Backing up

It is important to regularly back up, or make extra copies, of any important data you have stored on your personal computing equipment. In fact for very special data it is recommended that you make multiple backup copies.

There are several ways to back up your work and some of these are device dependent.

Backing up an iPad

You can back up the entire contents of your iPad to iCloud (the first 5GB of online storage is free) or by plugging your iPad into a computer running iTunes. Apple’s Support site is very useful in this regard, please click here to learn more. Note that backing up to a computer means you can restore to one of a number of previous backups, whereas backing up to the iCloud means you can only restore to the last backup.

NOTE: When using iCloud it is also then possible to access your Pages and Keynote documents via http://www.icloud.com

Backing up a Mac

Mac laptops have a feature called ‘Time Machine’ which automatically backs up the contents of your computer at regular intervals. Learn more about this here. You can also plug an external hard drive (or USB drive) into your computer and drag and drop (or copy and paste) important files onto the external drive to retain a copy.

Backing up a Windows PC

Windows laptops have a feature called File History which enables your files to be backed up, learn more here. Windows  laptops also have a feature called ‘Windows Backup’ which automatically backs up the contents of your computer at regular intervals. Learn more about this here. You can also plug an external hard drive (or USB drive) into your computer and drag and drop (or copy and paste) important files onto the external drive to retain a copy.

Backing up individual documents

When actively working on a piece of work such as an extended essay it can be a good idea to make multiple backups of your work. Some simple ways to backup works in progress, in addition to the above methods, include:

• Email yourself a copy of the work. This results in a copy being stored on an email server as well as your personal device.
• Store files in an online storage service like Microsoft Onedrive or Google Drive. You can sign into these services with your STL credentials. This will result in a copy of the work being stored in another location.

As always, if there are any issues with ICT or you would like clarification, please drop into the IS Helpdesk or call 9909 9302 for support.