Information Backup Options

[hageyes]

We currently have a system set up to automatically backup our server to an external hard drive, which we swap once a week and keep the other hard drive off site. We are wondering if anyone else does more extensive backups in case for disaster preparation. We looked into Carbonite and Mozi: cloud based off site back up, but our IT guy said for the cost and the amount we need to only back up the Crystal PM portion it was not worth it and that what we are doing is sufficient. We are wondering if anyone does somekind of offsite/cloud base backup for the Crystal PM portion only? 

[run131]

Having an external hard drive floating around with all your patient information on it would scare me. Carbonite is what we use, it is secure and HIPPA compliant well worth the money which really isn't that much. I believe we pay less than $200 a year. That's cheap for peace of mind.

[erica]

We recommend having a local backup as well as an online backup.

[Kraig]

I am a stickler for backups. You can never have too many! The local backup is great, but please make sure that the external drive is encrypted. You never know what could happen and nobody wants to see that kind of information get out into the open.

As a company, there is no online backup that we particularly recommend. However, IMHO, I have been using and recommending Carbonite backup for 10+ years and have never had an issue with them. For $269 a year you get up to 250GB of space, which is more than plenty for most offices. I would never recommend an online ONLY backup because if something ever does happen, it just takes a long time to download all of your data. With a local backup, if your server crashes, we can have you up and running usually within 15 minutes using any other computer in your office as a temp server.

[vaderkty]

Having had my server crash recently...thanks to people not knowing the difference between turning off a computer and a proper shut down...The local back up on a slave drive and on an encrypted hard drive on another computer in the same (locked) server room has saved my bacon twice so far...and so had Kraig's Help BOTH times it happened.
It's the one thing I trust him with

[hec]

Kraig we tried setting up the backup on our server and nothing is backing up to the folder we set it to. help please!

[Kraig]

I don't quite have enough information to give any advice, so I've set up a task to have a technician call you in just a few minutes.

[hec]

they fixed it for us. thank you!

[charliedesmond]

BACKUP BACKUP BACK-UP!

As a life-long IT pro I cannot recommend this enough. Excellent point made above - even 100 gigs of file movement is a big load on the typical PC and bandwidth - Don't rely on an on-line ONLY point of recovery.

Here are some things I have done or seen done in the past:

Online backup - pretty good choice especially if you are not diligent with your physical backup routine BUT don't make this your ONLY option (as mentioned above)

Physical (usually external)drive - One clever option is a small safe located somewhere near your server or backup system, run the data wire into the safe and lock it up - the disaster itself may affect your PC and the data wire but may leave the data on the disk intact (really depends on the quality of the safe)

Portable drives: They are pretty small these days so taking it home once a week or once a month might work for you. Keeping it secure is part of Hipaa compliance so use your judgment there.

A good backup software that mirrors your data to several different locations and VERIFIES the integrity of the backup is essential to a backup regimen that is simple and effective.

OTHER DATA: - There is important data other than just your EHR data whether you realize it or not. Templates for letters, forms, advertising, personnel files, financial data, on-line web site registration and verification/confirmation emails (I have no fewer that 100 rows of encrypted passwords on my smart-phone alone) - This list is virtually endless. A good way to store and back-up that data is to have folders on your main drive for each employee and each department for general "uncontrolled" documents. another folder (directory) for "controlled" documents will be where you store files that you use that you want ONLY ONE VERSION being distributed, printed, emailed etc. When a change needs to be made to the document it is made and saved and the older version can be kept in a versions folder if necessary. NO copies should be kept locally or on any other drive for obvious reasons. Consider also keeping a folder for PROGRAMS that you downloaded or have obtained otherwise. MS Office, QuickBooks, WinZip and similar programs you use but maybe not too often can go out of your memory until it comes time to use them - then you are scrambling to do what you need to do, looking unprofessional and disorganized while productivity suffers.


- Make these folders part of your regular backup - then you won't be scrambling to get "back to normal" for six months after a crash.

NO DATA should be saved that you will miss when it is GONE! I point my "save" programs directly to my external drives by default so almost nothing gets saved locally. PC crash? - Run over to your local retailer and grab another - it's business as usual when all your drives and saved programs point to an external drive that doesn't change. (just be sure to back these drives up daily as well)


 - Gotta run - just a few tips for the interested (subject to additions and revisions) :-)

[charliedesmond]

Ha! Just noticed the other post about backing up crystal database. A lot of redundant info here - sorry. - just pretend I didn't post this - lol