I can't really talk about the specifics, and I don't know how it happened, but we lost a bunch of files that were stored electronically - and the back up largely failed. We have been assured that it was a series of internal mistakes, and not a malicious act or external attack.
I had been periodically asked to see if the files could be reduced in size. And I would look, and see that there was some information that should be kept, and look at the sheer volume that was there, it is so easy to save electronic files, and reply that the files contained data we needed to keep. And that is true, probaby 1 or 2 percent of it is information we either need to keep, or would actually use again someday. Sorting through it to find that 1 or 2 percent would take months, the list of file folder titles is 3,660 pages long, and that is just for my tiny little department. And no one wanted to pay for my time, to do that work. And I think I would die or quit before I finished the task.
Now, no one needs to sort through the records and decide what to keep. Yes, we are missing a few files we should have kept, and a few that we will go looking for that won't be there, but all of the trash that either never should have been saved, or should have been deleted years ago, is also gone. Someone took out the trash, and along with it a few things we will miss. Most of what we should have kept, is records no one will ever look at, but someone thinks we should keep (I am missing meeting minutes for ___ years, but we never go back and look at them.) There will be a few things we will go looking for and find them gone.
In other sources, I have found about half of what I was concerned about losing. The rest, worrying won't bring them back.
Time for a clean slate, for saying the past is past, and we are not going to repeat it.
So, IT, Thank You for taking out the trash. We will survive, and probably be better for not having all of the trash in the way.
Oops and what a relief. Cleaned up without any effort.
ReplyDeleteSome days I just want to delete the whole thing and start over.
DeleteEven all the personal things we save to our own storage systems, why? Photos of course aren't included, but no one will be interested in anything else and do we ever go back and look at other things we have stored? Rarely in my case.
ReplyDeleteMy photo archive is huge and has triple back-ups
DeleteSomeone really should say something about that cactus photo... but it ain't gonna be me.
ReplyDeleteIt is a thorny subject.
DeleteWhat's done is done.
ReplyDeleteIronically, I'm currently working on data protection and data back-up procedures. Our new boss has been busy having me rewrite all our procedures.
ReplyDeleteBack-up, test the back-up, and do that more than once
DeleteI don't know if I should say this, but I rarely back things up ... except maybe some photos.
ReplyDeleteI have had a couple of hard drive failures and lost a lot of work before I went to redundant back ups.
Deletewe always do - survive. Hopefully many lessons are learned along the way.
ReplyDeleteNo one seems to have been fired, yet.
DeleteI tried to update my Unit files and purge unneeded files as much as my time would allow (and it wasn't much.) Until the day I was mocked by my managers for having so much time on my hands that I could sort through files, rather than credited for attempting to do it in conjunction with my other work. So I now let obsolete files sit and clutter up our drives and only update what I specifically need to do my specific job. Fool me once...
ReplyDeleteSassybear
https://idleeyesandadormy.com/