Submitted by the Office of CIO Communications Team

Why bother backing up your data? Consider the following: Recovering information stored on your hard drive can be both time-consuming and costly; equally frustrating, the data is often irretrievable; and some NAVAIR end users have experienced hard drive failures, problematic software pushes, and disruptive power surges.

Although Navy and NAVAIR’s NMCI service provider, EDS, is still negotiating alternatives for data storage and backup, interim and practical solutions are readily available. Space is provided via the NMCI contract for users to store data in a secure location. Information Management Department encourages end users to protect the integrity of critical data by taking advantage of this space located on their H: and S: drives. The NMCI Network Operations Center (NOC) manages an enterprise backup system of data stored on the network.

All NMCI users have access to an H: drive, which provides the user with 700 megabytes of personal storage space (this includes files stored on your desktop). The H: drive is regularly backed up to prevent loss of data. Caveat: If the user reaches 90 percent of the allocated storage (approximately 630mb), a warning window appears indicating user is approaching capacity. If the allotted amount of space is exceeded, a window indicates user has exceeded capacity, and the next document will not be saved in that location until space is freed up. Furthermore, once you log out, you may not be able to log back in.

NMCI users can share project-related files with other NMCI users using the S: drive – a shared space used at an aggregate level across the Command. End users should already be mapped to their S: drives, located via the MyComputer icon. Team members who have been granted access to your share drive can access the files you store there. To establish share drive access, contact NAVAIR National Help Desk (301.342.3104 or 1.888.292.5919). As required, a member of the support team will contact you to gather information and requirements in order to establish appropriate settings and access to your account.

Other backup and archival options are available, such as media sticks, external hardrives, and re-writable CDs. It is prudent to maintain periodic backups of data that may have changed since previous backup as a safety measure against hard drive failures.

If you are unable to locate your H: and S: drives, contact NMCI Help Desk (1.866.THE.NMCI). For additional information you may access NMCI User Information http://www.nmci-eds.com/userinfo.asp or visit the Office of CIO Web site at https://cio.navair.navy.mil/.