backing up OD to google drive

[ramzi]

I read this article

http://www2.bettercloud.com/file-server-to-google-drive

is it possible to back up OD to a google drive?

thanks
ramzi

[Arna]

Sure it's possible to backup to a google drive, however this article talks about using it a file server. That is another beast all in itself.

The biggest concern you face when backing up to a third party drive is HIPAA compliancy and performing a Security Risk Analysis. You will need a business associate agreement if you are storing patient data with them.
You also need to have a recovery plan, so if disaster does strike, you are well versed in how to recover your data and get up and running again with your backups. For that reason, we recommend you restore your backups periodically to ensure you have decent backups and can recover yourself in the case of an emergency. Backups are useless if they are not tested.

[KevinRossen]

As mentioned above, you need a Business Associates Agreement from Google to be HIPPA compliant. They offer it to any Google Apps business account (costs about $5/mo) and it's super simple to get from them. I personally would only put backups on Google Drive that have already been encrypted, which is fairly simple using the right tools.

That said, the simple answer is yes, you can use Google Drive to backup Open Dental's database, with the above caveats.