How do I avoid loss of data?

How do I avoid loss of data?

Aimed at:  Edinburgh Napier’s staff 

Occasionally data can be lost due to PC, network or electrical problems. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does it can be very frustrating.

There are certain precautions you can take to minimise risk and protect your files:

1. When working with email attachments always save the file before making changes.

If you make changes to the attachment itself then you will lose the changes. You must save the file to your H drive (or if working off campus, another suitable location) before you work on it.

Find out how to save and edit an email attachment

2. Regularly check the size of your personal data area (H drive)

Each student is allocated 500mb disk space to store personal files (there are departmental exceptions), staff are allocated 10GB.

If you attempt to save a file when your H drive is reaching its storage limit you may lose data.

You should therefore get into the habit of checking the size of your H drive on a weekly basis and taking action if you are nearing your limit.

3. Save and name any new documents before you start working on them.

When you create a new document ensure you save the new file to your H drive or another save location.

Remember to save the file regularly and back up important files! 

4. Limit the '<drive letter>:\<folder path>\<file name>' length to around 200 characters

Most applications do not support file names longer than 255 characters and some even limit this to 220 characters.

5. Backup, backup, backup!

REMEMBER: When working with particularly important files such as dissertations or other assignments you should keep several backup copies. You could have backups stored on USB or perhaps on a home PC.