Disasters, which can threaten property and data, include but are not limited to fire, flood, vandalism, theft, hardware failure, software failure, electrical surges and power outages. This section defines additional features of the Colleges computer network that minimize the loss of data in the event of such a disaster. No disaster recovery plan can account for every situation that may arise. Common sense plays an important role in this regard. The most critical part of disaster recovery is not the physical machine but the data created by the user. Machines and associated hardware can be replaced assuming availability of funds or spare components on-hand. Data that is lost is lost forever and cannot be replaced unless there is a plan in place to account for recovery of data. This is why it is imperative that students back up their data on external encrypted devices or their OUHSC One Drive account.
