The most reliable back up on the svmi-4e is to copy only the needed files onto your laptop. All you need to copy is in the DTA directory anything that is *.dta, copy the entire MBX folder, and copy any of the custom prompt recordings. That's it. If you want to back up messages then copy the MSG folder. When I copy this stuff back onto a svmi to restore a system I'll manualy run the maint. routine after I'm done copying and it's never been a problem. I've never seen my mode block get corrupted but I've seen other strange things happen.