Hampshire College

We've all heard the horror stories. Suddenly, for no reason you can comprehend, your hard drive crashes, and you can no longer access anything on it. These situations are rare, but so are lightning strikes, and you don't want to be the one to be hit. You can minimize the damage by routinely backing up your critical documents and e-mail. Here are some key strategies.
 
What to Backup

• Documents and other important settings are normally stored in the "Documents" folder on a Mac and the "My Documents" folder on a PC.
• If you store documents on your desktop, remember to include those.
• If you save mail in special mailboxes or folders, or if your mail client is set up as POP, you should also backup this mail, as it is no longer stored on the server. (See POP vs. IMAP for an explanation of mail protocol.) Here's where to look for your locally stored mail.

Mac:

• Thunderbird stores your mail in the folder tree: Users : your username : Library : Thunderbird : Profiles : xxxx.default (username is the name you have been assigned on your Mac, the xxxx's represent a random string of characters)
• Eudora mail is in the Documents folder, so you will back it up along with your documents.

Windows:

• Thunderbird stores your mail in: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\ Thunderbird\ Profiles\xxxx.default (username is the name you have been assigned on your Windows XP system, the xxxx's represent a random string of characters)  Note: If you do not see the "Application Data" folder in your username folder, you must unhide "Hidden and System Files". Select Tools-->Folder Options and the View tab on the Window that opens. Find and uncheck "Hide hidden and system files."

• Eudora mail is found in one of two locations:

1. C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Qualcomm\Eudora (username is the name you have been assigned on your Windows XP system)
2. C:\Program Files\Qualcomm\Eudora

Burn a CD

At least as often as once each month, burn a CD of your most important documents. A CD will hold about 700MB of data, which is usually plenty for most people.

Need instructions for burning a CD? Click on the "How to Burn CD's" link at left to learn the basics.
 
Copy to a Server

• If you are a staff member, you can keep departmental documents in a folder on newmisserver. See Connect to Server and File Management for Staff page. (Please remember that newmisserver is for departmental document storage and not for music, programs, personal documents, etc.)
• If you are a staff member, you may store copies of your files on staffhome. See Connect to Server and File Management for Staff page.
• If you are a student, you will want to store your important papers on stout. See Connect to Server and File Management for Student page.
• If you are a faculty member, you may store copies of your files on fachome. See Connect to Server and File Management for Faculty page. 

Maintain Copies on an External Drive

If you have gigabytes (GB) worth of data (say, lots of pictures, videos and/or music), it might be worthwhile to purchase an external drive. These easily connect to your computer via a USB or firewire port, and come in two general types.

• One type is the same as what is in your computer. These range in storage size, but most often these days 80GB is the smallest you are likely to find in electronics or computer stores. These are generally larger than the “flash” drive described next.
• Another newer type is considered a “flash” drive. These range in storage size from 20GB to at least 100GB. These drives use the same kind of data storage technology as digital camera media cards and USB “thumb” or “key” drives.

Copying documents from your computer to the external hard drive is as simple as dragging them from Windows Explorer or Mac Finder to the external hard drive.