Critical info (was Upgrading...)

[Brian Kelsay]

Some places even go so far as to run a login script that defines the user
"My Documents" directory as residing on a network file server.  The users
are notified what is acceptable to store there and will be backed up for
them.  MP3s and AVIs and .pst files are not acceptable since they take a lot
of space.  Users have quotas to keep it sensible.

But most of us support family and friends or answer questions of
acquaintances, so where do we tell them to put their docs and files on
Winders?  "C:\Documents and Settings\<user.name>" or they will by default go
to "C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator" and reside in the Desktop or My
Documents directories.  You can also do a search for the typical files
someone will create to find places to look (.mp3, .avi, .pst, .xls, .doc,
.ppt, .mdb) and don't forget to look for their pictures from their camera.
I had to do a search on .jpg on the last one I rescued with my Linux box to
find some deep directory with vacation pictures.   You could fairly easily
script this search if you do it often enough.

We used a migration tool called Desktop DNA when I worked for the City of
KC, but it mainly gave you a stupid interface for creating a search on a
users HDD, and you could tell it file extensions to look for.  It always
came up with too many results, meaning a few files that are on every PC, but
you could create a sort of diff by scanning a base PC load.   Then it would
show you the results after the scan, you could delete some bogus results
that you could see were from the system directories or whatever and then it
would zip the files up into one file and let you name it after the user
being migrated or rescued from the drive.  Neat idea really, but slow.  As I
say, you could script this and exclude certain directories if it was worth
the time.  Or you could tell them that the drive is dead and all is lost.
I always tried to find a way to save files, be the hero, make an ally, or
require a favor at a later date.

As for Linux, all of a user's stuff should be in "/home/<username>" and
anything that is anywhere else, the user should be able to direct you to
it.  I wouldn't work exclusively off of a pendrive like Oren, I'm not that
paranoid, nor do I use that many different systems.   But you should back up
regularly to CD, DVD, USB or you name it.  I'm preaching to the choir here.
Every time I start using a USB drive or pendrive or CDRW to put my stuff on
it, I end up needing to move a single file or set of files that is too big
to put w/ everything else, so one more CDRW goes in the bag.  Next I had to
set up an FTP site so me and a few buds could trade files and I could upload
to there.   Then there are scheduled backups you can do with various free or
purchased products.

This has turned into a ramble or a rant I guess, but I think I mean to say
that most stuff is already organized on both modern Winders and Linux and
there are different sized solutions for each need.  Yeah.  Find something
that works for you.


On 1/5/07, Oren Beck <> wrote:
>
>
> A trick from the ms office flaws mitigation toolkit may fit here.
> It has become common in some workplaces for all the "that user"
> data on their desktop pc to live in the "My Documents" folder.
> The stark simplistic modeling of that is defined as:
>
> Admin will *TRY* to  back up your "My Documents" folder and *ATTEMPT* to
> restore it if your PC is updated or replaced.  Anything you care about
> should be backed up by YOU using the provided backup methods. Implied of
> course it that anything NOT in the "My Documents" folder and NOT backed up
> by the user may be not there as NO attempt to save other stuff will be made.
>
> ****Oh, YOU are that "Admin" on your own system of course!***
>
> The trick I propose then becomes simple.in concept at least.
>
> MAKE the location of the data unique to a "user" reside in a defined
> "folder".  Better still- a USB drive AND a defined folder. Then make a
> template for the new distro or whatever to fill in it's blanks from.
>
>
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