LYNX Data Backup and Retention
You can save your work files to two different locations, a network drive (usually I:\) or your hard drive (C:\). Saving your work on the network is the safest place for your information for several reasons.
Saving data to the network:
Availability - The network provides you with your own personal directory on the network. For most health care professionals at MUSC, the personal network directory meets their needs.
Security - Only you have access to your personal directory on the network (unless you have specifically requested OCIO-IS to give another user access).
Reliability - Each night all files saved on the network are backed up (with the exception of files in use, open by the user). In emergencies, OCIO-IS can restore files from a tape back-up. Whereas, if files saved on your hard drive are lost, you would need to retrieve them from your own backups of your C: drive. OCIO-IS keeps thirty (30) days of tape backups on the data servers. In addition, OCIO-IS keeps two monthly tape backups of the I:-drive, totaling 3 months of available backups at any given time.
Accessibility - By saving your data to the network, you may access your data from several locations throughout MUSC on LYNX workstations. This is especially advantageous for health care professionals who need to work in several places throughout campus.
Saving data to your hard drive:
If you save information to your hard drive, it is in your best interest to back up your data. OCIO-IS cannot and does not back up your hard drive. Information on a hard drive is vulnerable to loss due to power outages, hard drive crashes, unintended deletions, software corruption, viruses and several other factors. If you save data to your hard drive, you need to be prepared to back up, and when necessary, restore that data yourself, or be prepared to do without it. The easiest way to ensure that your data is backed up is to save to the network drive (I:). If you prefer to save information to your hard drive, we recommend that you purchase or borrow a zip drive and copy your hard drive to a zip disk. Usually only 1 or 2 zip disks are needed to store all of the information contained on a hard drive. For information on purchasing a zip drive see the Computer Connection. For instruction on how to hook up the zip drive to your LYNX computer, call the Help Desk at 792-9700.
policy last modified 1/23/2002