Repair Rundown

Help Mr. Wizard!!! I lost my grades.
By Richard Coca 

This is the infamous comment that we here in the Repair Department receive so often. Even though documents and files are supposed to be saved to the server by default, they sometimes don’t get there for one reason or another and it is at this time that something usually goes wrong with your computer.

At some point in the life of your computer, your hard drive is going to crash or die and become inaccessible. Many times when this happens, some users find that the files that they were going to save that day somehow did not get saved and then a nauseous feeling starts to settle in the pit of their stomach. This is when we, here in the Repair Department, receive that old familiar plea for, “Help!"  We live for these times.

If the hard drive crashes or becomes mechanically inoperable, the ability to salvage files becomes difficult to impossible to accomplish. Or, if the operating system becomes corrupt, retrieving files becomes a so-so situation. But wait! There is still hope, because you remembered to purchase that flash drive that was recommended to you some time back and you remembered to backup all of your important files. Wow, what a relief…

Unfortunately though, there is always one person who for some reason did not have a backup and the files that they so desperately need are unable to be retrieved, despite the finest technology that our department has in its possession.

Over the years, there have been many such sad and tragic stories of the “Lost data Syndrome." Some have had happy endings while others, well, you know….

Anyway, please back up your important files daily.  This can save you tons of rework, not to mention stress. Flash drives are good temporary storage devices and if you have a CD or DVD burner, these are very good also. If you only have a few files to backup, the old faithful floppy will do the job as well.  As for grades created by the Easy Grade Pro program, they must be saved to your computer first and then backed up to the server.

If you have any doubts whether your data is being backed up properly to the server, please contact your site Tech or Coach. If they are not able to help you, they can contact someone who can. So….., Back it up.