Important Reminder, People

[JRTomlin]

Always. Have. Your. Work. Backed. Up.

Yes, I had a major crash yesterday and could have lost a lot of work. Fortunately, I run Carbonite on my PC so I will be able to recover. But don't forget that this can happen to you.

I don't usually write on my Apple laptop which I loathe and use for formatting but that's what I'm no right now. I should have a replacement PC delivered in two days (It was still under extended warranty) and installing the backup should only take a few hours.   

But don't think it can't happen to you.

[Simon Haynes]

I hate losing work. It hasn't happened for 20 years now... not since I stopped using Word.

I designed yWriter to take autobackups of the current scene every few seconds, with date and timestamp. It backs up the whole project every five mins, by time and date, and you can specify an alternate backup folder (e.g. google drive) so you get autobackups there too.

[Jeff Tanyard]

I still remember Joe Nobody's story about his stolen laptop.  He had an almost-finished book on it, and he had to re-write the whole thing from memory because he didn't have any backup copies.

I took that story to heart, and I always back up my work now.  I do it by emailing the file to myself when I'm done with it for the day.  Once you're in the habit of doing it, it's quick and easy.  I back things up on other hard drives, too, though not as often as I use email.  Also, I write in OpenOffice, and it has an auto-save feature in case of crashes or outages, so that's nice.

[notthatamanda]

I dropped my laptop on the tile floor yesterday and I was still in a panic even though I have everything backed up on a zip drive.  And a month or so ago I tried to open my main file and it had gotten corrupted for some reason.   My latest book is 175K words.  I have paper copies but if I had to type it all in, oh boy.  I also email a copy to myself periodically, just to back up the zip drive.

[VanessaC]

Very timely reminder, thank you!

I've just realised that although I got a new laptop recently, I haven't synced it to my cloud backup. Guess I'll be doing that later!

[Maggie Ann]

I've got Carbonite as well. I have my old, dead laptop backed-up there and I'm always pulling old files from it.

[The Doctor]

I once managed to write 19k words of a story, about fifteen years ago, on paper, only for me to lose those pages. I can remember the story, scenes, etc, and could probably write a better version now, but I still regret the loss.

As for backing up my work, I too email myself whatever I've been working on that day, and using cloud.

[JRTomlin]

I hate losing work. It hasn't happened for 20 years now... not since I stopped using Word.

I designed yWriter to take autobackups of the current scene every few seconds, with date and timestamp. It backs up the whole project every five mins, by time and date, and you can specify an alternate backup folder (e.g. google drive) so you get autobackups there too.

Good idea, Simon, because having a duplicate backup is smart. And it has to be automatic or it won't happen.

[JRTomlin]

I tested a recovering a file soon after I started paying for it and that worked fine and a lot of people use it. So I think it will be work.

It is being a major pain in the arse, but as long as I don't lose work I can deal with it.

[APP]

I'm a little on the paranoid side regarding losing my work from a failed hard drive. Here's what I do.

I use Mac's Time Machine. I have two separate portable drives, and every other day I switch between them. Additionally, I use Super Duper. Yes, it's overkill, but this way I feel protected.

[Post-Doctorate D]

My laptop has a folder with all my writing, except already published material.  An external drive has all my writing including already published material.  A USB drive has all my writing including already published material.  The laptop's hard drive and the external drive are backed up daily to a third external hard drive.  The laptop's hard drive is also periodically backed up to a different external hard drive.  Another set of external hard drives also have full copies of all my writing including already published material.  I also periodically backup items to a hard drive that is kept in a water-proof, fireproof safe.  And, because I've made a habit in recent years of saving every file and every revision, the folder with all my writing is over 10GB in size with over 5,000 files.  Overkill, maybe, but if you've ever lost anything, it's well worth the relative peace of mind.

Also, in the unlikely event I should ever become famous, future English archaeologists or whoever will be able to see the progress of things I've written and what I changed when and all that stuff that will be of great interest to like a half dozen people in the world, or precisely zero if I never become famous which is the more likely case.

[Lynn]

And, because I've made a habit in recent years of saving every file and every revision, the folder with all my writing is over 10GB in size with over 5,000 files.  Overkill, maybe, but if you've ever lost anything, it's well worth the relative peace of mind.

This is my method. I save my files multiple times a day as I work on them, and currently have 44 copies of the short story I'm working on in the backups folder. Many of my novels have 200+ backup versions because I save so frequently. My "publishing" folder has grown to 26.1 GB and has 16,848 files in it. It's backed up in multiple locations and I've had to graduate to 64GB flash drives recently for my portable backups I carry in my purse in case my house disappears when I'm gone. Because you just never know when a sinkhole is going to take out every last thing you own including the waterproof fireproof safe and the cloud of servers your extra backup is stored on fails (because of course that's when it's going to fail).

[JRTomlin]

I also have an auto backup to a cloud server. I see no particular reason to keep all versions of work in progress though. Considering my constant 'tinkering' it would be in the hundreds of thousands.

I only put completed works on a flash drive in the 'if total disaster ever strikes and all the cloud backup disappears' scenario.

Some of you definitely beat me on a paranoia scale, but I fear there may be more people who are pretty sure that backing up via email (which they actually only do once a week -- maybe -- if that) probably outnumber either of us, speaking from years of experience and not talking about anyone here. 😜

ETA: I also remember Joe Nobody (is he still publishing, does anyone know?) having his laptop. He was one of those 'paranoid' people I would have expected to have a hundred backups too.

[Jeff Tanyard]

My laptop has a folder with all my writing, except already published material.  An external drive has all my writing including already published material.  A USB drive has all my writing including already published material.  The laptop's hard drive and the external drive are backed up daily to a third external hard drive.  The laptop's hard drive is also periodically backed up to a different external hard drive.  Another set of external hard drives also have full copies of all my writing including already published material.  I also periodically backup items to a hard drive that is kept in a water-proof, fireproof safe.  And, because I've made a habit in recent years of saving every file and every revision, the folder with all my writing is over 10GB in size with over 5,000 files.  Overkill, maybe, but if you've ever lost anything, it's well worth the relative peace of mind.

Also, in the unlikely event I should ever become famous, future English archaeologists or whoever will be able to see the progress of things I've written and what I changed when and all that stuff that will be of great interest to like a half dozen people in the world, or precisely zero if I never become famous which is the more likely case.

All you lack are robot sentry guns to guard the safe.   

[Post-Doctorate D]

Because you just never know when a sinkhole is going to take out every last thing you own including the waterproof fireproof safe and the cloud of servers your extra backup is stored on fails (because of course that's when it's going to fail).

You also need a pocket computer encased in a Faraday cage in case of an EMP.

All you lack are robot sentry guns to guard the safe.   

Until they run out of ammo.  I think a Raston Warrior Robot would be better.

[Marti Talbott]

I don't trust a lot of the ways you guys have described above. Besides, I don't have time to learn something new. For years, I've had a yahoo and a gmail account. Each night when I'm done working, I just email a copy from yahoo to gmail. That way there is always a copy I can get to online no matter where I am or what happens.

Oh, I forgot to mention I'm a cheapscape - free emails = free backup.

[David VanDyke]

I don't trust a lot of the ways you guys have described above. Besides, I don't have time to learn something new. For years, I've had a yahoo and a gmail account. Each night when I'm done working, I just email a copy from yahoo to gmail. That way there is always a copy I can get to online no matter where I am or what happens.

Oh, I forgot to mention I'm a cheapscape - free emails = free backup.

I do this too. It puts one in Sent and another (assuming it arrives) in the target email account. Double backup. And I backup my whole hard drive every  now and again, for historical purposes.

[cecilia_writer]

I would be worried about version control with some of the methods outlined above. I used to use mostly email backups with occasional copying to dropbox. I usually save a copy to my computer and one to OneDrive as I go along now. Some of my things are on an old computer so this thread has reminded me I need to boot it up one day soon and see if there's anything to be salvaged.

[Shane]

Doesn't having your work synced to the cloud, be it iCloud or Google Drive, make this concern a relic of the past? Maybe I'm doing it wrong?

[JRTomlin]

Successfully restored, I am happy to say.

[Marti Talbott]

Successfully restored, I am happy to say.