Professionally, what can I not live without? Everything. In my job as Director of Technology, I am responsible for data for the entire district including student data, financial data, alumni data, and student and teacher files. Lots to worry about. Even if my laptop were lost I would be missing files from the last 10 years that hold passwords, account numbers, instructions, PowerPoint presentations, and more. I definitely do not want to lose these things.
I take steps to protect my data both at home and at work. At home, I use a Mac and use the Time Machine program to back up to a hard drive elsewhere on my home network. I also use Mozy online storage to back them up off-site. If there were a complete disaster and I lost my computer and everything else in my home, at least with a new computer I could recover my files.
At work I also take steps to backup and protect. My laptop has a portable account so every time I am at work the files I have accessed and changed get backed up to a server. I also use the Time Machine software to backup to a server at another school. In addition, our servers are backed up to tape and online. Hopefully, if something happened, I would be able to recover the data. I have had hard drives go bad at school before and, thanks to backups and RAID configurations, I have been pretty lucky. I hope that streak continues...
WOW, Mike. I think it is more than luck that you have not lost data yet. Your system of backup is strong. I do find myself being paranoid and double backing up the most important items. If they are not backed up, I could probably live without it. Not to say that I wouldn't be upset. For future, I plan to store most files online where applicable. Great strategies!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Hannah, Mike! You are the person most of us talked about in our blog and how we do not need to worry about our school/work computers information because there are tech guys who take care of it! Thanks for taking on that weight!! It does seem like your system of backup is working and strong if you haven't lost anything yet! Personally, I too could live without my photos but don't really want to :) I'm going to try and back them up online to keep them a little more protected!
ReplyDeleteIn my blog I praised the techno-geeks that keep my life on an even keel at work. Thank you for doing the same for the teachers at your school. You are fortunate that you haven't lost anything yet - I hear it is inevitable. Having reliable storage in multiple places will make the headache easier should anything, God forbid, ever happen to your home or work computers. This exercise has reminded me that I may not be as prepared for an emergency as I should be. You, on the other hand, appear to have all bases covered.
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