ncsudocstudent

Thanks for everyone's replies....a huge help.

I have a PC. Thanks for those suggestions. So, by having dropbox and an external HD I would be completely backed up.

Hi! I need some advice from those of you who have found the ultimate comupter solutions to grad school. Here is my situation...I have a lap top that I drag around with me everywhere I go. It is nice, has all of the memory and bells and whistles that I need. I also have a desktop in my office on campus. this year, my first semester as a phd student, I worked on the laptop at home, took it with me to campus (which I should add I commute to 3-4 times a week...about a 1.5 hr. drive) and used both the laptop and the desktop at my office. I used flash drives to go back and forth between computers. Here is the issue. This left me pretty disorganized and I dropped my laptop about 4 weeks ago. It is not a loss but it is damaged and must be sent away to be fixed now that the semester is over. This was a good lesson and is now prompting me to find a system that works for me as I go into my second year. I cannot risk a loss of data from here forward. Suggestions are welcome. I am thinking about getting an external hard drive and carrying that between home and my office instead of the laptop. Although if I did this I would probably want to get a small notebook or something to check e-mail at other places on campus and in between. I have also considered buying space on line to store my data which would eliminate carrying anything back and forth between home and office. Any pros or cons to either of these options? At home I plan to get a large monitor and keyboard to plug into my laptop because it is much easier to navigate since I use ESRI ArcMap a lot. If you have found reasonable solutions to issues like these please share. My goal is to be organized, have my data in a safe place to prevent loss, and to save my back and eyes from lugging my laptop around and squinting. Thanks!!

It is for students in our discipline from multiple universities

Thank you very much for your reply!

It is for phd students from mulitiple universities in our discipline.

Hi Everyone! I am new to the Forum and glad to have this outlet. I am just completing my first year as a PhD student. I have been asked by my department to put together a session for an upcoming teaching conference that involves the PhD student perspecive while a concurrent session is held by faculty on the faculty's perspective of the current status of our PhD programs and the quality and needs of PhD students. It feels to me like maybe there is some tension between the expectations of faculty and the expression of work/life balance among PhD students in my program. I'm not sure though because I am a non-traditional (read older but not that old!) student and I am also a commuter....so this is just my sense. It feels like those faculty who have worked so hard in their careers are concerned about who they are passing the torch to. So I would love any feedback you might have about what you feel like are issues in your department from your (grad student) perspective. Do you feel that your coursework is truly preparing you for a career in academia? Do you feel like you are getting the opportunities you need and the resources you need to be successful? Do you feel any disconnect between you as a student and faculty when it comes to expectations. Do you think technology has changed the culture of grad school (ability to work from home instead of grinding it out in the office)? Do you think faculty who are nearing retirement have the same expectations of students as new faculty? Answers to any of these questions and any other perspectives that you have would be most welcome!