Data Responsibility
(Cross Posted at Techlearning.com)
Is it really that time of year again? Students are getting restless counting down the final days to summer, as teachers start to prepare their classrooms for hibernation. Of course that means it’s once again time to be thinking about data responsibility.
Teachers spend the last couple of weeks taking care of their students; make sure that they have all their files throughout the year burned to CDs and DVDs. But teachers too need to be thinking about their data and how they are going to store it over the summer as well.
We tell students all the time to “back up your data!” but are we not calling the kettle black? At our school, we have started a “Data Responsibly” campaign that includes a statement on the final checkout sheet for the summer:
• I have backed up all of my files and understand that the school is not responsible for any lost data during the summer months.
Now, schools don’t plan to lose any data over the summer, but then again, it is technology we’re talking about.
Most schools help with the process of backing up data, offering CD-Rs or DVD-R to teachers. Storing your files on the school’s network is an option, the only problem with this is that most schools do major upgrades to systems during the summer months, and with upgrades comes the possibility of data lose.
So, how do you back up your data for the summer? What are your options?
USB Drives: Now as large at 16GB (about 4 DVDs worth) a USB drive is a nice portable way to back up your data for the summer. You can pick one up at any computer store and they can be reused year after year. The only down side to a USB Drive is that they do fail, or corrupt your data from time to time so having another backup besides your USB Drive is recommended.
External Hard Drive: External Hard Drives come in all shapes and sizes. Personally, I like portable ones that I can take with me and are easy to pack. I have a 40GB external drive that I take with me from home to work and use as an extra data storage device during the school year. During the summer months, it becomes my backup device that I care with me as I travel. If you want a portable hard drive, make sure you get one that does not need an A/C power adapter. USB powered hard drives are the way to go.
CD-R or DVD-R: CD-R or a DVD-R (also known as rewritable CD/DVD) are always a great option for backups. They stand the test of time (as long as you don’t leave them in the sun) and give you a “hardcopy” of your data. Just make sure you verify that the data has been written to the CD/DVD before deleting it from your computer (A lesson learned from past experiences).
As you can imagine, I have a lot of data, both school related and personal. How do I back up my data?
I start with a Buffalo Linkstation Pro 500GB server that sits at my house. I have a back up program installed on all three computers in our house. As soon as one connects to our home wireless network the backup program scans the My Documents folder for any updates or changes and backs them up to a specific location. I have my backup set to keep the three latest versions of a document so that changes can easily be recovered as well.
Knowing that all my data is backed up on the server is only the first step. From there I select the important 40GB that I want to carry with me all summer to go on the external hard drive. Yes, I could buy a larger one but 40GB forces me to make decisions on what data I really need. I always bring to much the way it is. From there I have a 4GB USB drive that houses the really important data. Passwords, flight information, bank account information, as well as other documents and such that I am currently working on. Again, limiting myself to 4GB forces me to make choices in the data I keep.
Finally, I keep a copy of important documents in my gmail account as an attachment to a draft e-mail. I keep a scanned copy of all our credit cards, our passports, our driver’s license and marriage certificate (you’d be amazed how handy it comes in while traveling). I have been doing this ever since the Tsunami in Southeast Asia in 2004 when the floods washed away every piece of identity people had with them. Storing important documents somewhere in the cloud is an easy way to keep them safe and within reach, as long as you have an Internet connection you have access to some identification.
As the school year slowly winds to a close, I hope you will take the time to be responsible, be a role model, and take care of your data.
What great ideas for backing up and storing information. I’m curious though about saving personal info to a gmail account. I’d love to keep easily retrievable info there, but is it safe?
I think it’s safe..as safe as any other storage place on the web.
Can Google scan your documents? Yes
Are they tracking your e-mails? Probably
Do I trust them with my data? Yes…just as I trust my back with my online banking account and my credit card company with my account info.
If something was going to happen and I needed those documents could I retrieve them? That’s my plan.
I guess it’s a personal choice but for me, I trust Google I save my docs to a draft e-mail and when I need to update them I just delete the e-mail and create a new one with the new scanned copy of the document.
Who else would I trust on the web? I don’t know but I feel a large cooperation like Google would work harder to keep my information private then some small company that I would have to worry being bought out and not knowing where that information would end up.
Facebook is the example I use with students. They’re gonna get bought at some point and you don’t know what company that will be and what they will decide to do with your data. Pretty good guess thought that Google would be the one buying not being bought, so I feel safer having them holding my information then say some other smaller company.
If you have other recommendations I’m all for it!
“The school is not responsible for any data lost during the summer months?” I find this insane and indefensible. I should mention that I’m the technology coordinator in our district. I would most likely be fired if I asked teachers to sign off on a statement like that. Two points:
1. Teachers don’t stop working during the summer. We offer them remote access to all of their files in the event that they need to access student data, develop instructional materials for the coming year, or share files with colleagues. Many of our teachers come in to work during the summer and they expect to be able to log in and get their stuff.
2. Yes, we do some major upgrades during the summer but that is no excuse for losing user data – that’s just sloppy IT. We continue to run backups on a daily basis throughout the summer and if we have to replace a server, we do a full backup with the expectation that all the data will be put back onto the new system once the new box is in place. In this age of SANs, RAID, and a multitude of local and remote backup schemes, data just should not be lost. Period.
In what other industry would it be acceptable to tell the practitioners, “your files may not be here when you return from vacation, so do something about it.” Don’t get me wrong – I think your advice to teachers is important because I hear horror stories. I just think it’s a sad comment on the state of IT in some of our schools. How can we convince teachers to invest the time in creating content when we turn around and tell them it might not stick around over the summer?
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@paulrwood Here you go. Data Responsibility http://is.gd/10B9Quote