Hi there rardark,
it's vital that all your company information is correctly stored so that you can easily manage your books. QuickBooks Desktop is a great tool able to help you keep track of your books as well as back them up to your computer. I can provide some information about backups.
To generate a backup for QuickBooks Desktop, i recommend using the built-in feature to create the backup. here is some information about creating a backup and restoring it in QuickBooks Desktop.
If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out here