Protecting your data

There are a lot of ways for you to protect your data: You can ensure the physical security of the computer on which you store data by taking steps to prevent its theft and prevent damage to it. You can ensure the logical security of your data by protecting it with a good password and installing security patches as they are released. But the paramount means of protecting your data is to maintain good backups of documents that are important to you.

A backup is an extra, up-to-date copy of your important files stored in a place separate from your computer. A backup is the thick, soft cushion you land on with a smile when your hard disk crashes or you accidentally bathe your computer in Coca-Cola or the laptop you left unattended in the library for just a second disappears. A backup can be the difference between a degree recipient and the guy who never quite graduated because he couldn't face weeks or months of work reconstructing thesis files never backed up before they were lost to some computer mishap. It is the difference between the person who faces adversity with aplomb, knowing it could have been worse, and the person who discovers with dismay that the worst case scenario is more terrible than ever imagined. Feeling anxious? Paranoid? Good. You have to have a bit of that to instill the discipline needed to keep making backups even when nothing bad has happened to your files yet. Don't let that backup cushion become a whoopee cushion through neglect.

The key questions to answer in developing a backup plan are:

1. What should I back up?
2. How often should I make a backup?
3. Where should I store the backup?

As with many questions, the answer to all of these is "It depends." The main factors that the answers depend on is how quickly your important files change and how much storage space they require. Here are some thoughts that may help you determine what is best for you.

1. What should I back up? Back up any files that you would still need and could not otherwise restore easily if the files were lost for some reason. That usually means that you will not back up files that are part of your operating system or the programs you use, because those files can be reinstalled (and often must be reinstalled) from the CD's that came with your system or its software. Music and other media files that you've downloaded may not need to be backed up because they can be retrieved again from the original source. (They also tend to be relatively large files that add considerable time and expense to your backup.) There is also no need to back up temporary files created by your browser or other programs as they run. Most of the files you back up are likely to be documents that you created using your word processor, spreadsheet software, and other applications related to your work and personal activities. It facilitates backup if you keep all of those files in subfolders of a single master folder, such as My Documents on a Windows system. Don't overlook files or folders stored on your Desktop; in fact, it would be a good idea if you just had shortcuts or aliases on your desktop and kept the files themselves in your master documents folder.

There are a few other files scattered about your system that you may want to back up. Among them would be the bookmarks for your browser(s), the address book file for your e-mail program, the normal template for Microsoft Word (if you have created many customized styles or macros), and other files containing information about any special configuration of your system.

2. How often should I make a backup? The frequency with which you do backups will be governed by how often you change important files, but most people should create a backup at least once each week. If you are in the midst of a difficult or particularly important project using your computer, then you may want to back up the files you are working on daily, hourly, or after each major change is completed.

3. Where should I store the backup? The following table lists the most commonly available options along with their advantages and disadvantages. Your Home Directory (or H: drive, to Windows users) occupies a special place here because you could use it in either of two ways--as the primary storage location for your critical files (with backups created by WITS), or as a backup location for files stored primarily on your own computer. Since the two approaches have different advantages, the network folder is listed twice in the table.

Location--where are files stored?	Capacity--how much can be stored?	Convenience--how readily can backups be created?	Portability--how readily can backups be restored to another machine in an emergency?	Reliability--will the backups be ready when you need them?	Biggest advantages and disadvantages
Home Directory is primary storage; WITS tape holds backup	100 MB	Backups are very convenient since they are managed completely by WITS. However, your Home Directory is convenient primary storage only when you are on the campus network.	Request restoration of a file to your Home Directory by WITS. The folder can be accessed from any computer on the Internet, so you can then move the file to any such computer.	Backups of Home Directories are kept for three months in secure, off-campus storage. Thus, there can be a few days delay in bringing backup tapes to campus for restoration. But backup system is closely monitored and reliable.	Advantage: you don't need to remember to do the backup. Disadvantage: you don't have immediate access to the backups and backups not saved beyond three months.
Home Directory is backup location	100 MB	Can copy files to Home Directory whenever your computer is on the Internet; particularly easy if your computer is on the campus network.	Restoration is easily made to any computer on the Internet.	Campus network and file servers are extremely reliable.	Advantage: backup space accessible to all networked computers and very reliable. Disadvantage: space may be limited relative to your computer's capacity.
Diskettes (Floppy Disks)	1.4 MB	Very inconvenient for any large backup because so many diskettes would be needed.	Still portable, but increasing numbers of machines lack diskette drives.	Diskettes are the most unreliable backup medium in widespread use.	Advantage: None. Disadvantage: unreliable, inconvenient medium.
Zip disks	100, 250, or 750 MB	Easy to copy files to Zip disk, and Iomega provides additional utilities to facilitate backup.	Least portable of the methods described here since fewer machines have access to Zip drives than to the other backup media.	Zip disks have proven to be reliable media, although they are expensive.	Advantage: reliability and ease of backup. Disadvantage: expensive media; relatively few machines have Zip drives.
Compact disks	640 MB	Process of burning a CD is somewhat more complicated than simply copying files to a disk and there is a potential for the copying process to fail, leaving the CD unusable.	Very portable if the CD is created properly since nearly every computer now has a CD drive of some kind.	CD is a stable medium, so once the backup succeeds, you should be able to count on it.	Advantage: high-capacity, inexpensive medium accessible for reading by nearly all computers. Disadvantage: creating backup is somewhat more work than other methods
Flash disks	16 to 1000 MB	Files easily copied.	Requires USB port on computer, which most machines from the past few years have. Will need extender cable to connect flash device to some computers.	Flash devices appear to be reliable.	Advantage: easy to use. Disadvantage: expensive to obtain additional backup capacity.