Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences


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Backup Recommendations

What to back up and where to back it up:

 

All work-related documents, files, and e-mail should be backed up. WeinbergIT network storage is the first place to consider for the primary location of your important data. If your data are kept directly on the WeinbergIT network storage space, they are automatically backed up. As long as you have a good network connection, you can get to your data.

Alternatively you can keep all important data in your My Documents folder on PCs or Documents folder on Macs. For backups, you will need to regularly copy this folder to the WeinbergIT network storage space or to another reliable backup location.

Any data that can easily be recreated or restored should not be backed up. For example, do not back up your operating system or your program application files.

When you store or copy your files to the WeinbergIT network storage, you do not need to worry about versioning. Our backups are done nightly and are kept for three months. You can have a file restored to what it was yesterday, last week, or three months ago.

If you have a large amount of data, exceeding the standard WeinbergIT network storage allocation, you might consider using the services provided by Iron Mountain.

Click here for instructions on how to check your current Individual Network Storage use.

Be sure that your backup location is in a different physical location from your primary files.

We recommend against the use of external drives for backups. Although they are inexpensive, they are a single point of failure, and they provide no protection against local disaster or theft.

Remember to back up data from work-related peripheral equipment such as cameras and other data collection devices.

 

How to back up your Northwestern e-mail:

 

If you are using Northwestern e-mail (centrally hosted by NUIT), you probably have your Inbox and other e-mail on your computer hard drive, most likely without a backup.

Backups for POP-mail (e-mail that is downloaded from the server to your desktop or laptop computer) should be made from the same computer each time – your “primary” computer. In this context, your primary computer is the one from which you send most of your e-mail and the one on which you organize your e-mail.  It is not practical to back up multiple copies of e-mail from multiple computers – you will run out of space too quickly.

If you read POP-mail from more than one computer, be sure that you have set the e-mail client on each of your secondary computers to leave messages on the server. Click here for instructions on how to configure POP email for multiple computers. 

From your primary computer, follow the directions below to back up your e-mail.  Set a reminder for yourself to do this daily or weekly. (In each case UserName is your NetID or some combination of your first initial and last name.)

Outlook for Windows

  1. From the Outlook File menu, choose Import and Export.
  2. Choose Export to a file, and then click Next.
  3. From the list, choose Personal Folder File (.pst) and then click Next.
  4. Choose the folder that contains the messages you want to back up. If the folder contains a subfolder that you want to include, select the Include Subfolders check box, and then click Next.
  5. Under Save exported file as, choose Browse, and then specify a name and location for your backup file, for example Z:\Email\Mail_Backup.pst. Be sure to choose your individual network storage space for the backup location.
  6. If you are backing up a Personal Folder File (.pst) to a file you have used before, select Replace duplicates with items exported – this means that if you have previously backed up some e-mail, it will be overwritten with a new copy.  If prompted, select no encryption.

Thunderbird for Windows

 
  1. Close Thunderbird.
  2. Using My Computer, navigate to
    C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Application Data. If you cannot see the Thunderbird folder in Application Data, go to Tools=>Folder Options=>View, and click on Show Hidden Files and Folders.
  3. From the Application Data folder, copy the Thunderbird folder to your network storage space, over-writing any previously copied Thunderbird folder.
 

Thunderbird for OS X

 
  1. Close Thunderbird.
  2. Connect and open your individual network storage drive.
  3. Navigate to MacintoshHD/Users/UserName/Library.
  4. From the Library folder, copy the Thunderbird folder to your network storage drive, over-writing any previously copied Thunderbird folder.

Eudora for Windows

 
  1. Close Eudora.
  2. Using My Computer, navigate to
    C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Application Data.
  3. From the Application Data folder, copy the Qualcomm folder to your network storage space, over-writing any previously copied Qualcomm folder.
 

Eudora for OS X

 
  1. Close Eudora.
  2. Connect and open your individual network storage drive.
  3. Navigate to MacintoshHD /Users/ UserName /Documents.
  4. From the Documents folder copy the Eudora folder to your network storage space, over-writing any previously copied Eudora folder.

Entourage

  1. Close Entourage.
  2. Connect and open your individual network storage drive.
  3. Depending on the version of Entourage that you use:
    • Navigate to MacintoshHD /Users/ UserName /Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office X Identities

      OR

    • Navigate to MacintoshHD /Users/ UserName /Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2004 Identities

      OR

    • Navigate to MacintoshHD /Users/ UserName /Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2008 Identities
  4. From this folder, copy the folder Main Identity to your network storage space, over-writing any previously copied Main Identity folder.

Apple Mail

  1. Close Apple Mail.
  2. Connect and open your individual network storage drive.
  3. Navigate to MacintoshHD /Users/ UserName /Library.
  4. From Library, copy the Mail folder to your individual network storage space, over-writing any previously copied Mail folder.

For further information or assistance, please enter a WeinbergIT Service Request. A WeinbergIT technical support consultant will be happy to help you by phone or in person.