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Policies and Recommendations on Backups of Computer Applications and Documents

The following applies to College-owned computers only. CIT is not responsible for backing up data or applications on any personally-owned computers.

It is the general policy of the Center for Information Technology (CIT) that the individual user is responsible for ensuring the necessary and regular backup of document files on his or her assigned (College-owned) computer.

Here are some policies and guidelines to keep in mind:

• CIT will replace/reinstall lost or damaged system files and standard applications to users' hard drives.

• The user should keep original application media for specialized software, along with licensing information, in case any of that software needs to be reinstalled. CIT will not reinstall software for which proper licensing can not be determined.

• CIT's Computer Replacement Budget will provide removable media storage devices (such as USB flash drives, CD-RW drives, etc.) for faculty and staff to facilitate backup of users' files. CIT will provide software for CD or DVD burning if needed. As Macintosh computers get replaced, they will have the Time Machine software, providing complete backups. CIT will provide external hard drives for faculty and staff with Macintosh computers supporting Time Machine.

• Users and/or their departments are responsible for purchasing media (writeable CD/DVD disks, etc).

To insure the safety of their files, users should:

• Keep all documents in a Documents folder for easy backup.

• Back up entire Documents folder to some removable media at least once a week; daily if documents are frequently created/changed.

• Maintain at least 2 backup sets, alternating their use. Thus if one backup goes bad, there will still be the other.

• You may want to save important files to your assigned LOCKER space, since it is backed up routinely. However, do not use this as your only storage location (server hard drives can crash, too). Also, note that this space is limited in size. Information about LOCKER can be found by clicking here.

Policy on Departmental Backups

CIT performs centralized backups for the main administrative departments on campus. Through this system, users in designated departments will have their data and files backed up routinely to servers located in the central computer room. CIT administers and maintains these backups. This is intended to ensure the safe and secure backup and recovery of vital administrative systems.