Gustavus Technology Services would like to remind everybody that backing up data and saving frequently is more important than ever.
Great ways to back up your data:
- Flash Drive
- Home Directory
- Emailing it to a second email address such as GMail, Yahoo! Mail, etc (for backup purposes only)
- External Hard Drive
- If you own a Mac, Time Machine is a great option
- Creating incremental backups using any of the mediums mentioned. (just in case your document is corrupted)
Bad ways to back up your data:
- Old 3.5 floppy disks (small storage size and prone to failure)
- Just emailing it to yourself and using that as your only copy. However, you can email it to yourself and then work on it, but make sure you save as a new file to your Home Directory. If you just open it and save it, straight from your email, it will save it in the Temporary Internet Files, and once the lab computer is restarted, it will be gone. When saving documents, make sure you check the location of where you are saving the document. (home directory, flash drive, etc) Always double check your save location.
If you think you may have lost your document or it has become corrupted AND you had saved it on your Home Directory, please stop by the Technology Helpline. We may be able to recover at least some of it. Always have your important paper on at least two different mediums. If your hard drive dies, you’ll be glad you saved it on your flash drive as well.
If you have any questions or would like help saving files to your home directory, please stop by the Technology Helpline or visit our web page: