Backups & Restore

Backups

Files in your unix home directory or under project space are automatically backed up several times each day. A snapshot of filesystems on the main fileserver are taken every few hours and a permanent backup is generated nightly.

Personal Backups

For important work or projects that you will not be able to function w/o for an extended periods consider archiving files periodically onto CD or DVD. When an assignment is due Monday morning and your project directory/files are removed accidentally Sunday night having to wait for files to be restored on Monday will be a formula for handing an assignment in late or incomplete.

Restoring Files

Snapshots

Snapshots are a read-only backup of filesystem directories taken periodically. Files in your home directory, project directory, etc all have snapshots. If files have become corrupted or are inadvertently deleted, copies can be recovered from your local .snapshot directory. From the directory you want to restore, cd .snapshot (note that it is not visible until you change into it), then into the appropriate subdirectory where you will find a copy of your files. To recover simply use the unix cp command to copy files from the .snapshot directory back into your home directory.

Long term file recovery

Contact labstaff if you need to recover files older than one week and less than 6 months old that have migrated out of the .snapshot directory.

-- StevenLindsey 2012-05-10