If you're a writer, you need to back up your work. We all know this, but we don't necessarily do it. I did it, but didn't back up at a separate site, thinking that the greatest likelihood was that I'd lose or damage my laptop outside the home. Instead, our home was burgled the night before Thanksgiving, and both computers - along with my backups - stolen.
I'm very fortunate, in fact. I've discussed how important critique is to my writing process, and as a result of that, I have sent relatively recent drafts of all my work to friends, who are now sending them back to me. I've only lost my most recent work, about two and a half chapters.
Needless to say, however, I'll be changing my backup strategy. There are services now which provide off-site storage for files, and even services that provide automatic back-up saves for you. A number of my friends have recommended Mobileme, or the Dropbox service, to me, so I'll be looking into them.
My message for you for today is this: however you do it, do it and don't wait. If you feel cautious about using an outside service, burn yourself a disc today with all your files on it, and then take the time to do your research. Or find a friend with whom you can exchange files regularly so there's always an extra copy out there somewhere.
I'm going off now to work on reconstructing what I've lost. Thank goodness that's as little as it is.
Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it. I console myself by thinking it could have been a lot worse. Yes, Les, we have been acting against possible identity theft - changing passwords, disabling web access to accounts, etc. Started doing that the night we discovered the theft. I'm sorry about both of your experiences...I'd hate to lose an entire book or script that I'd written! Two and a half chapters is bad enough.
ReplyDeleteDropbox is one option. Another option is to choose an automatic offsite backup from companies like Backblaze, Carbonite or Mozy. They're brainlessly easy to use and for around $50/year will keep all your files encrypted and updated on their servers.
ReplyDeleteJuliette, Sorry to hear about your loss. Losing your work is one thing, to have it happen in such a fashion is horrible. I hope you, your family and home are restored to normality in the fastest possible time.
ReplyDeleteI backup all over the place (I've lost work too - on every single book I've written, the last time was a stupid "Save" instead of "Save As" operator error). Anyway, they may be getting obsolete, but don't discount the usefulness of a small USB thumb drive. They're dirt cheap and, if you're only dealing with word documents which have tiny file sizes, it's really all you need. You can throw it in a drawer or send it to a friend for safekeeping. The same is also true of SD cards.
Also, think about saving your work to googledocs. That has the added benefit of not only having your work "off-site" but also allowing you to work on them wherever you have an internet connection (and not necessarily your own computer).
Cheers
Stuart.