Erin,
Some things are best done by default. This isn't one of them. Their reasoning that users will not know how to set up a backup folder leads to problems like this. Indy has a good idea, but for me at least, it would be too much trouble to continue to remember. Plus, for some restores and re-restores seem simple. I am extremely hesitant to restore data from the past over my data of the present. You can't move that chart any way, although you can get the data from it. I just look at it like it's gone. I suppose there are other things you could find.
For me, I keep five backups. Given I see 30 patients a day, that is around 150 patient visits, which is a lot to lose, so I don't go back much further. Of course, I tend to back up 100 or so, before I clean them out given my hard drive space. The main thing is that you have another path to another folder outside of your computer. And, possibly use offsite backup. Your backups will automatically be encrypted. There is a free
program which will automatically delete the files for you. You can set it to delete the 5th, 8th, 100th, doesn't matter. You never have to remember to go in an clean up a folder that should never be there.
Chris has a good idea. Unfortunately, the one he recommends must be pretty good as it is sold out. There are others there as well. And, of course, you can likely find it somewhere else like NewEgg, etc. You could easily go for a four drive one. It may be cheaper than the two plus one. One thing to look at are the connections and the computer you are using. USB 3.0 and eSATA are going to be much faster than USB 2.0.
If you are backing up your .enc files (which should be the only files in the BACKUP folder) to an external drive, you can then set up Auto-Delete if you wish for the BACKUP folder in the AC folder. As backup strategies go, you cannot come up with a weaker place to put a backup. You can at least put it somewhere else in your computer, preferably where there is a lot of space. You should DEFINITELY have an external backup, but there are times when having an internal backup is advantageous. Finally, if you do need to delete all of the .enc files in the BACKUP folder, just delete the BACKUP folder. You do not need to open it, copy all of the files, then delete them. It is quicker if you delete the folder. On the next backup, a new BACKUP folder will be made. Unfortunately. Credit for Auto-Delete goes to ryango. (I think).
