In this edition of the Technology and Physical Education I would like to discuss, "Backing up your data, the Whys and Hows"  Send me information, questions or problems you are having with backups or recovery and as always I will try to help you find answers.

How many times have you almost finished creating a document when you get the BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) or there is a power outage.  If you had set your automatic backup you would be able to find at least some of your previous work.  This feature is available in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.  After restarting your computer the files will be available when you restart your application.  You can set your time for auto save in the |Tools |Options |Save.  I have mine set at 10 minutes, with the faster computer today there is probably no noticeable slow down using a smaller time interval and you will have more work saved.

The other back up is backing up your major data files.  It is probably reasonable for most teachers to back up their important data files once every 2 weeks or at the end of every unit.  If you keep  your grade book on your computer, I would backup those files every week.

You may need a backup of data if there is a hardware failure, operator error, power glitches, or new computer, or some other unforeseen problem.  You may want to clean up your hard drive, yet there are some files you have not used but want to keep, backups can help.  These can all cause  problems with files on your hard drive.  The problem can range from a minor  inconvenience to a major catastrophe.

Think of the work it would be to recreate all of the lessons, handout, presentations, grades and the other important data on your hard drive.  It is time you made a backup.

Sincerely,

Michael W. Dumin,
Technology Section Editor

How to make regular backups?

When we think of backing up the hard drive there are three types; full, incremental and differential.  Full backup is exactly what it sounds like, every file, system and data, is backed up.  It takes a long time and requires allot of media, tape or CD's  Incremental backup saves only files modified since the last backup.  It is faster to do after the first full backup, but a bit of a pain to restore.  Differential backup saves only files since the last full and incremental backup.  This will save time during a restore.

When ever you add new software or hardware you should make a full backup.  This will make it easier to recover your data and programs.  You may want to do full backups twice a year otherwise to keep your system up to date.

In addition you will want to backup your important files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other data files) once a week to diskettes, removable disks, tape, CD-R (recordable) or CD-RW (rewriteable).  This can also allow you to bring copies of school work to your home computer to place on your hard drive or to work on at home and bring back to your work computer.  The easiest way to do this is to use Windows Explorer to copy specific files or folder on the CD.  If you use CD-R you will find that the files are read only and you have to copy the file to your hard drive and then change the properties using Windows Explorer.  Find the file and highlight it, then use File |Properties |General and change file from Read Only, now you are ready to use the file.

The most popular media for home backup is the CD-R/RW.  CD-R/RW are often included with new pc's or they can be added at a low cost.  Many CD-R/RW will come with backup software.  CD's keep data safe, they are low cost and they can store alott of data (659MB).

mdumin@radford.edu via email.

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Here are link to some school web pages with a source for finding may other pages.  Check out what others have done to help you decide how you want to design your site.

www.blaine.k12.wa.us
Blaine Elementary is  third through fifth grade students living in Northwest corner of Washington State!

myschoolonline.com
Fisher Elementary Cyber Gym in Texas

www.geocities.com
Frank and Mike's Physical education page has ideas for many areas such as assessment, soccer, ultimate and others.

www.angelfire.com
Welcome to Homer Pittard Campus School's Physical Education Page. Campus School is a Rutherford County School located in Murfreesboro,Tn. Campus School is a laboratory school for Middle Tennessee State University.

members.aol.com/pvmspe/index.html
Check the PE Program at Park View MS.

fcis.rhnet.org/~psummit/
Home Page of Paula Summit follow the link to additional information.

pe.central.vt.edu
Listing of school program sites at PE Central