Your data

Automatic backups

A copy of the club’s data at start-up, then every 24 hours, and before every import, restore, deletion or update.

Where to find it

Management › Data

Available since

v2.0 (October 2026)

Module to turn on

None. Backups are always on.

What it is for

Not lose the club’s history if the computer breaks down or someone makes a mistake.

The data stays on the club computer, in a SQLite database, with no account and no server. Backups happen by themselves; copying them off the computer is set up once.

In the app

“Rowing Beacon automatically copies all club data at start-up, then every 24 hours, and before every import, restore, deletion or update. The last 14 automatic backups are kept.”

In the app

“Backups stay on this computer. Choose a USB key or a synced folder (Drive, Dropbox…) so they survive a computer failure.”

How to use it

1. Day to day, nothing to do. Management › Data shows the date of the “Last backup” and the folder where they are kept.
2. External copy, once: “Choose a folder” on a USB key or in a synced folder (Drive, Dropbox…). Manual backups, those made before an import, a restore, a deletion or an update, and one automatic backup a week are copied there.
3. On demand: “Back up now”, for example before an important data entry or at the end of the season.
4. Restore: the “Restore” button in the list of backups, or “Restore from a file…” for a backup from another computer. The current state is backed up just before, then the app restarts.

Limits and details

• Without an external copy, backups are on the same disk as the data: they do not protect against the computer failing.
• Only automatic backups are limited to the last 14. Manual backups and those made before an operation are never deleted automatically: to keep the state of the end of a season, use “Back up now”.
• The deletion the app refers to is “Delete all data”, in Management › Miscellaneous settings, among the sensitive actions. If the backup fails, nothing is erased. To erase the data for good, delete the files in the backup folder too.
• Before a new version is installed, a “Before an update” backup is made and, if it fails, nothing is installed. See Automatic updates.
• A backup made by a newer version of RowingBeacon can only be restored after the app has been updated.
• When moving from v1 to v2, the data is migrated automatically to the new database. A safety copy is kept for 90 days.
• To set up only the club’s list (rowers, boats, routes) on another computer, use the configuration export. See Rowers, boats and routes.

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