SCSSE, SISAT and Faculty Office data policy

The storage, backup and retention of data varies across SCSSE, SISAT and the Informatics Faculty Office. Depending on the type of user and computer, data may be stored locally on the computer or remotely on a file server.

Data is only backed up from Windows computers that are on the Informatics Windows domain. Data for users of Linux computers that are on the linux.cs.uow.edu.au cluster and Solaris computers is stored on a file server which is backed up.

Stand alone computers are not backed up. The users of these computers must make their own arrangements to ensure the integrity of their data.

Please note that power failures, crashing of computer software or physical failure of the computer may result in data being deleted or lost. Users should regularly save their data to a permanent location, such as their home directory or a USB memory device.

Data that is backed up

This section applies to data stored on the local hard drive or network file server that is automatically backed up. Data is backed up on either a 12 or 24 hour basis. It may not be possible to recover data that is lost within 24 hours of its creation. Backups are retained for about 1 month, depending on data modification rates.

Staff Windows computers

Users can nominate one computer that will be backed up. Data stored in specific locations on this computer is backed up to the user’s home directory on the NetApp file server. This data then becomes part of the user’s quota on the home directory.

If the user’s disk quota is exceeded (either through the direct storage of data in the home directory or by backing up large quantities of data from their nominated computer), then subsequent backups will fail.

To ensure that their quota is not exceeded, users should store large files such as music or videos at other locations and must make their own arrangements for backing up or archiving those files.

The following data is backed up:

• The user’s Desktop folder

• The user’s My Documents folder

• The user’s Application Data folder

• The user’s Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook folder

• The user’s Favorites folder

• The C:\Backup folder if it exists

• The D:\Backup folder if it exists

In addition, the following data is EXCLUDED from the backups of the above folders:

• Any data in the Recycle bins

• Desktop folder: ~$*.* ~*.tmp *.ogg *.lnk *.iso *.exe *.mp3 *.mp4 *.aac *.m4a *.wmv *.wma *.mpeg *.mpg *.mov *.au *.wav files

• Contents of My Documents\My Music

• Application Data excludes GoogleEarth Recent

• Temporary Internet Files

Solaris Computers home directories

Home directories are served by an Information Technology services (ITS) file server. Staff have a 350MB quota, research postgraduate students have a 150MB quota, postgraduate students have an 80MB quota and undergraduate students have a 30 MB quota. Please refer to ITS for information on backups.

Linux and Windows home directories

Linux and Windows computers share the same home directory which is stored on a NetApp file server. Users can use the home directory to share data between the two systems. Staff have a 10GB quota, postgraduate students have a 5GB quota and undergraduate students have a 50 MB quota. The quota includes any data that has been backed up from staff windows computers.

Data on the file server is backed up. This excludes:

• Data that has already been backed up from staff Windows computers

• .snapshot

• .xsession-errors

• .nfs*

• *.iso

• *.ISO

Other file servers

Data that is stored on the Informatics Faculty office, SCSSE office and SISAT office file servers is backed up.

Windows file servers also have the user accessible technology known as "Previous Versions" applied. A percentage of disk space is dedicated to duplicating those files which have changed. Checks for duplication are scheduled to occur every 12 hours. Users can refer to windows help for a how-to on the use of "Previous Versions".

Data that is NOT backed up

This section applies to data that may be stored permanently on the local hard drive, but is not backed up. The users of these computers must make their own arrangements to ensure the integrity of their data.

Unless data is explicitly covered in the section “Data that is backed up” it must be assumed that the data is not backed up.

Staff computers

Only data that is stored in specific areas of the nominated computer is backed up. See the section on Staff Windows computers, above. Data stored at other locations or on other computers is not backed up.

Postgraduate computers

Data stored locally on Postgraduate computers is not backed up.

Unix and Linux computers

Data used on these computers is generally stored on the associated home directories on a file server. This data is backed up. Any other data that is stored on the local hard disk is not backed up.

Research computers

Data is NOT backed up. The users of these computers must make their own arrangements to ensure the integrity of their data.

Laptops

Data is NOT backed up. The users of these computers must make their own arrangements to ensure the integrity of their data.

Stand alone computers

Computers that are not on the Informatics windows domain, the linux.cs.uow.edu.au cluster and Solaris computers are not backed up. This includes any privately owned computers. The users of these computers must make their own arrangements to ensure the integrity of their data.

Data that is explicitly DELETED

This section applies to data that may be stored temporarily on the computer, but is explicitly deleted when the user logs out or the computer is rebooted. The users of these computers must make their own arrangements to ensure the integrity of their data.

Undergraduate Windows computers

User data may be stored temporarily on the local hard drive in either the user’s profile (including the desktop) or on the FAT32 “scratch” partition. This data is DELETED after the user logs out. In addition all user profiles (and associated data) are deleted when the computer is rebooted.

Undergraduate Macintosh computers

User data may be stored temporarily on the local hard drive. This data is DELETED after the user logs out.

Retention of data

Tape backups of data on the NetApp file server are retained for about 4 weeks before the tape is recycled.

Backups of data from staff windows computers stored on the NetApp file server are retained for about 4 weeks.

Please refer to ITS for information on backups for information on how long backups of Solaris home directories are retained.

Data on the NetApp file server (Windows and Linux home directories) is retained for nine months after the user finishes being enrolled in SCSSE or SISAT subjects or is no longer a staff member employed by SCSSE, SISAT or the Informatics Faculty Office. It is then deleted. If the user re-enrols or is re-employed within that period the data is restored.

Please refer to the ITS policies for information on data retention on their file servers.

When staff or postgraduate computers are replaced, the data on the original computer is retained for two weeks.

Disclaimer

Whilst all care is taken, no responsibility can be taken for the loss of data; including failures on the local computer, failures of the file servers or failures of the backup systems. This includes loss of unsaved data due to system crashes or power failure.

Users should make independent arrangements to keep extra copies of important work (such as thesis, major projects or assignments) on alternate media.

When working on important data that cannot be recovered or recreated easily users are advised to make a tertiary copy on an alternate media extending beyond that provided by the above noted automated backup mechanisms. For instance copies of thesis reports could be regularly saved to CD or DVD and stored at a safe location.