Backing up Local Files to COE File Server

Maintaining data files on the local hard drive of computer system is not recommended unless these files are routinely backed up. There are several ways to make a simply backup of data files.

1. The first method is to simply copy the files to a blank CD-R(W) or DVD-R(W). This can usually be done with CD burning software such as Roxio EZ CD Creator, HP Record Now, Nero and others.
2. The second method is to copy the files to some other form of secondary storage device (Zip, USB Flash Drive, External Hard Drive).
3. The Third and easiest method is to copy your data files to your home directory (H:\ Drive - see graphic 2) on the COE file server.

Graphic 1

The first is to locate your data files and select what you want to copy. On most Windows systems (Windows 2000 and XP) the default data folder is located on the C drive in a folder called Documents and Settings (see graphic 1). On Macintosh systems the default data folder is located inside the Users folder. Once the folder is open you can simply select the sub folders to copy and then paste inside your H drive (Users) folder on the COE files server (see graphic 2). The H drive is a private share that has been setup for secure data storage for COE Faculty and Staff. This location is backed up daily and is significantly more reliable for long term data file storage. Most of your data files should be located inside the My Documents and Desktop folders on the computer. If these files have been saved outside of the normal user folder folder it will necessary to find these files in order to copy them to the H drive. It is recommended to select the Desktop, My Documents, and Favorites (Internet Explorer Bookmarks) folder and use the edit (pull-down) menu to use the copy function in Windows.

Graphic 2

Inside the H drive folder it may be easier to create a subfolder (see graphic 3) to use for backing up files from your C drive.

Graphic 3

Once you have selected the proper location to copy the files to use edit (pull-down) menu to select to paste the files selected to this folder. If backup files have been copied to this location before you may get a warning that you are about to overwrite a folder/file (see graphic 4). It is recommended that if the destination folder is correct simply select yes-to-all to overwrite all previous files.

Graphic 4

The copy process can take several minutes and a window displaying how long it will take should be displayed until the copy process is finished.

Multimedia Note - Inside the My Documents folder are folders for My Music, My Videos and My Pictures.  If there are a large number of these types of files it is recommended that they are backed up to CDR/DVD media.  My Music/Video files are not usually related to COE operations and it is a waste of server space to maintain a backup of these personal data files.  My Music and My Video folders are typically very large and can take several Gigabytes of drive space to maintain.  If we find these files on the server we will ask the user to remove them.  Another issue with these types of files that if the music or video files are copyrited it is a voilation to make a copy of them on the server.

Wayne.....