Having an up-to-date backup of your QuickBooks files (and any other important financial files) is crucial to maintaining your business books.  Technology fails us without warning, and sometimes entire systems go down and must be replaced.  If you do not have a current backup when this happens, you will spend precious time and considerable effort in recreating EVERY transaction that was lost with your files.

QuickBooks is unique in that the main working file, the QBW file, is independent of the backup file, the QBB file.  While the QBW file updates in real time, it is not a backup.  You can easily create or schedule your backups in order to have a QBB file that is up to date.  Note: you cannot work out of the QBB file, but must first convert it to a QBW file for use.

It is important to always have at least one backup in the cloud.  If your entire computer system fails, burns down, or gets a nasty virus, you will have this copy of your books to get you back up and running with the least amount of data recreation possible.  Even if you use an outsourced server that automatically backs up at regular intervals, it is still good practice to manually backup files after EVERY use, or more often if making a significant number of entries.

Making QuickBooks backups is also a good idea because your QuickBooks QBW file will sometimes fail.  Instead of calling your computer person and being at the mercy of their availability and rates, you will have your QBB file to get you back up and running quickly.