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General
Documentation
Floppy
Disk Information
Floppy
Disks are extremely unreliable! Many students have lost
senior theses and class projects as a result of a failing
floppy disk. Don't let this happen to you!
If
you want to protect your important data, consider taking
the following precautions:
-
Avoid
using floppy disks. Save your data to a ZIP disk
or to your network space (H Drive).
-
If
you must use a floppy disk, make at least two back-up
disks. Always create more than one copy of your
files, and save them in multiple locations.
-
Keep
a "working copy" of your document on the
hard drive. Save changes to the hard drive while the
document is in progress. Make one final save to your
floppy disk after all changes have been made.
-
Keep
your floppy disk in a protective sleeve or case
to prevent media damage.
-
Print
out a hard copy of your document. In the event of
floppy disk damage, you will still have the printed
copy to work from.
-
Beware
of viruses. If a virus infects a floppy disk, it
can destroy all of the data on the disk, and it can
spread itself to any computer in which the disk is used.
-
If
you save to a hard drive in the lab, be aware that lab
hard drives are cleaned frequently, wiping out all
saved data. Saving to a lab computer is not a good long-term
storage solution.
How
WITS Can Help
- Lab
Assistants can sometimes open damaged files. Feel free
to ask them for help.
- The
Help Desk can sometimes repair damaged disks or retrieve
damaged data. The Help Desk is open Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm
(closed 12-1pm). It may take up to one hour to complete a
floppy disk scan.
- If
you have a printed copy of your document, the Instructional
Design Center (IDC) can help you scan the document using
an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) program. To make an
appointment in the IDC, call 503-370-6653.
- Each
lab computer runs Norton AntiVirus. If you suspect
that your floppy disk contains a virus, ask a Lab Assistant
to help you use Norton to scan the disk.
- The
Willamette Store (UC 1st floor) sells 100 Mb ZIP disks.
ZIP disks are an excellent data storage, back-up, and transportation
solution. They are more reliable than floppy disks, and store
10 times the amount of data. (Do not buy 250 Mb ZIP disks,
as these will not work in the General Access Computer Lab!)
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