It is very risky to have only the single copy of your work that is saved on your computer in the A91 classroom. Something could easily happen to your files since other classes share the computers with us. For this reason it is critical that you adopt a file backup strategy. This will let you recover from the corruption or deletion of your files on the classroom computer, and it will also let you move your work to other computers in the room.
Backup Media
There are several good options for storing your backup:
- Obtain a USB memory stick device. (I recommend this option.)
- Use a web-accessible online storage system such as Google Drive, Drop Box, or similar
- Use a small external hard drive or other device that can function as one.
Backup Strategy
There are many ways that you could manage the backup of your files, but there is one specific method that I strongly urge you to use. I have good reasons for my recommendation, but I won’t take the time to explain them here.
Make a complete backup copy of your main folder inside the Student Files folder on your computer. Just drag the image of this folder to your backup volume and it and all the files it contains will be copied.
It is not a good strategy to drag individual files to your backup one at a time.
Do not run the application directly from files on your backup medium. For a bunch of reasons this is usually a terrible idea!
Using Your Files on a Different Lab Computer
If you need to use a different computer in the lab, simply copy your entire folder from your backup device into the Student Files folder on the new computer. Then eject your backup drive and work from the new copies that you just made on the new computer’s drive. At the end of your session, quit all of your applications, put the memory device back into the computer, and copy your folder the opposite direction—from the computer to your memory device—replacing the older backup copy with the new one containing your most recent files.
When you return to your regular computer you should replace your folder on that computer with the updated copy of it on your memory device.
Dan Mitchell 