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   Spring 2001

It will never happen to me!

Most of us have experienced the joy of carefully crafting a lengthy document in our email package, and just as we are about to send it, the computer or the program crashes and we have to start over from the beginning. Fewer of us have experienced system failures or other disasters where we lost documents, web sites, or other electronically stored data from our hard drives or servers, but it does happen . . . even at the university . . . even in OIT. Don't say "it will never happen to me" because you may be next. What can happen?

  1. You accidentally delete or overwrite important files.
  2. A virus infects your computer and damages files.
  3. Your computer is stolen, and, with it, all of your files.
  4. Your building is flooded over the weekend and you return to a very soggy and very dead computer.

A recent survey referenced by the Gartner Group suggests that only 25% of users have a complete disaster recovery/backup plan. Do you know if your data is backed up? Complete the "totally unscientific" survey below and return it to us, and in the next edition of the ITforUM we'll print the results.

1. Are your computer files regularly backed up?

Yes No Don't Know

2. How often do you update your anti-virus software?

Daily Weekly Monthly Every 1-6 months
Every 6-12 months Annually Less than once per year Never
Don't Know    

3. How are your computer files backed up?

Floppy disks Hard drive WAM accounts or other system Zip disks
Internet storage services Local server Other Don't know

4. Are the servers on which you store data regularly backed up?

Yes No Don't know Don't use server to store data

5. How often are your systems backed up?

Daily Weekly Bi-weekly
Monthly Other Don't know

6. How far back are your systems backed up?

Less than 1 month 1-3 months 4-6 months 7-9 months
10-12 months More than one year Don't know  

7. Have you ever experienced an accidental loss of data?

Yes No

8. Was it recoverable?

Yes No

9. Comments:

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The University of Maryland
ITforUM is the Information Technology Newsletter for the University of Maryland, published by the Office of Information Technology.
Letters to the editor and story suggestions are welcome. Please send correspondence to the Executive Editor at ITforUM@umail.umd.edu.
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