The past week we’ve seen how easy it is to lose something, whether it’s property or important information. It remains crucial to have a backup plan – literally.
To ensure you have peace of mind, make a habit of backing up your data on a regular basis. Choose one day a week when things are a little less chaotic than usual, maybe a Friday and make an appointment in your diary to do a weekly backup.
Try not to overwrite your previous backup. Rather make consecutive copies in various folders on your external hard drive or on your network space and name each with the particular day’s date. If any of the documents become corrupt for some reason, you can always fall back on a previous version.
For official, university or work-related documents, your safest backup choice would be your network drive (usually the h-drive) or the departmental network drive (usually the g-drive). You have 1GB at your disposal to backup your most critical documents. At an extra cost of R10-00 per 1GB this space can also be increased. This network space is also available via the web at storage.sun.ac.za if you find yourself away from the SU network.
The departmental drive can be used for files used by more than one person and 15GB is allocated to each department. SharePoint can also be used by groups for sharing documents.
If you choose to have your data closer at hand, get yourself an external hard drive or even dvd’s (although the amount of data you can save on dvd is a bit limited). Just ensure that these devices are stored somewhere else (not also in your office) or in a safe. If confidential, US documents are kept on an external hard drive, files have to be protected with a password or encrypted. Keep in mind that if you DO lose the password, not even IT can salvage your data.
Never save important data on a flashdrive – it’s sole function is for transporting data from one device to another and is not a dependable medium for backup. If you do save data on it, make sure you have an additional backup method as well.
Regularly check that the medium on which you made your backup is still in working order and you’re able to access your documents. For the same reason use more than one backup medium, for example your network space AND an external hard drive.
Lastly cloud storage can be used, but ONLY for private information. No academic or sensitive information is to be saved on the cloud. Read more on cloud storage in our previous articles.
Die afgelope week het ons gesien hoe maklik en vinnig iets verlore kan gaan – of dit eiendom of belangrike inligting is. Daarom is dit nou, meer as ooit, krities om `n rugsteun plan te hê.
Om seker te maak jy slaap rustig saans, maak `n gewoonte daarvan om jou data op `n gereelde basis te rugsteun. Kies een dag in die week wanneer jou werksdag minder bedrywig is en skeduleer `n tyd in jou dagboek om jou weeklikse rugsteun te doen.
Probeer om nie jou vorige rugsteundokumente te oorskryf nie, maar maak eerder opvolgende kopieë in verskillende leêrs met die dag se datum op jou eksterne hardeskyf of netwerkspasie. Indien enige van die dokumente om een of ander rede korrup raak, kan jy altyd terugval op `n ouer weergawe.
Vir amptelike, universiteit en werksverwante dokumente is die veiligste rugsteunopsie jou netwerkspasie (gewoonlik die h-skyf) of die departementele netwerkspasie (gewoonlik die g-skyf). Jy het 1GB tot jou beskikking om jou mees kritiese dokumente op te rugsteun. Teen `n ekstra koste van R10-00 per 1GB kan hierdie spasie ook vergroot word. Jou netwerkspasie is ook beskikbaar via die internet by storage.sun.ac.za as jy nie op kampus is nie.
Die departementele netwerkspasie kan gebruik word vir leêrs waartoe meer as een persoon toegang moet hê en 15GB word toegeken per departement. SharePoint se Teamsites kan ook gebruik word vir die deel van dokumente deur `n groep persone.
Indien jy verkies om jou data binne bereikafstand te hê, skaf `n eksterne hardeskyf aan of selfs DVD’s (alhoewel die hoeveelheid data beperk is op DVD’s) Maak net seker dat hierdie toestelle elders (NIE in jou kantoor nie) of in `n kluis gestoor word. Indien konfidensiële, sensitiewe dokumente op `n eksterne hardeskryf gestoor word, moet dit beskerm word met `n wagwoord, geënkripteer word of weggesluit word. Onthou net dat, as jy die wagwoord verloor, selfs IT nie jou data vir jou kan terugkry nie.
Moet nooit belangrike data op `n flitsgeheuestokkie bêre nie – die funksie daarvan is vir die vervoer van data tussen toestelle en dis nie `n betroubare rugsteun metode nie. As jy dit wel gebruik, sorg dat jy `n addisionele rugsteuntoestel ook gebruik.
Gaan gereeld jou rugsteuntoestelle na en maak seker jou inligting is nog veilig en toeganklik. Om hierdie rede is dit altyd goeie beleid om meer as een metode te gebruik, byvoorbeeld `n eksterne hardeskyf, sowel as jou netwerkspasie.
Many thanks for your valuable advice!!!!