David,

I guess it is like everything in medicine or life. Risks and benefits. Pros and cons. I suppose is the risk (a backup causing an issue especially during a time that a database is in use) has to be weighed against how much data do you want to risk losing. For me, a solo practitioner, lose eight to ten notes isn't a big deal. In a practice with eight providers, that would be 80. T-SQL database backups are transactional back up of a SQL database. They are backing up the log files, which is why you see the .mdf and .ldf files in AC. The way SQL backs up in Backup Assist is every morning it takes a Full backup of everything, so it takes a backup of AmazingCharts.mdf and .ldf, AmazingMeds.mdf and .ldf and AmazingCodes.mdf and .ldf, along with the Master.mdf, MSDB.mdf and Model.mdf and the log files for them. The transactionals simply take backups of the log entries of the data. So even if you save 3Mbs to the AC database, it will only take a backup that says "oh you backed up that 3Mb data file." Over my head too.

Bert
Pediatrics
Brewer, Maine