NDSU policy 158 and policy 710, and NDUS policy 1901.2 Acceptable Use for Computers establish the need and logic for systematic and regular scheduled backups to ensure that mission critical adminstrative applications, data and archives, users' data are adequately preserved and protected against data loss and destruction.

Data can be destroyed by system malfunction, or accidental, or intentional means. Adequate backups will allow data to be readily recovered as necessary. The ongoing availabilty of data is critical to the operation of the university. In order to minimize any potential loss or corruption of this data, units responsible for providing and operating administrative applications need to ensure that data is adequately backed up by establishing and following an appropriate backup and restoration procedure.

Definition: To backup data means to copy it to another medium so that, if active data is lost, it can be recovered in a recent if not completely current version. Backup is primarily intended for disaster recovery, and the assumption is that in most cases the backed-up data will not be read.

Central Backup of Data

For data and servers centrally managed by the Enterprise Computing Infrastructure (formerly the database and server group), backups of data, logging information, and applications and systems software are backed up on regularly scheduled basis. Procedure for backup and storage of backup tapes is dictated by NDSU and NDUS policy. It should be noted that desktops are not included in the backup procedures. Those working with or having access to critical or important data are encouraged to save and store that data on their U drive or a departmental shared drive they have been given access to.

College and Departmental Systems

Colleges and departments that manage their own servers and desktops are themselves responsible for backup of systems and data, and must follow established guidelines as stipulated by NDSU and NDUS policy and procedure.

Personal Backup of Data

Individual users of NDSU IT data and network systems whose department does not utilized NDSU ITS centralized servers or whose department does perform regularly scheduled backups (examples are county extension offices, research centers, etc) are responsible for ensuring their own data is backed up in a timely, organized manner. For those users, backup instructions for desktops with varying operating systems is listed and described below.

It is recommended that for systematic, scheduled backup, a rotation of external media be used. For example, backups of data should be kept in a monthly and weekly schedule. If using a CDs or DVDs for backup, one set of disks should be used for a monthly backup one set of disks should be used for a weekly backup. The same would be true if using tapes, and external hard drive, or USB flash drives. The disks should be appropriately labled, the data encrypted, and storage is in a safe place not located in the same building as the desktop and office.

Currently, there is no built-in utility to backup files for the Apple Macintosh operating system.

• Mac 10.5.x has the Time Machine Feature that automatically saves file information and previous versions of those files

1. Go to Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Backup and Restore Center
2. Click Back up files
3. Select where to save your backup
4. • On a hard disk, CD, or DVD - select the physical medium to save your backup to
   • On a network - browse to network location
5. Click Next
6. Select the Type of files to backup
7. Click Next
8. Choose How often to perform backup
9. • Daily - runs every day at the start time
   • Weekly - runs on the days yu choose at the start time every week
   • Monthly - runs on the day of the month selected a the start time
10. Choose What Day to perform backup
11. Choose What Time to perform backup
12. Click Save Settings and Start Backup

Please follow the steps listed below for backup of data

1. Go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools
2. Select Backup
3. Click Next in the Backup or Restore Wizard
4. Select Backup files and settings
5. Click Let me choose what to back up
6. Click Next
7. Select the folder on the containing the documents you want backed up
8. Select the individual files you want backed up in the right pane
9. Click Next
10. Click Browse to locate your backup device (e.g, external hard drive, network folder, CD, DVD, flashdrive)
11. Name the backup (e.g., Nancy's Backup Sept 12 2008)
12. Click Next
13. Click Advanced
14. Select the type of back up you want
15. • Normal - backs up selected files, and marks each file as backed up
    • Copy - Backs up selected files, but does not mark any as backed up
    • Incremental - Backs up selected files only if they were created or modified since the previous backup
    • Differential - Backs up selected files only if they were created or modified since the previous back up, but does not mark any as backed up
    • Daily - Backs up only the files that were created or modified today
16. Click Next
17. Select Options
18. • Verify data after backup - ensures data being backed up is correct
    • Use hardware compression, if available - increases storage space
    • Disable volume shadow copy - disables the ability to back up the file if it is still being written
19. Click Next
20. Select Backup Options, in case the medium already has this backup
21. • Append this backup to the existing backups - adds more data to existing backup
    • Replace the existing backups - replaces the backup
22. Click Next
23. Select When to run the backup
24. • Now - runs the backup now
    • Set a start date
    • Click Set Schedule
    • • Set the Schedule
      • • Schedule task - set to how often you wish to run the backup
        • • Daily - runs everyday at the start time
          • Weekly - runs on the days you choose a the start time every week
          • Monthly - runs on the day of the month selected at the start time
          • Once - runs only one time
          • At System Startup - runs when Windows is started
          • At Logon - runs when you logon to Windows
          • When Idle - runs when the compute is idle for the specified period of time
        • Start Time - Set when you want the backup to run
        • Click OK
        • Set Account Information
          • Run as - run the backup as which user
          • Password - enter the password of the above user
          • Confirm password - enter the password again
25. Enter Job name
26. Click Next
27. • Run as - run the backup as which user
    • Password - enter the password of the above user
    • Confirm password - enter the password again
    • Click OK
28. Click Finish