Our back up procedures
At our school, there are three different types of things we back up. We back up our web-based bookmark files, our specialized data bases (Read Naturally, Accelerated Reader, and Math Facts), and individual staff computers.
Our bookmark files (from portaportal.com) are backed up each Friday. The process is simple. Go to the website, click on “Save File as” and save it to a backup folder on the server. We currently have four bookmark sites:
- Students http://guest.portaportal.com/mlbv
- Staff http://guest.portaportal.com/mlbvstaff
- Parents http://guest.portaportal.com/mlbvparents
- Tech http://guest.portaportal.com/mlbvtech
Specialized databases are also backed up on Friday to the same folder. Read Naturally has a built-in backup system so I run it and put the back up in the weekly backup folder on the server. Accelerated Reader and Math Facts are backed up by copying the common data folder (Alsdata) to the back up folder.
Staff back ups are handled very differently. Teachers are responsible for backing up their own home folder using the files1 server or other tool. Some people copy their files to flash drives or burn to CD/DVD.
In addition, I create a non-bootable dmg file of the teacher’s laptop, using Carbon Copy Cloner (bombich.com). I schedule one laptop a night, Monday-Thursday. Staff members bring me their laptop and power cord, I update and do routine maintence on the computer, then create a dmg file on an external hard drive. The external hard drive is also backed up to another hard drive.
