Data retention

[Dos_Box]

Several years ago, when I was in the trences I was informed by the head that due to people trying to sue the Lancs Education Authority for supposedly neglecting their education (up to 15 years previously) we had to preserve all course work on our network for 15 years in a format which could be accessed easily. This was about a year before DVD RW was availble in the mainstream!
What is your data and coursework retention policy, and does anyone know the official line on this if there is one.

P.S. Ain't it satisfying freeing up all that server space during the summer holidays after you've archived the data?

[ChrisH]

For the last 2 years I have been done a good thorough clean of the ex year 11 areas and stuck them onto DVD and into the school safe and forgotten about them. There wasnt any method inplace before I got here.

[tarquel]

We've always removed leaver years after so long - due to not having the space [again, before the old DVD-R's were about].

This year I intend to do just that and archive all the leaver years on to a DVD and stick it in the safe - if there is room lol

Again, not my decision regarding the deletion of data. I was never told about the keeping of it and when I said I'm running out of room, the answer was "remove the old pupils home folders".

hmmmm... :S

Cheers
Nath

[kingswood]

I didn't know this either. Now it's got me buzzing....blah. Monday again.

Paul

[eejit]

For us, as soon as they're out the door it's a case of "rd pupils98 /s /q"

[russdev]

backing up to dvd this half term and then in school safe.

Russ

[Dos_Box]

The question I need answering is though 'How long do we keep this information for?'

[Ric_]

@Dos_Box: If it's in that safe of yours, it should be fine to keep it forever (since you can't remember the combination )

[Dos_Box]

Shhhhhh!!!!

[Ric_]

@Dos_Box: Not like anyone's goin' to nick it!

[RobC]

Ok, taking it down a slightly different tack (and risking looking like an idiot for asking), when you remove a user from AD Users & Computers (and once the tombstone period expires...) does that automagically remove the user's profile & homeshare folders, or are they just left there accumulating on the server?

[Geoff]

Left.

[tarquel]

Yep - I am working on script to remove it all in one happy swoop

If i narrow it down to a single field that you can script ie.

@ECHO OFF
removeusr 98tsam
removeusr 98tjohn
removeusr 98tstinky
...

I'll happily post it for u all

[and yes, im sure these things exist already - but i DO so enjoy reinventing the wheel lmao]

Cheers
N.

[RobC]

Bollocks! That means I've got seven years worth of redundant staff and pupil shares clogging up my bloody servers!

[Ric_]

I find <SHIFT>+<DEL> works well for removing files - don't what all this worrying and scripting is about!