Backups of Data Held on Computer Systems

Users of computer systems are reminded that whilst many of the larger systems in the Department have regular backups of their disks to tape not all do and even those that do generally cannot guarantee an up-to-date backup of every file.

It is therefore sensible for people to maintain their own backup of text, programs and data which cannot easily be reproduced. For small amounts (up to about 256Mb, although much less in practise) the Teaching System (which has backups taken of all user files each night and copies kept for previous days and months) provides the most convenient mechanism. For larger amounts, a central computing facility has been made available to allow the automatic backing up of data from any unix or windows computer that is not currently part of a back up regime. Any member of staff wishing to use this facility should see the Services for Research Computing page for more information.

See our Restoring a File to see how to get files back.