Always Test Destructive Changes on a Backup Copy

The Soliant team have just posted a new article, "How to Split a Large File".

Do NOT do this experiment with any working databases!

The article instructs you to "Truncate Table" or to delete a table using the Manage Database dialog.

NEVER DO THIS UNLESS YOU ARE WORKING ON A BACKUP COPY

Always backup before you may destructive changes

Whenever you do any editing on multiple records, copy the affected records to a safe place before you make changes. When you make an error -- you will make an error one day -- you can easily correct the error using your backup.

I have sent a notice to the author asking them to include advice to create a backup and work on a backup. It should not be taken for granted.

@WimDecorte

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Huh - this reminds me of those videos where they do dangerous things and at the end say ‘don’t do this at home!’.

I’d say a developer would never do this on a live file without due backup. :slightly_smiling_face:

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A developer knows. But someone inexperienced may not know better. They may think that there is an undo command.

P.s. I’ve already sent a message to the author asking them to add an explicit warning to work on a copy.

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