Open Dental Database Backups for Westerville Practices

An Open Dental backup has to copy two things: the database, normally under C:\mysql\data\opendental on the server, and the OpenDentImages folder where scans and radiographs live. The vendor's built-in Backup Tool, in the Manage Module, copies both, and its guidance is to back up at least daily, encrypt the copy, keep one offsite, and test it by restoring it to a computer that is not on the office network.

Last updated: November 2026

How does the vendor's Backup Tool work?

It runs from the server that hosts the database; the vendor warns that running it from a workstation will likely produce an error or copy the wrong data. The user picks the folder to back up from and a destination, which must not be the folder the live database sits in. The vendor recommends a network path to another computer or server in the office. The image folder is included unless it is excluded.

Three limits are easy to miss:

• The tool does not encrypt anything. An encrypted drive or encryption software does that part.
• For InnoDB databases it can make backups but cannot restore them.
• Run it while people are working and some screens may show a read-only error until it finishes. The vendor suggests running it when nobody is in the program.

What about the monthly reminder?

Once a month the program asks about the practice's backups, and answers like "no backups", "no proof" or "no strategy" will not let the user continue. The vendor's point is that each practice must have a backup method, a way to test it, and a secondary method. Most offices tick the boxes and move on. The reminder is a fair checklist to actually run through.

Is the vendor's supplemental backup enough?

No, and the vendor says so. Supplemental backups send an encrypted copy of critical data to the vendor nightly for offices on support, but the vendor states they are not verified, may not include all data, skip the image folder, and are a last resort that should not be relied on. They also need the eConnector running. Worth having switched on; not a backup plan.

Where should the offsite copy go?

The vendor describes three routes: the Backup Tool to an encrypted drive that is rotated, a manual copy, or an online backup service. For online services it adds that the first upload can take as long as a week with a large image folder, that later backups only send changes, and that a restore always goes to a new location, never straight over the live database.

A Westerville office has a local option to compare as well. The city runs WeConnect, a municipal fiber network and data center, alongside the private carriers and cloud backup providers. Whichever route is chosen, the copy has to be encrypted and outside the building.

How is a backup proven?

By restoring it. The vendor's manual-restore steps put the copy on a computer that is not connected to the office network, with the same program and database versions installed, stop the database service, rename rather than overwrite the old folder, copy the backup in, start the service and open the program. If charts and images open, the backup is real. If they do not, it is better to learn that on a Tuesday afternoon than during an outage.

The state's Data Protection Act (Revised Code 1354.02) gives its defense to a practice that keeps and follows a written security program, so each restore test is noted with the date, the backup it came from and the result. That record is the proof the reminder keeps asking for.

Questions practices ask

Does the backup need to leave the building?

Yes. A copy on a drive sitting next to the server fails in the same fire, flood or ransomware attack. One copy stays in the office for fast restores; another leaves it.

How often should we back up?

At least daily, per the vendor; then the worst case is re-entering one day of work.

Can we back up while the office is open?

Some backup software can, but the vendor calls it complicated. Most offices run it after hours.

The server died. Where do we start?

With the server down page, then the most recent copy that restores cleanly. If the old machine is finished, the new server page takes over.