To back up the Dentrix database, you will use backup software not provided with Dentrix.
A power surge, natural disaster, theft, equipment failure, software malfunction, failed upgrade, or legal proceeding may create a need for your office to restore a copy of your data from a previous day, week, month, or even year. If you have a copy of your data to fall back on, you can confidently move forward.
Reasons to backup:
· Prevent unnecessary data loss in a disaster.
· Keep historical copies of your practice information.
The process of backing up generally entails making a copy of your irreplaceable database files that reside on the server and placing them on another type of media (another computer, USB drive, removable hard drive, online storage account, tape, or other technology).
The process of restoring your data involves copying those database files from their backup location to a new server, and then using the new copy as your primary source of data. When restoring a recent backup, only a minimal amount of data loss need occur (that data which was entered after the backup copy was made would not be part of the restored data).
The following guidelines are provided as an aid in deciding on a backup strategy. Dentrix Customer Support representatives are not trained or certified in setting up backup programs, and will not be able to assist you with these steps. Please contact your network support representative or the backup software's technical support for assistance. Henry Schein One is providing this information as a courtesy to its customers, and shall not be held responsible for any incidental or accidental loss of data in any event.
· While there are no set rules for the frequency of your backups, we recommend that you perform a backup daily.
· We do not recommend incremental backups (backing up only the files that have changed since the previous backup).
· We do not recommend using disk mirroring, RAID, or striping as a primary form of backup.
· We recommend that you store a copy of your data in a secure location outside of your office.
· We recommend that you periodically test your backup. Restore it to a different computer or folder location and then attempt to read the information.
Each day, we recommend that you back up your data as follows:
· Back up the \Common\DBCopyForBackup folder and all files and folders within it.
· Back up the \Common\DentrixSQL folder and all files and folders within it.
· Back up the \Common\Doc folder and all files and folders within it.
It is important to back up all of your important computer files; however, it is critical that you back up your important Dentrix database files at a minimum. Any data you choose to not back up cannot be restored in the event of data loss. Use the following information to determine what you want to back up:
· Common\DBCopyForBackup – Contains a copy of your Dentrix database. You must back up the entire contents of the DBCopyForBackup folder; otherwise, your Dentrix database will not be backed up.
You can update the files in the DBCopyForBackup folder by exporting a copy of your live database either manually or automatically. Use the Dentrix Server Administration Utility to manually export a copy of your database or to schedule recurring exports to happen automatically.
· Common\DentrixSQL
· Cust – Contains Patient Chart custom additions, including procedure buttons and layouts.
· DocFiles – Contains documents stored in the Document Center.
· PatEd – Contains your patient education images and text files you use with the Dentrix Presenter.
· PatPicts – Contains any patient pictures you have taken and stored in the Patient Picture module.
· PAData, Report Data, Reports, and Templates – Contains report data.
· SpellCheck – Contains any custom spellings you have added to the Spell Check dictionary.
· Toolbar Log – If you use the DXWeb toolbar, this folder will exist. It contains all logs of file uploads you performed during the period specified in the WebSync Wizard (for example, the past two weeks).
· Other files – All files in the root of the DentrixSQL folder are configuration files required by Dentrix.
· Common\Doc – Contains your custom letter templates and letter merge data files (in the EXPORTS sub-folder). There might be sub-folders other than EXPORTS in the Doc folder if office staff each have separate custom templates they use for letter merges (or those folders containing custom templates could be located elsewhere).
· Common\Installs – Contains the Dentrix installation program files. (Not recommended as part of the backup.)
· Common\TutorSQL – Contains a sample Dentrix database. (Not recommended as part of the backup.)
For additional guidance on other Dentrix files you may want to back up, contact eServices Customer Support at 1-800-734-5561. For guidance on backing up other third-party software, please refer to the product documentation for that product or contact that company’s technical support department.
Tip: In the Office Manager, from the Maintenance menu, point to Practice Setup, click Preferences, and then click the Paths tab to verify you are backing up files on the correct server and in the correct location:
· Database Server – The computer that is acting as your Dentrix database server.
· Common Directory – The path to the shared folder on the selected Database Server that contains important Dentrix files to backup.
· Letter Template Path – The path to your letter templates and saved letter merge exports on the selected Database Server. (This path might be different on each computer in your office.)
We recommend using a seven-media rotation system for backing up (this assumes that the office works a five-day work week). The seven-media rotation system allows you to always have at least two weeks of recent data backed up. This is especially useful, as sometimes you will not discover that you need to restore a backup until days or weeks after the original problem occurred.
The seven-media should be used as follows:
· Media #1– 5: Five of the media should be used as your daily backup. Label each of the five media with a day of the week on which you will use that media to perform the backup.
· Media #6: Label the sixth media "Friday #2" (or the last day of the week you work.) You will now have two Friday medias. Each Friday you should alternate use of these medias.
· Media #7: The last day of the month, label media #7 as "Monthly." Make absolutely certain that this media is stored somewhere safe, preferably off-site.
On a quarterly basis take your monthly media (#7) and store it with a legal source (attorney or accountant). Some offices seal and mail the media to themselves for legal purposes, but check with an attorney to be certain that this applies to your situation. Since this copy will remain sealed, you will need to purchase a replacement media #7. After another quarter has passed and you have stored the second quarter media, you can reuse the first quarter media. At the end of the year, you may want to permanently archive this media as an annual backup.