Saving Your Work
Don't lose everything—always have a backup plan.
You should save all of your files to either Google Drive, or your Network H: or I: drives. These files are saved securely and automatically backed up. Local files are not backed up when you save to your computer’s C: drive or desktop.
Why Should You Save to the Cloud?
No matter how secure you make your computer, failures can still occur:
- Your computer freezes in the middle of a project and you haven’t saved in an hour
- You accidentally delete a file
- Your hard drive gets a virus and needs to be restored to factory settings
- Your computer is lost, stolen or physically damaged.
It’s generally not practical or appropriate to back up copies of programs you have installed, but you should always make sure you keep the installation disks or files. This way, you will be able to reinstall programs that you own if your computer is reimaged or replaced. It is important to back up license files for applications.
Confidential Information
When working with confidential information, saving to the cloud is the recommended method. All information in the cloud is only accessible to you and whoever you share the information with.
When working with Shared Drives or your department I: drive, be aware that every person in the shared drive/I: drive will also be able to access that data. If you are going to save information in either of these locations, make sure that everyone who has access should be able to see this information.
If it is something that only select individuals should have access to, we recommend saving to your individual Adelphi Google Drive (rather than Adelphi Shared drive), and then sharing with individual users.
Best Methods of Saving Your Work
- Google Drive is a free file storage and synchronization service, which enables user cloud storage, file sharing and collaborative editing.
- Google Shared Drive are collaborative drives where teams can ensure that every member has the most up to date information.
- Google File Stream is a program you can download to your computer that allows you to save directly to Google Drive without accessing it from your browser.
Storage Limits for Google Drive
- 30GB – Faculty and Staff: part-time, full-time and hourly
- 20GB: Currently registered Adelphi students
- 10GB – Business Accounts: departmental, guest scholars and associated accounts
- 1.5GB: All those who are non-matriculated (including alumni)
Microsoft OneDrive is a web-based cloud storage platform that lets you store, share, and sync your files between all of your devices.
Each employee has a networked H: drive and each department has its own I: drive where faculty and staff can store files that are intended for collaboration or sharing. Both of these drives are good locations for you to store copies of important files.
USB drives and external hard drives are generally a reliable option to save data, but should primarily be used as a backup. These options are not always accessible, and are vulnerable to theft, loss, or physical damage that could prevent you from accessing your data.
Besides simply backing up files, you should create a complete backup of your system that can be restored in case of a total meltdown. These type of backups require a lot of drive space.
You should back up your data as soon as you have created enough new files or changes to existing files that it would be difficult to recreate them if they were lost. IT recommends backing up individual files daily if you are saving to the local drive of your computer.