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It's your fault I lost my files!

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  • #16
    Quoth mattm04 View Post
    Hmmm.... I could be evil this way.

    snip
    Actually I'd been thinking more along the lines of "ok, I need to hit the 'a' now, is that ok? Alright, and next I'll need to hit 'Shift+D', let me know if that's ok"

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    • #17
      Quoth protege View Post
      I have *several* coworkers that refuse to save files onto the server. The server, that backs itself up every night, and is backed up onto DVD-R twice a week. With all that protection, you'd think it would be a good idea. But, they'd rather save things to their terminals. If a drive in one of those things fails...they're screwed, and then they bitch to me about it. Of course, I've told them "if it's not on the server, it doesn't get backed up. You lost it, not my problem."
      I guess there were a few advantages to the old days of dumb terminals that just accessed a mainframe

      Madness takes it's toll....
      Please have exact change ready.

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      • #18
        I tried to get my friend to backup his stuff and have been coaxing him to get an external HD. It would have been helpful when his Firefox crashed due to TOO MANY BOOKMARKS! It was not only pr0n links but mostly bookmarks of YouTube videos of booty shakin. I was able to find the bookmarks backup on his Mac and restore 98% of his stuff, even showing him how to save actual YouTube video data using Safari instead of Firefox. He said I "Saved his life", but I joked how Internet bandwidth in the area went up 400% since he wasn't using it.

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        • #19
          Quoth Eric the Grey View Post
          Actually, there is a very simple solution. Map every users "My Documents" folder to their network drive. Office applications (and most other windows-based apps) will automatically try to save there. For most users the process is invisible to them, and they "magically" get access to their documents when they log into a different machine.

          Why more companies don't do this, I'll never know. Although, if you haven't set it up, and have to migrate all users, it would take some scripting, but it could be done, and you'll have to watch your server storage space, but that's a minor point if you're truly care about the end-users files being backed up.
          I totally forgot about that. It's not a complete solution though -- the REAL solution is to put their entire user profile on a network share -- so even their desktop isn't local. Oh, and deny them write access to the entire local hard drive. They'll never lose a file again.

          Storage space really shouldn't be an issue these days. Cheap, high-capacity SATA drives are everywhere, and you shouldn't need anything faster; what you REALLY need is more servers. If you don't have a fileserver at every site, you're doing it wrong.

          Of course, I've never worked a real IT job.

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          • #20
            Quoth Eric the Grey View Post
            Map every users "My Documents" folder to their network drive.
            We actually do just that, and it is great because when a new user starts they are told to save everything under "My Documents". I absolutely love when a user's PC craps out because I get to hand them a fresh PC with all of the app's on it and nothing more. 100% of the time I get to smile slightly as I tell them that anything not saved to the proper location is gone and there is nothing we will do. We could probably fix it, but I have better stuff to do.

            A side effect of this all is that all users ability to log in is dependent on that server so a simple reboot causes all hell to break loose (global users means 24/7 access to the server)

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            • #21
              Quoth Magpie View Post
              Actually I'd been thinking more along the lines of "ok, I need to hit the 'a' now, is that ok? Alright, and next I'll need to hit 'Shift+D', let me know if that's ok"
              This is deliciously evil. I approve of this. Eventually they would get the point. Let the people who know what they are doing DO what they need to do. Tell them if something is important/needs to be done. Nicely. They will tend to do it...oh wait .. forgot the SC + Logic = Not going to happen rule...
              Engaged to the amazing Marmalady. She is my Silver Dragon, shining as bright as the sun. I her Black Dragon (though good honestly), dark as night..fierce and strong.

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              • #22
                Years ago, in the pre-Youtube days, I was reading some forum relating how dumb people can be with their backups. There were two links that stuck with me, both leading to audio files, both messages found on IT voicemail in separate locations, both people who decided to blame IT for the fact that they chose not to back up incredibly important information.

                There's something a little scary about actually hearing someone on the verge of a nervous breakdown, screaming or sobbing into a telephone receiver because their files have been thwarted. It makes for a funny Customers Suck story, but there's a note that mere text can't put into words when compared to the sound of an actual freakout. Add that to the fact that graduate students, for some reason, never back up the only copy of the thesis they've worked on for months, and things get stupid fast. I imagine there were times the IT guys were glad that it's not possible to strangle someone over the phone.

                Love, Who?

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                • #23
                  Quoth mattm04 View Post
                  ...

                  They also demand that we get permission from them (the user) to do anything "no matter what the issue", even if it is a critical issue, such has a virus scan, ask them first.
                  Time for a work to rule, and to turn around what they do to us:
                  This box says next or cancel what should I do?
                  This box says next or cancel what should I do?
                  This box says next or cancel what should I do? - yes, every time something pops up

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                  • #24
                    Quoth MadonnaC View Post
                    Time for a work to rule, and to turn around what they do to us:
                    This box says next or cancel what should I do?
                    This box says next or cancel what should I do?
                    This box says next or cancel what should I do? - yes, every time something pops up
                    I like it. Ok ma'am, i started to re install Windows, it will take about a hour. It is at 1%, is that ok? Good. Still at 1% is that ok? Good.

                    Now I can call them and keep them on the phone for how ever long is needed while i fix their problem for no real reason. If the decide to hang up, well, it's fixed enough. Have fun.

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                    • #25
                      Quoth Ben_Who View Post

                      There's something a little scary about actually hearing someone on the verge of a nervous breakdown, screaming or sobbing into a telephone receiver because their files have been thwarted. It makes for a funny Customers Suck story, but there's a note that mere text can't put into words when compared to the sound of an actual freakout. Add that to the fact that graduate students, for some reason, never back up the only copy of the thesis they've worked on for months, and things get stupid fast. I imagine there were times the IT guys were glad that it's not possible to strangle someone over the phone.

                      Love, Who?
                      Had a situation just like that about a year ago.

                      Had someone call up, absolutely frantic that the only copy of their graduating project for their degree in computer science was stored on a USB flash drive, and that the USB flash drive no longer worked.



                      Those things are the modern version of a floppy disk. You never, ever trust those things to be reliably for important information. They are portable yes, but if you have no backups you're only dooming yourself.

                      As this person claimed that he needed that data to graduate with a computer science degree I had even less sympathy for him than usual. If you make that sort of bonehead failure of judgment you probably shouldn't be getting a computer science degree. Always, always, always back up data!

                      If you're about to graduate with a computer science major you should know better.


                      I'm not entirely without heart though. I had another customer who also had a USB flash drive, only he planned on putting a copy of his painstakingly researched family history on the drive as a legacy to his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. For this elderly man I explained the pitfalls of relying on USB storage as well as the benefits, and made sure he understood that while USB flash drives are great, you never want to have the only copy of the information on that drive. You want copies on at least two different devices, preferably in different locations if at all possible. That way if one fails, is stolen, or is destroyed by fire you always have another copy of the data as a backup.

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