If your newsgroups are important to your business, it is important you back up the MPNews data and settings files regularly in case of emergency.
Settings files
All the MPNews settings are stored in .xml files within the main MPNews installation folder, e.g. C:\Program Files\MPNews5, and within each virtual server folder, e.g. C:\Program Files\MPNews5\Settings\yourserver. Some files, such as the details of news feeds, are stored in subfolders of this. Provided you back up every .xml file within this folder and its subfolders, you will be able to preserve your settings.
Data files
Depending on how you choose to store messages in MPNews, you messages may be in a number of different locations.
Using the standard Tradindex storage option, your messages and other data will all be stored in files within the Data folder, e.g. C:\Program files\MPNews5\Data.
Using the Database storage option, your messages will be held in the database system you select - please consult your database documentation for backup details. In addition, the bodies of large messages can be stored in separate files to reduce the amount of data that has to be stored in the database. By default, message bodies larger than 5KB will be stored in files in the C:\Program Files\MPNews5\Messages folder, but additional folders can also be configured in the MPNews Management program under "Large article storage".
To back up these separate "large article" databases, you will need to copy all the .lafs files and the index.lafs file in each of the configured folders.