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AFS Backup and "OldFiles"

[For an in-depth description of the OldFiles directory described below, see the document on backup volumes at http://www.sph.umich.edu/computing/backup_volumes.html.]

Updated from the original email announcement on the OldFiles feature:

SPH Computing Services performs daily backups (barring unusual circumstances) to tape on Monday through Friday of all files in the SPH AFS cell. These files backed up to tape are read from a copy made of every file on the system at 5:30 am each day. This means that if you were to accidentally delete a file in your home directory at 8 am on a given day, SPH Computing Services will be able to restore the said file to the state it was in at 5:30 am of the same day.

As a convenience, SPH Computing Services provides a mechanism for users to restore AFS files on their own in some cases. It relies on a directory called OldFiles in your home or group directory. This directory contains a snapshot of your afs directory as of 5:30 am each day. The OldFiles directory is created by SPH Computing Services staff when a new AFS volume (e.g. a home directory for a new account or a group directory) a is set up and requires no action on your part. If you can't find your OldFiles directory, please contact sph.help about recreating this directory.

Assume now that Dilbert deletes a file data1.sas in a directory called coursework/509 in his AFS home directory, at around noon. Instead of waiting the several days that it may take for SPH Computing Services to restore a file from backup tape and incurring a file restore charge, Dilbert can copy the deleted file out of the OldFiles directory as long as he does so before 5:30 am:

Change directories to the OldFiles directory. He would type :

cd OldFiles
Change to the directory which contains the file he has deleted.

cd coursework/509
He can now copy over the file data1.sas as it was saved in the OldFiles directory at 5:30 am that morning.

NOTE : The OldFiles is created automatically, please DO NOT DELETE it.

This facility is also available to owners of AFS group space. Every group has under its respective directory in /afs/sph.umich.edu/group/ , an OldFiles directory which serves the purpose as defined above, but for the files in that particular group's AFS space/directory.