

A restore replaces the whole database, so MediPOS support does it on the PC, with you. The app has no restore screen. Support will need:

• the backup to restore: the .dump file and its .dump.json file, on a USB drive or still in C:\ProgramData\MediPOS\backups, or the pharmacy's cloud copy (see Backups and updates), which support downloads on the new PC once it is activated;
• the backup key, if it is an encrypted copy (a file ending .dump.enc);
• you, with the owner account's password, to activate the PC afterwards (online, or with an activation code from your phone if the PC has no internet);
• the PC, with MediPOS installed as the main PC.

A restore is careful with your data. The backup is checked first, and a damaged one is refused with "This backup file is damaged or incomplete. Choose another backup." It is then restored into a new database, and MediPOS switches to it only once that has fully succeeded. The database it replaces is kept aside, so a wrong choice of backup can still be undone.

How to move MediPOS to a new computer

On the old PC:

1. Finish the day's bills and close every open cash shift under Money → Shifts. Closing a shift makes a fresh backup.
2. Copy the newest .dump and .dump.json files from C:\ProgramData\MediPOS\backups to a USB drive.
3. Stop billing on the old PC. Anything entered after this backup will not come across.

On the new PC:

4. Install MediPOS and choose Main PC of the pharmacy (keeps the data). Tick Counter PCs on the shop network will connect to this PC if you have counters. Do not fill in the Set up your pharmacy window to create a new pharmacy: the restore brings yours back.
5. MediPOS support restores your backup and runs the checks described below.
6. If every PC activation on your plan is in use, free one first: in your online account open Account → Plan & billing, and under Licensed PCs click Remove next to the old PC.
7. Activate the new PC in the MediPOS app under Account → Licence: with Activate online (owner email or mobile and password, a minute of internet), or under No internet on this PC with an activation code you get on your phone. You type the owner password yourself.
8. If you did not remove the old PC in step 6, remove it now under Account → Plan & billing → Licensed PCs, so it no longer holds an activation.
9. On each counter PC, run the installer again, choose Counter PC and enter the new main PC's address.
10. Set up the receipt printer on the new PC, in Administration → Settings → Receipt printer on this PC. The printer choice belongs to each PC, so it does not come across with the backup.

Most of this is waiting. Expect about 15 minutes on the new PC: roughly 10 to install, under 3 to restore (that was the time measured for two years of a busy pharmacy), and a minute of checks.

Why the new PC asks for activation

Your licence belongs to the PC it was activated on, not to the data. MediPOS recognises that PC by its own hardware fingerprint, which the MediPOS Host service keeps outside the database, in C:\ProgramData\MediPOS. A backup therefore never carries a working licence to another computer.

When your backup is restored on a different PC, the app shows a banner at the top: "This licence belongs to another PC. Activate MediPOS on this PC." Until you activate it, billing and stock changes are paused, while every bill, report and customer record can still be opened, printed and exported. Once you activate the new PC (step 7), billing carries on from the restored data. The details of both ways to activate are in Licence activation and working without internet.

What support checks after a restore

• If the backup came from an older MediPOS version, support brings the database up to the current version.
• Support confirms the database permissions are set up safely.
• Support runs MediPOS's integrity check. It confirms that stock matches the stock ledger, every journal balances, and daily totals, customer and supplier balances, bill totals and payments all agree.

How to check your data yourself

The checks prove the data is consistent. Only you can say it is complete, so compare it with what you know:

• In Sales → Invoices, the last bill number and time match the last bill before the backup, for example INV-004512 at 9:48 pm.
• In Products & stock, the stock of a few fast movers such as Panadol 500 mg and Augmentin 625 looks right.
• In Customers, Haji Aslam's udhaar balance matches your own record.
• In Suppliers, the balance you owe your main distributor is right.
• In Accounts & books, the cash book for the last day matches your day-end cash count.
• Every cashier can sign in, and a reprint comes out on each counter's printer.

Bills made after the backup

A restore brings the data back as it was when the backup was made. If your last USB copy is from Sunday and the disk failed on Tuesday, Monday's and Tuesday's bills are not in it. Enter them again from your receipt copies or notes. MediPOS carries on numbering from where the backup stopped, so re-entered bills get new numbers, not the ones on the old paper receipts.

Rules and tips

• How much you can lose depends on your newest copy off the PC. Copy a backup to USB every week at least.
• Uninstalling MediPOS does not delete data. If the old PC still starts, its backups folder is still there.
• Keep the backup key for encrypted copies somewhere safe outside the PC. Without it, nobody can open those copies.
• Moving to a new PC keeps your plan: remove the old PC under Plan & billing to free its activation, and activate the new one. You do not pay twice.

Common questions

Can I restore a backup myself?

Not in the current version. Restores are done by MediPOS support, with you, on the PC.

How much data will I lose after a disk failure?

Everything after the newest backup you still have. On a working PC that is the last nightly or shift-close backup. If the disk is gone, it is your last USB copy.

Can I go back to last month's backup?

Any backup that passes the check can be restored, and monthly ones are kept for a year. Everything entered after it is replaced by that older state, so talk it through with support first.

Do my counter PCs need restoring?

No. They hold no data. Point them at the new main PC by running the installer again with its address.

Related guides

• Backups and updates
• Licence activation and working without internet
• Installing MediPOS Offline
• Adding counter PCs on the shop network