Size of A to Z folder

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dqadri
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Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2007 10:55 pm
Location: Colonia, NJ
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Size of A to Z folder

Post by dqadri » Tue Apr 01, 2014 6:57 am

Hi people,

Can someone give me a idea of the size of their Open Dental A to Z folder and an idea of how fast it is growing? I just starting using digital x-rays (VxWin and Gendex) and my digital x-ray folder is growing at about 1.5 to 2GB per month. I just want to make sure I have enough storage space planned for a new server.

Thanks,

Danish Qadri, DMD
--
Danish Qadri, DMD

Lake Family Dentistry
296 Lake Ave
Colonia, NJ 07067

boboffice
Posts: 89
Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2009 7:11 am
Location: Poway, San Diego County, CA

Re: Size of A to Z folder

Post by boboffice » Tue Apr 01, 2014 1:03 pm

Mine is 26gigs after 1.5 years. We scan EVERYTHING. The drive is 1 TB so I'll need more storage in about 38 years.
Robert Marcus DMD
Univ. of CT '93
Poway, CA

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Hersheydmd
Posts: 700
Joined: Sun May 03, 2009 9:12 pm

Re: Size of A to Z folder

Post by Hersheydmd » Tue Apr 01, 2014 6:24 pm

That is an impossible question. Depends on the size of your practice, how many providers, how many patients per week. Curious about the number of files you are adding each month to add up to 1.5 - 2 GB.
My Dexis data folder is 7.3 GB (65,600 files) in 10 yrs. Dexis does an excellent job of compressing files.
The rest of my data partition is another 33 GB (57,000 files) including my A-Z folder which is very small (4.5 yrs). We are paperless and scan everything with Paperport - B&W, 200 dpi so we get pretty small file sizes.
I am about to swap my 250 GB drives for 1 TB drives, that should hold me for a very long time.
Robert M Hersh DMD, FAGD
Univ. of Penn 1982
Brooklyn, NY 11234
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-M ... 1471599429

dqadri
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2007 10:55 pm
Location: Colonia, NJ
Contact:

Re: Size of A to Z folder

Post by dqadri » Tue Apr 01, 2014 7:28 pm

So far, I have nothing but digital x-rays and they are not being compressed at all. I am using the Gendex sensor, and I have it turned all the way up to maximum resolution (16-bit grayscale), and storing files as lossless with minimal compression. I was a bit surprised to see the 1.5 to 2G size so quickly, but space is cheap.

I understand that this would depend on practice characteristics. We have 3 ops, 1 full time hygienist and 1 doctor, approximately 45 clinical doctor hours per week, 30 hygiene hours per week.

Did you ever have issues with scanning at 200dpi? Are you saving everything into PDF format? I'm looking at eventually going to a completely digital chart after I replace the existing computer system to Open Dental. What scanner(s) are you using?
--
Danish Qadri, DMD

Lake Family Dentistry
296 Lake Ave
Colonia, NJ 07067

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Hersheydmd
Posts: 700
Joined: Sun May 03, 2009 9:12 pm

Re: Size of A to Z folder

Post by Hersheydmd » Tue Apr 01, 2014 8:57 pm

dqadri wrote:So far, I have nothing but digital x-rays and they are not being compressed at all. I am using the Gendex sensor, and I have it turned all the way up to maximum resolution (16-bit grayscale), and storing files as lossless with minimal compression. I was a bit surprised to see the 1.5 to 2G size so quickly, but space is cheap.

I understand that this would depend on practice characteristics. We have 3 ops, 1 full time hygienist and 1 doctor, approximately 45 clinical doctor hours per week, 30 hygiene hours per week.

Did you ever have issues with scanning at 200dpi? Are you saving everything into PDF format? I'm looking at eventually going to a completely digital chart after I replace the existing computer system to Open Dental. What scanner(s) are you using?
No issues at all scanning at 200dpi with Paperport. Everything is clear and readable. For most of the things we scan, we could probably go down to 150dpi, but I am comfortable with 200.
Yes, we scan everything into PDF format with Paperport, then import patient documents into OD Images when appropriate. Scans that aren't patient specific like vendor invoices & bank statements we leave in Paperport. I set up a tree with branches by category, similar to the way you would divide up files in a filing cabinet in folders. Paperport enables stacking of PDF's on top of each other. So, when we get a new invoice from Henry Schein we stack it on top of the existing Henry Schein pdf. (We keep them separated by year).
If you are scanning in an EOB that you will probably never look at again, why would you need it at max resolution or greyscale?
My scanned pages average about 30-40KB.
Paperport also comes with Print to PDF. We download our EOB's from Aetna, MetLife, Cigna and save/print them as PDF files. Those files average 8-10 KB.
I am currently using a Brother MFC 5-in-1 that has both a flatbed and multi-sheet feeder and duplex scanning & printing. It came with a lite version of Paperport which is fine, though I have also purchased the full version.
I wouldn't get hung up on what scanner. Just look for the features you want.
With the size of hard drives today I don't think you need to worry about running out of storage space, but I'll bet it takes me much less time to do a backup than it takes you. Space is not the only issue. Larger files will take longer to load and longer to backup. For what?
For the rare document that you need a better resolution or greyscale (like a report with a radiograph from a specialist), just change the settings for that scan.
Robert M Hersh DMD, FAGD
Univ. of Penn 1982
Brooklyn, NY 11234
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-M ... 1471599429

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