Backing up the Easy Dental database

To back up the Easy Dental database, you will generally use backup software that is not provided with Easy Dental.

If you are not currently using backup software to back up your Easy Dental database, we strongly recommend that you contact Henry Schein One TechCentral and consult with them on which backup solution will meet your needs. To contact Henry Schein One TechCentral, use the information provided below:

Henry Schein One TechCentral

(800) 372-4346

E-mail: TechCentral@henryschein.com

The following information is taken from a Henry Schein One Knowledgebase article and provides some basic guidelines for backing up your Easy Dental database.

Why backup?

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.

What does it mean to back up?

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 (data that was entered after the backup copy was made would not be part of the restored data).

Backup guidelines

The following guidelines are provided as an aid in deciding a backup strategy. Easy Dental 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 backups in daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly intervals.

·        Incremental backups (backing up only the files that have changed since the previous backup) is generally not recommended.

·        We do not recommend using disk mirroring, RAID, or striping as a primary form of backup.

·        Store a copy of your data in a secure location outside of your office.

·        Test your backup periodically. Restore it to a different computer or folder location and then attempt to read the information.

To determine the correct location of your data

1.   From the computer where you intend to create your backup, open the Easy Dental Reports module.

2.   In the Patient Banner, click the Settings toolbar button.

The Settings dialog box appears.

3.   Click Maintenance, and then click Preferences.

The Preferences dialog box appears.

4.   Click the Paths tab.

5.   Write down the path specified in the Database Path field

This is the folder location that you need to back up.

Daily recommendation

You should perform a backup of the entire Easy Dental Data folder and its subfolders every day. If space is limited, or if you want to shorten the time needed to perform a backup, eliminate the Installs subfolder and/or the DocFiles folder.

In all versions, if space is limited, you may make a minimal backup by only copying the files ending in file extensions .DAT, .IDX, .INF, and .INI. However, this backup will not capture any images saved by the Documents or Patient Picture modules.

Weekly Recommendation

At the end of the work week, in addition to the data folder that you back up daily, you should back up the Easy Dental folder and all subfolders on the file server (usually C:\EZDENTAL) except QuickBill.

The folders you should include in the backup are the following:

·        C:\EZDENTAL\DATA\

·        C:\EZDENTAL\DOC\

·        C:\Program Files (x86)\EZDENTAL\EClaims\

Monthly Recommendation

On a monthly basis, you should back up the entire hard disk of the file server. You should also back up any other drives that contain business imperative software, documents, or files.

Quarterly Recommendation

On a quarterly basis, take the monthly backup and store it with a legal source such as your accountant or attorney.  Placing the tape in the care of a legal source helps make the tape a legal document, which can help protect your office if its care is questioned.

Yearly Recommendation

Follow the same process as in the quarterly backup recommendation.

Media Rotation

Assuming that your office works five-days per week, we recommend a seven-media rotation system for backing up. The seven-media rotation system allows you to always have at least two weeks of recent data backed up. This is especially useful because sometimes you will not discover that you need to restore a backup until days or weeks after the original problem occurred.

Note: If your office works more than five days a week, add a media for each day. If your office works less than five days a week, subtract a media for each day.

Use the seven-media rotation system as follows:

·        Media #1 – 5: Five of the media should be used as your daily backup. Label each of the five media with the day of the week that they will be used.

·        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 these media.

·        Media #7: The last day of the month, label media #7 "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 such as your accountant or attorney. 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 should permanently archive this media as an annual backup.

Testing your backup

No matter which method you use, you should test your backup periodically. Verify that the backup occurred and that the files can be properly restored and read. You should do this on a regular basis because:

·        Security software or updates may change the way your server behaves

·        Your backup media may have gone bad over time

·        Doing so helps you practice restoring your data should the need arise

·        Doing so will give you peace of mind of knowing that your irreplaceable data files are safe and can be easily restored