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Mid-Term File Management & Storage Lab

🎓 JSS2 | 📅 Term 1 • Week 6

| ⏱ About 40 minutes

Learning goals: Review and apply practical file management skills: creating directories, renaming, moving, and copying files. • Demonstrate file compression (Zipping) to reduce file sizes for email transmission. • Formulate backup strategies comparing local storage to cloud storage. • Diagnose common file management mistakes and apply proper recovery habits.

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Congratulations on reaching the mid-term of JSS 2! Over the past five weeks, you have studied software classification, analyzed the core functions of the Operating System, compared OS platforms from PCs to Real-Time systems, evaluated the WIMP graphical user interface, and deconstructed hierarchical directory trees.

Today, you step into the role of a Systems Administrator. You will conduct a hands-on digital audit: organizing messy directories, managing file versions, compressing project portfolios into Zip archives, and establishing a professional 3-2-1 Backup Strategy!

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Learning Outcomes

By the end of this review lab, you will be able to:

1. Perform professional file operations: creating directories, moving, copying, and renaming.
2. Compress and archive files using standard ZIP compression.
3. Implement the 3-2-1 Backup Rule to safeguard data against hardware loss or theft.
4. Troubleshoot lost files using search and path reconstruction.

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The 3-2-1 Backup Standard

=========================================================================
                        THE 3-2-1 BACKUP STANDARD
=========================================================================

  [ 3 COPIES OF DATA ]       [ 2 DIFFERENT MEDIA ]     [ 1 OFFSITE COPY ]
  - Primary Work Copy        - 1 on Internal SSD       - Cloud Backup
  - Local Backup             - 1 on USB Flash Drive      (Google Drive,
  - Cloud Backup                                         OneDrive, or
                                                         Remote Server)
=========================================================================

Why Backups Matter in Real Life:

Hardware breaks. Laptops get stolen. Electrical surges burn solid-state drives. A student who only keeps their final JSS 2 project on a single laptop is one accident away from losing months of hard work!

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The System Administrator's Practical Lab

Task 1: Building a Structured Classroom Directory Tree

Open your file manager (Windows File Explorer or Linux Files) and navigate to Documents. Create the following folder structure:

Documents/
  └── Kinspire_JSS2/
        ├── 01_Notes/
        ├── 02_Assignments/
        └── 03_Portfolios/

Task 2: File Operations Practice

1. Create a simple text file inside 01_Notes called Week6_Summary.txt.
2. Copy (Ctrl + C) the file and Paste (Ctrl + V) it into 02_Assignments. Notice that two copies now exist independently.
3. Rename the copy in 02_Assignments to Week6_Assignment_Submission.txt.
4. Delete the file in 02_Assignments. Notice how it moves into the Recycle Bin.
5. Open the Recycle Bin, right-click the file, and click Restore. Watch it jump straight back to its original folder!

Task 3: Archiving with ZIP Compression

1. Right-click on your Kinspire_JSS2 folder.
2. On Windows: Select Send to → Compressed (zipped) folder (or click the Compress to ZIP icon).
3. Observe the new file created: Kinspire_JSS2.zip.
4. Notice how the ZIP file bundles all your folders and files into one single file, with a smaller total file size, ready to be attached to an email!

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Common Mistakes & Corrections

Common Mistake	Why It Is Incorrect	Proper Correction
"Emptying the Recycle Bin when you are not sure what is inside."	Emptying the Recycle Bin permanently removes the files from easy recovery.	Check the Recycle Bin contents carefully before clicking 'Empty'.
"Assuming saving on a USB flash drive alone is 100% safe."	Flash drives are easily lost, stepped on, or corrupted by viruses.	Always keep an additional copy in cloud storage or on a second drive.

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Notebook Summary

Mid-Term Lab Reflection

• Move (Ctrl + X): Relocates the original file. Copy (Ctrl + C): Creates an identical duplicate.
• ZIP Compression: Bundles files together and shrinks data size for fast email sharing.
• The 3-2-1 Backup Rule: 3 copies of data, on 2 different media, with 1 copy stored offsite in cloud storage.
• Good file hygiene keeps your digital life calm, organized, and secure against hardware failure.

Check your understanding

What is the difference between 'Moving' a file and 'Copying' a file?

• Moving deletes the file forever; Copying makes it larger
• Moving relocates the original file to a new folder (leaving no file behind); Copying duplicates the file so it exists in both locations
• Moving changes the file into music; Copying turns it into a picture
• There is no difference

Why do computer users compress (or 'Zip') a folder containing 50 photos before sending it over the internet?

• To turn all the photos black and white
• To bundle all files into one single package and reduce total data size for faster upload and download
• To erase the names of the students
• To make the photos invisible

Which of the following is the best practical implementation of the '3-2-1 Backup Rule' for important school project records?

• Keeping 3 copies on 2 different types of media (e.g., laptop drive + external flash drive), with 1 copy stored offsite or in cloud storage
• Buying 3 computers from 2 different stores
• Printing 3 copies on red paper
• Changing your password 3 times every 2 hours

Where do files go when you delete them in a graphical desktop operating system, allowing you a chance to restore them?

• The Recycle Bin (or Trash)
• Directly into the CPU
• Into the computer monitor glass
• They vanish into outer space

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