I built a database in 2007, saved as a 2003 DB.

It is simple, only 4 tables, 2 forms, and 2 queries. One of the tables links to an external Oracle table.

I copied the DB and placed it on a shared corporate network drive. Later that night I tried to access it remotely using my VPN client, it was taking forever to open as the VPN runs through an Aircard and is a slow connection (still, DB is only 4 MB)

took forever, I got impatient, hit close on the DB, got the "program not responding", hit ok to shut it down.

Come in to work today and was told by access users with 2003 that they cannot open it, they get a message saying it was corrupted and needs to be compacted/repaired. That doesnt work.

Opens ok for me in 2007, but I did get the message about it being corrupted but I was still able to use and seemed fine.

Not a big problem, I have it backed up and will replace.

However, this concerns me - didn't realize access was so finicky and could be easily corrupted like this. I am afraid that in the future this might happen again and won't have a recent backup.

So I am looking for:
-tips to minimize chances of corruption
-suggestions on ways to ensure it is routinely backed up other than manually setting myself a reminder to do it everyday or weekly.

thanks