Backup from Tools menu

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wjstarck
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Backup from Tools menu

Post by wjstarck » Fri Mar 26, 2010 3:48 am

I'd lke to see Backup placed under the Tools menu as well. Is this worthy of a feature request?
Cheers,

Bill Starck, DDS
Big Idea Software, LLC
Developer, EASy(Electronic Anesthesia System) for Open Dental
817-807-1709
TX, USA

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drfredc
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Re: Backup from Tools menu

Post by drfredc » Fri Mar 26, 2010 5:24 pm

I'd steer away from manual backup buttons -- staff and drs have a way of forgetting..

For around $50/yr, you can encrypt and backup online at Carbonite or Logmein, automatically, either at night, or as the day goes.

If you're looking to host your own domain (drdufus.com), look into Ipower.com (and probably other hosts). As part of hosting, they offer 2Gs of free backup on Carbonite that is sufficient for many practices until you build up tons of digital xrays and images... Plus you get your own domain, lots of email addresses for yourself (Itsme@drdufus.com) and staff (cutefrontdesk@drdufus.com), and more...

IMHO, you really should have a business domain and email address for clinical and business communications by you and your staff... I'm not sure, but if it's not required, it probably soon will be... Domain hosting runs about $7/month or so... last I checked. Of course, you also should have your own web site... It's all sort of a no brainer, IMHO...

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wjstarck
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Re: Backup from Tools menu

Post by wjstarck » Fri Mar 26, 2010 5:35 pm

Yeah, I agree completely.

There are just occasions where I want to do quicky backup for whatever reason, and it seems logical to have that functionality under the Tools menu.
Cheers,

Bill Starck, DDS
Big Idea Software, LLC
Developer, EASy(Electronic Anesthesia System) for Open Dental
817-807-1709
TX, USA

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drfredc
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Re: Backup from Tools menu

Post by drfredc » Fri Mar 26, 2010 6:24 pm

I just plug in my Passport Backup drive, up pops a menu, click backup, wait a few minutes and I'm done and gone. Or click on the Carbonite icon and it backs up online. For me, online is slower, but I don't have to worry about losing it, or watch it, or run it thru the laundry...

Beware, if you are backing up with OD running, and during the process you or someone at another clinic workstation does some OD work, you could end up with a modestly skewed (corrupted) backup that doesn't include the latest work that was entered...

If you feel you must have an OD backup button, you could test it by going to setup/program links and add the program location of your backup program. Click enable. The backup button will show up on OD... I suppose the weak link might be someone could accidentally click it and start up the backup program, but they could also stop it... Perhaps there ought to be an option to choose to have specific "program links" show up in the 'manage' page.

Also, there are free backup systems that you can download from sourceforge.org that can backup to one of the HDs on your LAN in background, or at any time during the day. http://sourceforge.net/projects/mysqlbutool/ might be an option. Ask Jordan?

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savvy
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Re: Backup from Tools menu

Post by savvy » Fri Mar 26, 2010 9:07 pm

2 Gs ain't gonna cut it..........
My OD backup now exceeds 7 gigs........
and that does not include digital x-rays.......they are in CliniView (apteryx).
Candy is dandy, but sex won't rot your teeth.

Cheers!!!
Go Bears!!!!!
Savvy

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drfredc
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Re: Backup from Tools menu

Post by drfredc » Fri Mar 26, 2010 11:54 pm

2 Gigs is free with my host (Ipower.com). Carbonite, Logmein, and other online backup services are pretty much unlimited for a modest annual fee. However, reinstall time could be a modest issue for 7 Gs online. If that were my problem, I'd just visit the geek shop in the building that has some sort of massive throughput connection for their internet server -- it's pretty near as fast as a from a hard drive on your own LAN...

Then there's the Passport option -- fast, compact, secure, simple, massive... One time purchase... But it requires me to participate...

I also run a background idle backup process to one of the office workstations. It sits in the background and backups during idle times... From SourceForge.

Whatever works -- there's lots of options. Can't have too many options when it comes to backups. I find the automatic ones that run in background or off times best. I know myself well enough to realize I'm not disciplined enough to maintain manual backups on a regular basis...

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wjstarck
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Re: Backup from Tools menu

Post by wjstarck » Sun Mar 28, 2010 8:29 am

That's still not what I'm after. I already have a backup solution.

The OD backup feature is very fast and handy when I want to do an upgrade. I typically do upgrades in the morning before the staff has arrived, so I already have my nightly backup from the previous day. The images folder has not changed, so I only back up the mysql database, which is nothing more than belt and suspenders, but I like using OD backup here because it's straightforward and fast, as it simply places a copy of the database in another location.

But that's my workflow, and may not be that of most of the customers OD supports. It seems logical and efficient to me to be able to access backup from the Tools menu, but I wouldn't want to create a situation that confused the usual OD customer, so hence my original question.
Cheers,

Bill Starck, DDS
Big Idea Software, LLC
Developer, EASy(Electronic Anesthesia System) for Open Dental
817-807-1709
TX, USA

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jordansparks
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Re: Backup from Tools menu

Post by jordansparks » Sun Mar 28, 2010 9:59 am

The tools menu seems cluttered already. Users can find things the fastest if they have both an image and text. The tools menu is lacking images, and until we add images, it seems prudent to try to keep the list as short as possible.
Jordan Sparks, DMD
http://www.opendental.com

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drfredc
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Re: Backup from Tools menu

Post by drfredc » Sun Mar 28, 2010 10:17 am

Your backup solutions all seem to be sound reasonable options. For me, a manual process that requires user intervention to punch a button isn't reliable enough for me -- I'm a basket case on these sorts of things. A timed automated backup solution that either pushes the data to one or more workstation's HDs right after work, if not also during the day, and/or uploads it to a secure network repository provides better service.

As for OD updates and OD data backups, it's not unusual for accounting software to automatically do/require a backup before any update process starts up. Why should you even have to think about manually backing up your OD data before an update? Seems a local automated backup of some sort should be the first part of any update process, if it's not already that way.

What shouldn't be overlooked is the heart of your request -- the tools menu (and perhaps some other menus) should be user configurable (with a return to default option) to allow new procedures and/or links to be added by users. Also, why should assistant patti logged in at a clinic workstation have the same tools as dr dufus when logged in at his private office workstation? IMHO, there should be an option to make these customizations global or log in dependent. There are examples of this sort of stuff in the marketplace...

For example, I just upgraded my Thunderbird email program. It comes with an option to add and/or drag new options to one or more of the tool bars at the top of the program and move them around as I desire. Stuff I don't use, I can drag away, stuff I want, I can drag into service. Nice, simple, quick...

Another example is one of my wiki web sites. If I visit the site as a regular unlogged in user, the color scheme and menus are set in the 'enduser' pattern by the admin. I can log in as an admin, and the color schemes and menus change and, via point and click CSS options, I can quickly modify how everything is displayed for any user, even swapping locations of menus, fonts, colors, locations of menus and windows.

This is all somewhat similar to my user configurable vision that OD should open up to the same screen window it had when that user last logged off. My front desk staff wants to be able to have one OD open to track patient flow on the left side of the monitor and another OD open on the right side to work on patient accounts on the same large 22' monitor. Ideally, each log in could have different color schemes and perhaps layouts related to their typical use patterns.

As you've noted, OD currently isn't user configurable in these sorts of basic ways. OD does have some flexibility in this regards, better than many, most or all other dental programs, but could use more. Depending upon how the code has been written and the overall vision of the project, this sort of stuff can be easy or hard. Hopefully, it's easy... Then, once provided, us end users can move on to other things than nitpicky requests to have programmers do for us what we should be able to do ourselves.

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jordansparks
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Re: Backup from Tools menu

Post by jordansparks » Sun Mar 28, 2010 9:24 pm

Yes, many/most menu items are covered by the various security permissions, although not with the granularity you suggest.

I was going to suggest voting for feature 478 in order to have 2 copies of OD open side-by-side on a regular basis, but you seem to have already found it.
Jordan Sparks, DMD
http://www.opendental.com

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