Backup & Recovery

Keeping a good backup routine can spare you from unpleasant and sometimes costly computer problems. A computer's hard drive (the part that stores your data) is one of the least reliable parts in your computer, which makes it extremely important to keep a backup of your important files. While the Unversity highly recommends backups be completed, they are not required. 

The University provides an automated backup solution called CrashPlan ProE for all desktop and laptop machines. CrashPlan provides a secure Cloud storage backup that requires no input from the user after initial set up. 

Use the articles in this section as a guide for performing common backup and restore operations. If you are a CGIS affiliate and need assistance backing up your data, contact us.

Backing Up Locally

The term local backup refers to copying your important data to devices directly connected to your computer. 

There are many different kinds of devices that can be used for local backups, but the most popular device is an external USB hard drives (or flash drives for smaller amounts of data)

Backing Up to an External Hard Drive
To back up your data to an external hard drive, connect the USB cable from your hard drive to your computer, and connect the external power supply to your external hard drive if it has one. Your computer should find your hard drive automatically, and install necessary drivers. After it is connected, your hard drive should appear either as an icon on your desktop (for Macs), or as a drive in the My Computer window (for PCs). Both operating systems offer automated solutions for backing up data.

Time Machine on the Mac:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201250

Windows Backup for PC:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17127/windows-back-up-restore
To restore files use the Time Machine or Windows back up interface. 

The disadvantage to a local back up is that it is easily lost, stolen, or damaged by fire, flood, etc.

Backing Up Remotely

Remotely backing up your data involves copying your important files to a location that is not attached directly to your computer. Generally, this means copying your data over a network to a location on a file server. The University provides many options including OneDrive, g.harvard, Sharepoint, departmental network shares and CrashPlanProE. This can be useful in cases of hard drive failure, fire, flood, or other disastrous situations that not only could cause your computer components to fail, but also could cause damage to hardware near your computer. Another advantage of this type of remote back up is redundancy and accessibility across multiple systems. 

The University provides Crashplan ProE back up solution which stores securely off site in the Cloud. Please contact us to set up. 

Restoring Files

To restore files that were backed up to an external hard drive, follow the protocols provided by your backup system (i.e. TimeMachine or Windows Backup)

To restore files that were backed up to network drives or CrashplanProE, contact us for assistance.