Backup

kiddent · Post by **kiddent** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 11:17 pm

I am backing up OD using proiprietary backup software, but I like the idea of doing an archive CD and verifying my backup, which I hav not been able to do with my portabe harddrive backup. I am experiencing a problem in this regard, however. First of all, I do not have a cd burner on my server, and open-dental's backup feature apparently only works on the server. A second issue (which may be unrelated) is that for some reason, I cannot use the images section when using the server as a workstation, unless I change the data paths. Then I cannot use the images on any workstation without changing the data paths again. WHen using a workstation, the image data path ha sto be F:\OpenDentImages. WHen using the server, it needs to be drive C. I don;t understand why, but that' sthe way it is. I think that due to that, the backups made on my server are NOT backing up my images.

Any advice on how to run the open dental backup to a cd (I have cd/dvd burners on two of my workstations)?

murmsk · Post by **murmsk** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 5:34 am

What OS are you using for your server?

If you are using XP.... you can map the backup folder then burn the disk from the workstation. I am not overly comfortable with burned CD's as my only backup. It seems to me 1 in 10 are unreadable for some reason.

For my linux server I use mysqladmin to do automatic backups.

I also do a daily offsite to Mozy over the internet and burn CD's once a week.

steve

Post by **jordansparks** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 6:11 am

Your question about the data path not working is clearly addressed here: http://www.open-dent.com/manual/paths.html.

As for the backups, ALL backups must be verifiable. So if you have a current backup method that you cannot verify, then it is absolutely useless. There's nothing wrong with using proprietary backup software. That can work very well. Just don't compress or encrypt the files. Have your backup software to a straight copy of the files. Once you have done that, then you should be able to take your removable harddrive home and copy the files to your home computer. Get OD running on your home computer. This is by far the most important step in the whole process. See the bottom paragraph of http://www.open-dent.com/manual/backups.html on how to restore. Get used to this, and be able to do it in your sleep. Make sure to backup every day, and restore to your home computer at least every few weeks so that you can develop trust in the quality of your backup system.

Okra · Post by **Okra** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 3:30 pm

Does any one having problem with the built-in OD backup? I couldn't get it to work for version 5.0.19. I had to stop mysql service and then copied the folder over.

Post by **jordansparks** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 4:15 pm

You don't need to stop the service to make the backup. You only need to stop the service to restore the backup to your home computer. And yes, the built-in backup seems to not work very well.

Nate · Post by **Nate** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 8:59 pm

I have had great success with the built in back up lately. I have moved from using a jump drive to using a small protable hard drive. Back up daily from the server computer (takes about a minute). Then restore to the home computer or laptop every 2-3 weeks. No problems at all. I never stop the MySQL, but maybe it is not runnying when I happen to restore my back up... im not sure. Never found any discrepency in charts, accounts, images.

kiddent · Post by **kiddent** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 4:31 am

jordansparks wrote:You don't need to stop the service to make the backup. You only need to stop the service to restore the backup to your home computer. And yes, the built-in backup seems to not work very well.

Is that true even when using a proprietary backup program, or only when backup up with OD's backup?

My server isrunnig microsoft server.

Murmsk, I am not sure I understood --- the answer about "If you are using XP.... you can map the backup folder then burn the disk from the workstation." Would that work even in my configuration, in which the server is an F drive?

tdong · Post by **tdong** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 8:06 am

I am quite confuse with your setup and backup.

let say you have 1 server and many desktops
//Server/OpenDentImages
//Server/opendentdatabasebackup <--schedule backup using your or using OD and save backup there

you can have f g etc does matter when sharing it should use the name of the server

Since it is shared you can burn OpenDentImages and opendentdatabasebackup to CD or DVD using Nero etc from any workstation.

Post by **jordansparks** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 8:14 am

If you make your backup when nobody is using Open Dental, then you don't have to stop the service. If it is being heavily used, then I have heard of infrequent issues. I personally never stop the service, since I make my backup after nearly everyone has gone home.

If you have shared the data folder from your server (C:\mysql\data), then simply make your backup by copying from that location. You could do this using the shared name (\\server\mysqldata\) or the mapped drive (F:\).

savvy · Post by **savvy** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 9:38 pm

I keep reading about people on this forum backing up OD in "about a minute." I use a Sandisk 4gig Cruzer USB flashdrive. The very first time I backed up, the data file took about one minute and the A-Z file took about 90 seconds. Every subsequent backup takes about 2 minutes for the data file and well over 20 minutes for the A-Z files.
Is this normal?
Do those of you that claim you backup in a minute have data in your A-Z files?
Are you just backing up the data file and canceling the A-Z backup?

What gives?

Cheers!!!!!

tdong · Post by **tdong** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 6:03 am

yes very normal since your database which contains only TEXT would be around 10mb to 20mb if you have let say 2000 patients

however the AZ contain pictures documents you do the math I would say you have around 100mb to GIGs ? of pictures etc. Right click on the OpenDentImages and choose properties it would say how big it is.

tdong · Post by **tdong** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 6:03 am

yes very normal since your database which contains only TEXT would be around 10mb to 20mb if you have let say 2000 patients

however the AZ contain pictures documents you do the math I would say you have around 100mb to GIGs ? of pictures etc. Right click on the OpenDentImages and choose properties it would say how big it is

Nate · Post by **Nate** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 8:17 am

I found that my back up would take some 15 minutes earlier in the year and I was using a 'flash drive'. The smaller drives seem to be nice for files but not for important back ups. I had 2 different brands and noted the more expensive one would back up about 4-5 minutes more quickly.

Then I bought a small compact External Hard Drive Maxtor 80 GB which is more then enough space. My cost was under $100 from Office Max when I noticed they were having a sale. I figure you can still get one for $80-120. I now can do a complete back up using the built in Open Dental back up feature with in 2 minutes (with more data since earlier this year).

The process of reading and writing data to a flash drive is different then to a true Hard drive.

My total data file is 10MB and my image file is 550MB
(we scan all paper forms into image file and some patient photos)

Anthony J Turner · Post by **Anthony J Turner** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 10:15 am

I use MozyPro for backup also. I have a mapped drive P:\ for all workstations. I get the error on Mozy Pro c:\mysql\data not backed up because it is locked whenever I backup. I have shared my Opendent images folder on Win 2000 sever but I back up Doc and settings, Mysqldata and Opendentimages in Mozypro. Am I getting a full backup?
I also backup nightly on Nero to a NAS in the office. I am trying to work the kinks out of the ofsite backup

Okra · Post by **Okra** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 11:23 am

Whenever you have any file locked, you are not getting that file backup. Most backup softwares do not use shadow copy to do backup. The can't access locked files.

Backup built in Windows does shadow copy before backing up the files. All files will get backup. Win 2003 server and XP Pro have no issues with OD backup. Win 2k server has no issue with Dentrix. I don't know if it has any issue with OD.

I'm looking at OD backup. If I could schedule it (haven't been using it much), I could use Sync Toy to copy the OD's backup files to any drive without having issues with locked file. If that work, it would take a min or 2 to sync the files. I could have my clients log on one of the work computers through Remote Desktop Connection and do Sync Toy, for offsite backup. Quite fast.

Anthony J Turner · Post by **Anthony J Turner** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 12:24 pm

Is \mysql\data a necessary file since the opentdentimages is backed up?

tdong · Post by **tdong** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:04 pm

um mysql/data is your database if you don't have this basically you lost all your patients infos

to back it up you can write a .bat file and schedule this job to run

here is the script
open notepad enter the info. save as choose all file type and put
myback.bat then double click to run it make sure it works then use window to schedules it to run anytime you wish. Make sure your back up program also backup the mysql/data

net stop mysql
call "yourbackupprogram.exe"
net start mysql

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