IT Tips - May 2012

It Tips – May 2012

                                                                             

May is here! This is a huge month. Not only do I have a special edition Tip about data backup, it’s also the month that yours truly was born. I am accepting gifts in the form of IT Tip ideas.

What’s Inside:

Tech Section

•      Back Up Your Data

Back Up Your Data

Wait a second, Keith. I’m an avid follower and devout fan. I know that you covered data back up on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 1:38PM! Are you already out of ideas and falling into the void of redundancy?

 

No, creepy person that I made up, I refuse to be redundant. Hear me? I said refuse to be redundant!

Data backup is a very serious topic that shouldn't be forgotten. The IT team agrees that the value of the U drive needs to be reiterated. This is the reason we asked everyone to try to clean up the shared drives in February. We want to have plenty of space for very important files. Let's all make the best possible use of our server space.

Why should I bother?

Your files are stored on a device inside your computer known as the “hard drive”. Your hard drive is spinning at 5,400 or more rotations per minute. Simply put, it’s spinning very fast, and it’s doing so every minute that you use the computer. It’s not hard to see how incredible precision is required for a hard drive to perform its duties.

Since the hard drive is one of the few moving parts in your computer, it’s one of the most common components to fail. When it does fail, all of your data is in jeopardy. Failure, and subsequent data loss, is a very real possibility if your data is not backed up.

As you can see, a hard drive requires extreme precision.

The possibility of data loss is so real in fact, that this year we had to shell out well over a THOUSAND dollars to recover data from a single failed hard drive.

If a hard drive suffers a mechanical failure it must be sent out to a lab. The lab technicians, donning suits reminiscent of hazmat personnel, must dissect the drive. They then use advanced techniques to delicately extract whatever data they can from the drive. What’s more, this very delicate and expensive process is far from foolproof. Many times they cannot extract all of your data. Sometimes they cannot recover anything of use.

That is why you should bother.

It’s really pretty easy.

The U drive is very simple to use. It acts like any other form of connected storage in windows. You can drag and drop onto your U drive or select it from a ‘Save as’ window. Everyone should already have it mapped in ‘My Computer’. 

There are two basic ways to use the U drive. You can open it in a window to drag and drop files:

Alternatively, you can choose File -> Save As from an application:

Windows XP:

Windows 7:

Things to note:

• You MUST be on our network to access your U drive. That means if you’re outside of one of our buildings you will need to be connected to the VPN.

• Always delete unnecessary files and keep your U drive tidy.

• If your U drive is not in My Computer please follow these steps to map it:

o   Go to My Computer

o   Click on Tools -> Map Network drive (Windows 7 users can just click Map Network Drive at the top of the My Computer window)

o   Select U for the Drive Letter

o   Enter \\netapp1\users\YOUR USERNAME (enter the username you use to log into your computer)

o   Be sure that ‘Reconnect at login’ is checked and click Finish

What kind of data should I back up?

The server has a limited amount of storage space. We should only use our U drives for work-related data. It’s a community space, so we can't afford to store music, pictures or any other personal files.

Have a great month, everyone!

-Keith

Please don’t hesitate to shoot me an email if you have a something that you think will make a good tip. You’ll get credit for the contribution on the blog and I might give you a high-five!