Sage Mas 90 / 200 - General Tips - Recovering Hard Disk space from Sage MAS 90 and Sage MAS 200
DSD customers often ask how to reduce the amount of disk space Sage MAS 90 uses either because the server is running out of disk space, or the Sage MAS 90 backup is too large for a single tape. Here are several tips you can use to recover some of the disk space Sage MAS 90 is using.
- Delete Duplicate Company Codes: Archive duplicate or prior year copies of company data files, and delete these extra company codes. Often times DSD suggests using SVDATA to copy your live data to another company code for test or backup purposes. Other clients (especially Payroll clients) use SVDATA to copy live data to a prior year company code to print W2’s or retain prior year detail. Go to Library Master/Utilities/Company Maintenance, and verify duplicate or test Company Codes. Archive to a backup tape, or CD ROM those company data files you wish to keep. From Company Maintenance, select the old company code, and click the DELETE button. A list of modules will be displayed with No under the Remove Data column. Check Yes for the modules to be deleted, and click PROCEED. The company’s data files and company code will be deleted. You can feel free to delete the Demo Data files for ABC, EEC, FDD, LWW, UWI, and XYZ since they can easily be reinstalled.
- Print Deferred Reports: Deferred reports can take up a lot of space in the ..\Home\Textout folder. Check the Deferred Printer (from the Sage MAS 90 toolbar), and print or delete your Deferred Reports. Note: Deferred source journals cannot be purged, and must be printed. The DPnnnn files should not simply be deleted since detailed information regarding the report is recorded in Sage MAS 90.
- Perform Period End Processing: Verify and modify your history retention settings in each module’s Setup Options (i.e. Number of Days to Retain Paid Invoices). Sage MAS 90 uses these flags to purge old data during Period End Processing. Some history, such as A/R Invoice History, A/P Payment History and I/M Transaction History is not purged automatically, but can only be purged by selecting the Clear Only or Purge Only option found on the Period End Processing menu.
- Purge A/P, A/R, and I/M Audit Masterfile: Many clients have turned on their Audit Masterfile flag in Setup Options. Each time a customer, vendor or item is added, changed or deleted, a record is created in this file, so the corresponding file (AP_99, AR_99, IM_99) can be huge. If this flag is set, DSD recommends clearing the file (from the module’s Reports Menu), and turning off the Audit flag. If you decide to keep the audit flag on, be sure to look at and purge these files on a period basis (at Period or Year End).
- Delete .OLD Files: When Sage MAS 90 data files are rebuilt, you are provided the opportunity to Save the Original File. The original file is saved with a file extension of *.OLD, (or if you rebuild using DSD’s DATA Rebuild Master, *.OL1, *.OL2, etc). Often the largest data files you have are the ones you must rebuild! Since Sage MAS 90 does not have a utility to delete these files, you must delete these files manually. Use Windows Explorer, drill down to your company data folders, change the view to DETAIL, and click on the file Type column. All the OLD files will be grouped together, selected and deleted. Also look for other renamed data file extensions like .BAK or BAC, which may also be deleted. Company data folder names are formatted AACCC, where AA is the application, like GL or AP, and CCC is the company code.
- Delete Copies of Prior Sage MAS 90 Levels: When performing a Sage MAS 90 upgrade, a copy of the ..\MAS90 folder and all his sub-folders are copied to another location as a backup. After the upgrade the old Sage MAS 90 system is no longer required, and can be deleted. Look for prior versions of Sage MAS 90 on your server. You can search for Sage MAS 90 (since both a the folder and a MAS90 program both exist), or search on *.SOA, since all live Sage MAS 90 system and application data files use the .SOA file extension. DSD suggests you archive the old Sage MAS 90 system to backup tape prior to deleting, just in case you want it back later.
- Delete Copies of Data Files in Sub-Folders: Often times DSD finds clients have made a backup copy of their data files below the company data folder (using the same folder name). For example \MAS90\APXYZ\APXYZ. Sage MAS 90 does always behave properly since it uses the file hierarchy to locate data files. Check and delete any old data folders using this technique.
- Remove Modules No Longer Used or Owned: Go to Library Master/Security/Product Registration to get a list of applications or modules you own. Those applications without Unlocking Keys are those you do not own. Go to Library Master/Utilities and select Uninstall Modules to delete modules you do not own, or no longer use. Note: You must delete any company data files setup for these modules before the module can be uninstalled.
Normally you can recover quite a bit of hard drive space simply by (1) purging prior levels of Sage MAS 90, (2) deleting backup and test company code codes and (3) deleting the *.OLD Sage MAS 90 data files.
If you have any questions regarding deleting old Sage MAS 90 data files, or need assistance with the above procedures, please call DSD Business Systems Professional Services for assistance.