Backups 

BACKUPS ARE USELESS UNLESS YOU REGULARLY VERIFY THEIR QUALITY BY RESTORING THE BACKUP TO YOUR HOME COMPUTER. We suggest either an inexpensive USB flash drive, an online backup, or both.  USB drives are very inexpensive, so get a few and rotate them. CDs can cause problems and we don't recommend them except for long-term archival.

Online Backups
Our recommended solution is IDrive: https://www.idrive.com/p=open_dental.  See the Online Backups page for information about other online backup services.

Reminder
You will see this reminder once a month.  There is no way to disable the monthly reminder because it is an absolutely critical issue that everyone must think about.

Built-in Backup Tool
In the Manage module, click the Backup button. You will need to enable Security permission first for this feature. 

Because the data is not encrypted, you must use a USB flash drive which incorporates encryption.  An example is https://www.ironkey.com/demo-personal

Step-by-Step Backup
1. At the office, put in a flash drive in the server and go to the Manage module.
2. Select the "Backup" button.
3. In the window above, make sure the first line is correct (Backup database FROM this folder). If not, browse to the correct folder and select. Typically, it is C:\mysql\data\.
4. In the second line, make sure you have the correct letter for your flash drive. This will differ depending on your computer's drives. If not sure, go to "My Computer" in the desktop and open it and look for your flash drive. Make a note of the letter and that's what should go into the second line in the backup window. In the simplest case, it would be D:\.
5. Click on the "Backup" button and wait until a message appears that says Backup is complete.

Step-by-Step Restore
1. Make sure you have a working copy of Open Dental at home that runs.  If not, install the trial version at home. Make sure the OpenDental trial is working properly.
2. Insert the flash drive in your home computer.
3. Open your Open Dental software and go to the Manage module.
4. Click the Backup button and in the backup window above, you will notice that it has restore options below the backup options.
5. There are three lines for restore. The first one is the letter for the flash drive. It is not necessarily the same as the one at the office. You can check in your "My Computer" folder to verify you have the correct letter. In the simplest case, it is D:\, but it may be different in your computer. Make sure you have that letter in the first line for restore.
6. The second and third line is where you want to restore your database and A-Z folder. Make sure these are correct. You can browse to find the correct folders if they are not correct.
7. Click on the "Restore" button and the software will ask you if you want to restore from the backup on the flash drive done in whatever date it was done. Click OK and the restore process begins.
8. As soon as the process finishes, close your Open Dental software.
9. Click to open OpenDental again and the software will start.
10. It will then get to a window that asks the paths to your images folder. In the first line you will see the name of your office server. You have to change it to the name of your home computer. Enter C:\OpenDentImages.  Leave the other options as they are.
11. Click OK and your OpenDental software should finish opening.

Tips for advanced users:
1. If problems with restore, try running Open Dental as Administrator.
2. If you changed the name of the database from opendental you must also change it on the new computer before attempting the restore.

Manual Backup
(if not using our built-in tool for some reason)
There are many available backup software programs on the market.  We have heard good things about Backup4all.
This must be done from the server, where your database is located. Plug a USB flash drive into your computer. It would then be recognized as the D: drive in MyComputer. The backup software will then copy two folders to your flash drive:
\\SERVER\mysql\data\opendental\
\\SERVER\OpenDentImages\
You should try to make sure nobody is using the program during a backup, but you don't need to close the program.

Restore
Restore your backup to your home computer to make sure it's a good backup. You will have already installed Open Dental on that computer. The version should be the same as your office computer. Verify versions from Help | Update.

• Stop the MySQL service as follows: Right click MyComputer | Manage | Services and Applications | Services, then look for MySQL in the list. Highlight it, and stop the service.
• Rename the old database folder from C:\mysql\data\opendental\ to something else, like C:\mysql\data\opendentalold02142006\.
• Copy the database folder from the backup source, (e.g. D:\opendental\) to the appropriate location on the main hard drive, (e.g. C:\mysql\data\opendental\). Make sure you don't end up with too many layers (e.g. C:\mysql\data\opendental\opendental\).
• (optional) Copy the OpenDentalData folder (with the A-Z folders) to the hard drive (e.g. C:\OpenDentalData\).
• Restart the MySQL service.
• Open the program.

If you have trouble opening the program after restoring, you may need to run the setup program buried within your backup. The location of the setup program is D:\OpenDentImages\Setup.exe. If the installed version is newer than the backup version, then you will need to uninstall Open Dental from your control panel before running the Setup program.

Archives
You also need to keep old copies of some of your backups. You can make separate weekly backups to a different flash drive. When it fills up, put it in storage, and get another one. If you are using imaging, then manually backup the C:\OpenDentImages folder to CDs, DVDs, or removable hard drives.