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Saving your Work

When you use a software application to create new data (e.g. entering text into a word processor) it is held in the computer's memory until you save it as a file. Data held in memory is almost always lost if the computer crashes or is powered off. So, whatever the software application, if you open a new document (or equivalent), always NAME it and SAVE it before you add any content, and continue to save it regularly while you work.

Using PC cluster computers, saving your files couldn't be easier - you have a choice of network storage or various removable storage options.

When saving any work you should consider the data security implications, for example - Is this sensitive data?
Do other people use this pc? Is saving it on removable media appropriate? Should I encrypt this document? For more advice and guidance go to Secure-IT

Network Storage - P Drive

You are provided with an allocation of networked file storage space which you can access as the P: drive on any PC cluster computer you log into. This storage space is secure and regularly backed up, and is the recommended place to store your data files, or backups of files you have saved elsewhere.

Tip: If you use the Folders view in Windows Explorer you may not be able to see a P: drive listed. The reason is that the drive letters, in this case 'P:', are displayed at the very end of the description text, so you may need to scroll to the right in the Folders pane to actually see the drive letter.

You can also access your P: drive through 'My Documents'. This is a special Windows folder which in PC cluster computers is linked directly to your P: drive. If you save or copy files to 'My Documents' they will in fact be stored on your P: drive.

You can also access your P drive through the Internet with most browsers, the address to go to is:
http://pdrives.manchester.ac.uk

Removable Storage

As the name suggests, one of the biggest advantages to this type of storage is portability. This is useful if you work on a PC cluster computer and then want to continue the same work on a computer located off campus. Some examples of removable storage

USB FLASH MEMORY DEVICES: These popular and convenient devices, with capacities ranging from a few megabytes up to a gigabyte, store data on a special memory chip and connect to computers directly via a USB port. Almost all PC cluster computers are equipped with USB ports which these devices can be plugged into. Once attached to a computer and correctly identified by Windows, a removable drive will be listed in My Computer or Windows Explorer and can be used to store or retrieve files to and from the device. Although these devices are considered generally reliable, data corruption can occur from time to time, often resulting in complete data loss. As always, never rely on just one copy of your data!

CD/DVDs: Saving your files to a CD or DVD is highly reliable, offers relatively large storage capacities (700Mb) and can be used on many different types of computer system. Disks can be recordable (R) you can only add files in one go or re-writable (RW) meaning you can add files to it at any time. All PC cluster computers are equipped with drives which can read CDs and most can also create (write/burn) CDs aswell.

FLOPPY DISKS (1.44 MB): 3.5" floppy disk drives are available on a wide range of computer types, making these disks one of the most cross compatible storage formats available. Despite this advantage, their storage capacity is small by todays standards and they are not considered particularly reliable. All PC cluster computers are equipped with floppy disk drives and some PC clusters also contain floppy disk vending machines.

Storing Files on the C Drive

The C: drive represents the hard disk drive of the machine you are working on. You should NEVER store your work anywhere on this drive because the C: drive is automatically screened at regular intervals and your files are likely to be deleted.

Archiving and Compressing Files

Archives provide a way to package one or more files (and/or folders) as a single file. Once an archive has been created, files of any type can be added or removed as necessary. Usually, archives are compressed to reduce their size - you may be will be familiar with Zip files which represent one of the most common and widely used compressed archive formats. You can create your own Zip archives by using applications such as PowerArchiver (available on PC cluster computers). These can be useful for making backups of your work, sending multiple files as one via email, or simply to save storage space.

Filesharing and Copyright Issues

Many types of electronic data such as: music, films, journal articles, books, software are subject to copyright restrictions. Duplicating, sharing or distributing copyright material without the copyright holder's permission is illegal and the University does not permit any part of its computing and information systems to be used for these purposes.

Further information on file sharing and copyright issues can be found in the Rules and Regulations.