Thank you Ken.
Your kind email and helpful instructions have confirmed my worst fears.
Since I can no longer retrieve backups from the Moodle system to a local copy, I have decided to give up using the Moodle entirely until some reasonable in-Moodle backup file access is added. I can't really update my Moodle either because the updates don't have a backup retrieval function. If the upgrade process fails, there I am with no Moodle and no backups to start over with. I would lose the thousand hours of my hard work.
Waaaaaaaayyyyyy to risky.
No one should use a complex system without the ability to make backups and store those backups outside of the system! After all the horror stories of loss due to no backups, I thought we had all learned this.
Thanks again for taking the time to set the record straight. You helped me a lot and I am grateful.
Sherman