Images disappeared from the interface

[caremi66]

I am running Orthanc Server on Windows Server 2019, using MySQL as the database backend. Suddenly, all previous images disappeared from the interface. The service is still running and currently receiving new images, but the historical data is gone. I have a backup available.

I have two specific questions regarding how Orthanc handles data:

1. Storage Location: Are the DICOM instances stored as BLOB fields directly inside the orthanc_db MySQL database, or are they stored as physical files in the “OrthancStorage” folder by default?

2. Backup/Restore: If I restore a previous backup of the MySQL database, will the images be restored as well, or do I need to restore a specific folder on the file system?

I would appreciate any guidance on how to properly recover my data and why this might have happened (perhaps a path configuration issue in the JSON file?).

Thank you in advance.

[alainmazy]

Hi,

@caremi66

Storage Location: Are the DICOM instances stored as BLOB fields directly inside the orthanc_db MySQL database, or are they stored as physical files in the “OrthancStorage” folder by default?

This depends on your configuration. Check this config:

@caremi66

Backup/Restore: If I restore a previous backup of the MySQL database, will the images be restored as well, or do I need to restore a specific folder on the file system?

Already explained above. If not using the EnableStorage, check the StorageDirectory configuration.

@caremi66

why this might have happened (perhaps a path configuration issue in the JSON file?).

• your MySQL DB might have been destroyed and Orthanc has created a new empty one
• For some reason, the MySQL plugin was not loaded (because of a wrong path to the plugin in the config file) and therefore, Orthanc started with the default SQLite DB (and of course, an empty one). You can check the list of loaded plugins in the UI.

Hope this helps,

Alain.