FYI, these are the things that are fully lost when restoring to a backup of any kind: https://kb.blackbaud.com/knowledgebase/articles/Article/96120

This includes things that cannot be recreated, like email analytics - and for anyone using Blackbaud to automate recurring gift charges, it warns that no backup is possible... literally!

If you use blackbaud to automatically charge your recurring giving, you cannot restore from backup at all.

Any data corruption or loss is permanent.

Their tech support cannot provide any alternatives to this, or any way to protect yourself. If you use this CRM, you are taking the risk. BEWARE

If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them. My closest thought is to run the backup .BAK file through an interpreter and pull for the data that was deleted or corrupted, then into excel and doing manual changes/deletes/imports into BB. And to say a nightly prayer that we never have anything serious happen.

This is super important. We had a problem 2 years ago (soon after we implemented) and it was only then that we learned there was no easy backup. Current backup option is too risky.

Checking in from 2024. This still isn't possible - they warn on the backup request form " *NXT customers will be provided database view files only"

Maybe someday a full backup will be possible. Here's hoping!

2016 is the date of the initial post, and still BB has been selling NXT without highlighting this crucial aspect after so many complaints. We have been caught out too last year. It seems I was not the only one assuming that a system backup meant everything! Just incredible really.

This continues to be a major concern for so many of us. Blackbaud, you are passing on the cost of data security to users who already pay for your services. (Like you did with the data breach issue and adding a new annual fee for that.) I understand that you are a business, but this is should be UNDERSTOOD that our data is housed, secure, and recoverable from your systems.

From browsing the comments, there seems to be a lot of confusion about this. In the absence of information, people make things up. Blackbaud - please fix this issue so that users do not have to be concerned about the reliability of their backup.

The recent party line (at least at DevCon) is that Blackbaud is first and foremost a technology company. If that is true, then you need to step up and address the glaring issue. This is not a characteristic of "a trusted partner", which is something else I hear a lot.

Please also be painfully clear about what is or isn't backed up. I'm pretty sure I know the answer but am not going to risk adding more confusion. It should come directly from you.

Blackbaud needs to commit fully to its web-delivered vision. Data pertaining specifically to web view must be considered as significant and as valuable as database view-only data.

Otherwise, web view is a failure, pure and simple. If you can't rely on basic back-up techniques for that information and configuration, you have to question why you are using it at all.

I'm am so frustrated that Blackbaud does not backup our data on NXT. That is not how it was presented to us. We have been adding attachments and deleting our electronic filing system over the past 3 years. We have wasted all that time, and did not realize that was a fact until we had a webinar with a company called PaperSave, who told us what was really happening with our NXT attachments. VERY FRUSTRATING!! Get it together Blackbaud, stay up with the time and help you customers! Plus anything you put in NXT that is NOT in database view is lost if you have do a restore from a backup. That is unacceptable!

Incredible. My heart has just sunk. We just moved to NXT. Blackbaud you have to do this NOW!

This is still not fixed! Blackbaud don't seem to care at all about our data, I've only just learned about it and was horrified about the vulnerability. This product is not fit for purpose.

We just went through this (June 2020). If you need to revert to a prior backup of your database, you WILL LOSE anything in NXT that is not stored in database view (e.g., lists, workflows, opportunity status history, action attachments, etc.) Basically NXT goes back to ground zero if you need to restore. A huge vulnerability, spread the word!!!

I followed up with my Client Success rep on this, and heard back today that Definitively YES, NXT data is being backed up and definitively YES, they can restore that data in your environment if it's needed.  

A huge relief, spread the word!

Our Policies and Procedures state all attachments and media to be added via Database View Only.
I suspect there are some who find this too tedious and love the drag and drop in NXT (and if we ever have to reset, they will be SOL).
But what about Constituent Profile photos? There really isn't an equivalent place to add them in RE Database View that translates to the Profile photo. So those would all have to be added twice.
And now our Alumni team want to import ALL the historical student ID pictures for Alumni into RE NXT (which I am pretty sure cannot be done, but am willing to be proven wrong!)
If a mass download is possible from NXT - for profile photos - even for attachments/media, then perhaps we could do that before a reset.
(Inside - this just makes me cry - if it's saved in NXT or Database View, the information should be retained in the back up).

Our accounting staff started to load invoices and documentation in BB FE NXT and BB RE NXT for quite a while without knowing about this. This is the dumbest idea of all. IT SHOULD ALREADY BE THERE..   This means that if we have to go back to a backup we will be losing months of work. 

When will this get in?

Even though this is an old suggestion, it's one that desperately needs more attention. 

I'm flabbergasted that there isn't a better restore process that could recoup lost NXT data, but I know that the hybrid RE7/NXT setup makes certain things tricky on the back end. (Which should have been addressed earlier in the NXT development process, but that's a moot point now.)

However, if this isn't going to be an option until much later on, there NEEDS to be a workaround of some type. Being able to export a record that lists all of the 'NXT only data' would be helpful. But - at the VERY least - we need to be able to have a list of all of the attachments that are NXT-only. For most orgs, this would be the most devastating loss in a data reset situation, and it would also help the more frequent issues that crop up with not being able to see NXT attachments when in the RE7 view. 

The sad part is that Blackbaud does not treat a Test server environment as important. Yet it is the best way to avoid the issues of that would lead to restoring the Live environment.

So it feels like they are not that interested in whether or not you lose all the data that NXT tracks separate from the RE database. .Maybe the RENXT developers should talk to Target Analytics about the persistent Key product https://arts.blackbaud.com/data-analytics/datasheet-blackbaud-persistent-key to hook the RE and  NXT together with it.

Losing settings and attachments could really be a significant setback and require a lot of work to rebuild, not to mention disruption to users and business processes while rebuilding was happening. It would be reassuring to know this issue was being looked at and hopefully resolved as soon as possible.

I have recently advised our team that they can add attachments to their donor records, they are now so excited to use and update via NXT - to hear it will vanish with a restore is horrific. We have never been told this. Please count my vote in. You are looking after our data, this needs to be part of that promise. 

This is a real problem that we just became aware of today, after having NXT nearly a year.  Thankfully, in training I saw something about NXT documents not being accessible in RE and did not like the confusion that could cause, so from implementation I tweaked the NXT specific security settings to not allow users to attach documents via NXT.  I'm now going to go back and review all the NXT security settings and block entering other NXT data that doesn't go into the database.  That is sad considering we are paying a large sum of money expecting to use some features we dare not use because try as we might, human error happens, and occasionally restores are necessary.  

I have just become aware of the factory reset & NXT settings not being backed up. This is a real concern for us & certainly was not made clear in the sales process. I naïvely assumed that having a hosted solution meant that ALL data was backed up. This really needs sorting, I've just completed a 3 month project encouraging new users to use attachments in NXT. Basically means if you need to do a backup of database view you are between a rock & a hard place. Praying we never have to make that call. If you lose all attachments & lists this is not simply a case of restoring a few used defined settings, it's hours of work & the loss of key organisational data. Please sort this out, surely it can't be a long term solution as supposedly one day all functionality will be in NXT.