I create an additional new file for every day I work on my book. I have it saved in three spots: My computer's internal hard drive, my external hard drive, and my USB flash drive.
This way, even if lightning strikes my home, I will be safe. If my house burns down, hopefully the flash drive will have survived among the ashes.
Are any of you as paranoid about backing up your manuscripts as I am?
[This message has been edited by AllenMackley (edited January 28, 2008).]
Posted by annepin (Member # 5952) on :
Heck, I back mine up to an external hard drive and a remote server. If my house burns down, I'll still be able to access my files.
Posted by AllenMackley (Member # 7771) on :
Oh yes, me too actually. I guess that's 4 places...
[This message has been edited by AllenMackley (edited January 28, 2008).]
Posted by Marzo (Member # 5495) on :
I seem to go through phases.
I'll go for weeks and weeks (even months) without backing up, and then something I read or someone I talk to will remind me of horror erasure stories, and I'll be a religious backer-upper for the next while until the zeal fades and I return once again to my lazy, periodical updates.
It's the ciiiiiiiiircle of liiiiiiiife.
Posted by WouldBe (Member # 5682) on :
Here's a related thread.
Posted by KStar (Member # 4968) on :
I'm probably not careful enough. I save it on my laptop and a flash drive. Every 50 pages I email it to myself, only so I can email it to other people, so I suppose that's pretty safe.
Posted by Rommel Fenrir Wolf II (Member # 4199) on :
besids having back ups in those places i have back ups on the net, on my friends computer's and a copy that i keep in a bank safe box (for my more highly secure work) i am just that paranoid.
RFW2nd
Posted by AllenMackley (Member # 7771) on :
Well its a good thing we're all cautions, cause that's a lot of work to lose to a hard drive failure or a computer virus.
If that happened to me and if it was my only copy I might just break out the sackcloth and ashes, tear my shirt and wail to the heavens... then again, maybe not But, it would be a sad day...
Posted by rickfisher (Member # 1214) on :
I keep my flash drive around my neck. That way, nothing should happen to it unless that something happens to me, too, in which case I shouldn't need it anymore.
Of course, the drive can just go bad, so I keeps backups elsewhere, as well.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
I usually do the ultimate save by printing it out. Usually I'm planning to rewrite, so I need a fresh copy to copy off of. (Or maybe just "use"...I was raised in a non-computer age and find it difficult to move from one file to another.)
Then I lose it somewhere in the clutter on my desk.
Of course before I print out I back up on a separate diskette...leading to a succession of diskettes with scribbled titles and dates...
(Yes, I have lost stuff in the bowels of cyberspace...)
Posted by NoTimeToThink (Member # 5174) on :
My work is backed-up on 2 usb flash drives, plus on my pc (my PC is backed up to DVD every month), so I am covered if my house burns down. I don't know what I'll do if I die in the fire...
Posted by SaucyJim (Member # 7110) on :
I don't back up nearly enough. Which is to say at all.
I should probably get on that huh? I suppose a bimonthly backup schedule would do well enough, though depending on my erratic writing schedule, I'll probably come up with a back-up-as-you-go (HA!) system as well.
I need an external server. >_>
Posted by AllenMackley (Member # 7771) on :
quote:I don't know what I'll do if I die in the fire...
Lol...
Posted by halogen (Member # 6494) on :
I sync an external drive with my local drive for standard backups, this is good for about 95% of all situations. This is an automated process, happens every night at 2am so I don't have to think about it.
If anyone is interested Cobian Backup is a decent easy to use automated backup system.
For writing I use Google Docs (docs.google.com) because it automatically versions my work and has a tighter backup regime then anything I could construct.
Anyone who doesn't have a backup system I would recommend trying Google Docs. At the very least you could use it as a "text warehouse". That is, you keep your local document and every now and then log into Google Docs and copy all your text into a Google Docs Document.
[This message has been edited by halogen (edited January 31, 2008).]
Posted by KayTi (Member # 5137) on :
I use mosy home edition for offsite backups. Took ages to do the initial 80gig backup (like honestly weeks. The app is designed to run in the background with a very low memory profile, so it goes slow at first, then does incremental backups.) it has a monthly fee, but it isn't bad. I take a ton of pictures and have experienced catastophoc hard drive failures before (upon impact with the ground...) so the cost is worth it to me
[This message has been edited by KayTi (edited February 01, 2008).]
Posted by skadder (Member # 6757) on :
Yeah I use Mozy, too. Although I use the free version (2gb) just for my writing. If the album burns that's too bad, but thousands of hours of writing (Perhaps not that much) disappearing would be a black moment.
I must say I am thinking of upgrading to the big version.
But, it would be a sad day...