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US University Accidentally Formats All Windows PCs, Including Its Own Server

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Long gone are the days when we had to format
our PCs and reinstall Windows just because the
sound was no longer working, but the IT
engineers at the Emory University in the United
States are sure reliving some old memories these
days after accidentally reformatting all their
Windows PCs.
While the term “accident” could sound a bit weird
since we're talking about absolutely all Windows
devices belonging to the university, it appears
that it was all caused by a Windows 7
deployment image which was by mistake sent to
all these machines.
And because misfortunes never come singly, the
Emory University hasn't only formatted all
Windows PCs, but also its very own server and
with no backup, the whole reinstallation thing had
to be performed manually.
Here's what the university said in a memo posted
on its website (which was still running, luckily):
“A Windows 7 deployment image was accidentally
sent to all Windows machines, including laptops,
desktops, and even servers,” it said.
“This image started with a repartition / reformat
set of tasks. As soon as the accident was
discovered, the SCCM server was powered off –
however, by that time, the SCCM server itself had
been repartitioned and reformatted. Restoration of
servers began immediately but the process took
far longer than expected – we have been using
consultants to help validate the health of the
SCCM servers and that work only completed last
night.”
As mentioned, reinstallation had to be performed
manually, since no backups were available, which
means that IT engineers really had to restore
system and services one by one using the
traditional methods.
“We were without our preferred methods for
deploying images to desktops/laptops all
yesterday and relied on older methods – USB +
Ghost, LANDesk (we still had our old LANDesk
server) + PXE. These methods required a lot of
manual work plus our success was uneven with
them,” the university explains.
An updated notification posted on its website
today reveals that the university is still working to
resolve the issue, and Windows is still being
installed on some of the affected machines. At the
same time, the university adds that support staff
is also working to install critical applications,
including Microsoft Office, Flash, Firefox, iTunes,
Adobe Reader, and McAfee Anti-Virus, along with
Visio, Project, and Adobe solutions on a number of
systems.
Those affected by the issue and who have not yet
been contacted by the Incident Management
Team are recommended to contact the Service
Desk at 7-7777.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/US-U...ows-PCs-Including-Its-Own-Server-442655.shtml
 
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Well, what you expect when you reduce the cost by hiring low prof IT staff or outsourcing the most of mentenance, now will have to pay to high pro to resolve in speed, the image of university it is not good and maybe most of data will be restored...you expected from a bunch of high educated people(who educate others) to not behave like a greed company, yeah, right, I am not sorry for them, not even for students; I allways backup my work on a cloud outside of university and on usb stick; news like this I think we will see again...
 
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They wouldn't have to reformat that often if they didn't have McAfee!!
 
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Long gone are the days when we had to format
our PCs and reinstall Windows just because the
sound was no longer working, but the IT
engineers at the Emory University in the United
States are sure reliving some old memories these
days after accidentally reformatting all their
Windows PCs.
While the term “accident” could sound a bit weird
since we're talking about absolutely all Windows
devices belonging to the university, it appears
that it was all caused by a Windows 7
deployment image which was by mistake sent to
all these machines.
And because misfortunes never come singly, the
Emory University hasn't only formatted all
Windows PCs, but also its very own server and
with no backup, the whole reinstallation thing had
to be performed manually.
Here's what the university said in a memo posted
on its website (which was still running, luckily):
“A Windows 7 deployment image was accidentally
sent to all Windows machines, including laptops,
desktops, and even servers,” it said.
“This image started with a repartition / reformat
set of tasks. As soon as the accident was
discovered, the SCCM server was powered off –
however, by that time, the SCCM server itself had
been repartitioned and reformatted. Restoration of
servers began immediately but the process took
far longer than expected – we have been using
consultants to help validate the health of the
SCCM servers and that work only completed last
night.”
As mentioned, reinstallation had to be performed
manually, since no backups were available, which
means that IT engineers really had to restore
system and services one by one using the
traditional methods.
“We were without our preferred methods for
deploying images to desktops/laptops all
yesterday and relied on older methods – USB +
Ghost, LANDesk (we still had our old LANDesk
server) + PXE. These methods required a lot of
manual work plus our success was uneven with
them,” the university explains.
An updated notification posted on its website
today reveals that the university is still working to
resolve the issue, and Windows is still being
installed on some of the affected machines. At the
same time, the university adds that support staff
is also working to install critical applications,
including Microsoft Office, Flash, Firefox, iTunes,
Adobe Reader, and McAfee Anti-Virus, along with
Visio, Project, and Adobe solutions on a number of
systems.
Those affected by the issue and who have not yet
been contacted by the Incident Management
Team are recommended to contact the Service
Desk at 7-7777.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/US-U...ows-PCs-Including-Its-Own-Server-442655.shtml

Wait.... SERIOUSLY???
 
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I think they need to fire their entire IT Dept. not just because they accidentally their whole network, but because they didn't have backup management of any kind.

I would be immediately fired if senior management found out I didn't have any kind of backups. We do both HDD and Tape backups, both on and offsite. It's standard practice.
Maybe they were underpaid and therefore had no real expertise, but that still doesn't answer the fact that somebody employed them, and somebody wasn't ensuring they were following standard procedure of at the very least, backups.

They should also be fired for paying for McAfee.
 
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Yep, that's definitely critical to install - if you want a hacked system that performs like shit :D
 
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Long gone are the days when we had to format
our PCs and reinstall Windows just because the
sound was no longer working, but the IT
engineers at the Emory University in the United
States are sure reliving some old memories these
days after accidentally reformatting all their
Windows PCs.
While the term “accident” could sound a bit weird
since we're talking about absolutely all Windows
devices belonging to the university, it appears
that it was all caused by a Windows 7
deployment image which was by mistake sent to
all these machines.
And because misfortunes never come singly, the
Emory University hasn't only formatted all
Windows PCs, but also its very own server and
with no backup, the whole reinstallation thing had
to be performed manually.
Here's what the university said in a memo posted
on its website (which was still running, luckily):
“A Windows 7 deployment image was accidentally
sent to all Windows machines, including laptops,
desktops, and even servers,” it said.
“This image started with a repartition / reformat
set of tasks. As soon as the accident was
discovered, the SCCM server was powered off –
however, by that time, the SCCM server itself had
been repartitioned and reformatted. Restoration of
servers began immediately but the process took
far longer than expected – we have been using
consultants to help validate the health of the
SCCM servers and that work only completed last
night.”
As mentioned, reinstallation had to be performed
manually, since no backups were available, which
means that IT engineers really had to restore
system and services one by one using the
traditional methods.
“We were without our preferred methods for
deploying images to desktops/laptops all
yesterday and relied on older methods – USB +
Ghost, LANDesk (we still had our old LANDesk
server) + PXE. These methods required a lot of
manual work plus our success was uneven with
them,” the university explains.
An updated notification posted on its website
today reveals that the university is still working to
resolve the issue, and Windows is still being
installed on some of the affected machines. At the
same time, the university adds that support staff
is also working to install critical applications,
including Microsoft Office, Flash, Firefox, iTunes,
Adobe Reader, and McAfee Anti-Virus, along with
Visio, Project, and Adobe solutions on a number of
systems.
Those affected by the issue and who have not yet
been contacted by the Incident Management
Team are recommended to contact the Service
Desk at 7-7777.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/US-U...ows-PCs-Including-Its-Own-Server-442655.shtml
Really....that must have teken them a long time....
 
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Here's the kicker; their IT department was staffed by Emory graduates. :banghead:
 

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