What's the most you've lost?

Nateskate · Sep 2, 2008

If you write, chances are you've lost pages or even books through computer crashes and other such things. I've lost entire books in the past.

Now I have so many redundant copies it's sick. I have a home computer I call my vault. I don't go online, so there are no threats of viruses or other nasty things. It was less than two years old, and it just began to blink, and then it just went black. It went so black that we couldn't access the bios, meaning the motherboard crashed and not the hard drive. I had most of the info on other external drives, but still lost some data.

All in all, I had a deadline to send out book two, and I had all but forty pages printed.

It took a month, because instead of buying a new computer, I built one, well- I ordered the parts and looked on as others built. I finally have a computer and my files were all saved except perhaps a few pages.

Just wondering who else has lost parts of their WIP? How did you deal with it?

ishtar'sgate · Sep 2, 2008

Fortunately, I haven't lost any. My son drove me crazy about making backups while I wrote my first novel. I always have a current hard copy of everything as well as a jump drive copy. Well, my jump drive isn't up to date but then my son's at university and not nagging me. Guess I'd better smarten up!

Linnea

Mr Flibble · Sep 2, 2008

*sob*

please, I don't want to talk about the times my hard drive has died.

*sob*

geardrops · Sep 2, 2008

In 2005, when I was 21 years old, my hard drive crashed, taking with it everything I had ever written since I was 8 years old.

When people ask "If you've been writing so long, why don't you have more to show for it?" that is why.

It still hurts to think about.

triceretops · Sep 2, 2008

Nine novels in a house fire--three that were repped by Richard Curtis in 1988. I don't even like to think about it. I had no hardcopy extras, and Curits disposed of my books once they failed to sell.

Tri

Gary Clarke · Sep 2, 2008

NINE NOVELS?
Nine?

Jeez, Tri. I'm flippin stunned. I was gonna say I'd lost an entire scifi novel to a stack of dishes my young-wan dropped on the laptop, but it sounds pitiful next to that.

Nine. NINE?

Sheesh.

Tachyon · Sep 2, 2008

I've lost a couple of pages here and there. One time I wrote three great pages, then I closed OpenOffice--closed, it didn't crash on me--and I told it not to save! -_-

Several years ago, I had an ancient version of my first novel in WordPerfect 7 format on an equally-ancient computer. The file was also password protected--and I forgot the password. Luckily I remembered it after a while and was able to get into the file--then I remembered why I hadn't copied it off the ancient computer on to the new one.

VoltShadow · Sep 2, 2008

Yeah in retrospect I don't feel as bad either. I lost one novel and the 2nd and third chapters of a W.O.P. before due to a computer worm, but luckly I had discovered my archival hardcopies in some trippy little ziplock bag crammed in a pile of my old Transformers comic books. (Don't ask, to this day I don't even know how or why). It took me forever to scan the thing back in and then get it reformatted but it was there. Ever since I have things double backed all the time on Jumpdrives and on CD/DVDs.

shebitme · Sep 2, 2008

i back my stuff up on a flash drive regularly, and email it to myself regularly as well. any day that i make a lot of progress, i back it up

jessicaorr · Sep 2, 2008

I'm extremely paranoid about loosing data so I've got everything backed-up on DVD and flashdrives. I've never had a computer die on me though. The most I've lost is a few pages at a time due to crashes (now I tell word to auto-save every minute)

But my sister has a terrible time- she's gone through three computers in five years. She takes great care of them, so I don't know... I suppose some people just have bad luck with electronics.

Jessica- counting her blessings!

gwendy85 · Sep 2, 2008

The most I've lost? Sleep and weight (haha!) Seriously, I'm sooooo paranoid when it comes to losing data (I lost my very first animation shorts which took me three days to complete in a single deadly virus attack at the age of 15) so by the time I started my novel at 19, I was ready for it. I created backups which I sent to my email and then another set of backups in http://docs.google.com and I've been happy ever since! My old computer, which contained all my files was attacked by another virus again and no files could be retrieved but since I had everything in my email, I'm safe. Go Yahoomail! Haha!

Michael Parks · Sep 2, 2008

A few lines. I'm so very aware of what a system can eat, that in the five years I've been working on this story, I've lost no more than a couple lines in between Autosaves in Word.

After each session, I run Syncback and it copies the script to three other physical drives in my computer, and to a private FTP web site for offsite storage. Takes about 30 seconds each time I do it.

(Scroll down on that link to the bottom for the freeware version of Syncback, if you're interested).

Red-Green · Sep 2, 2008

Once I started working on computer, I haven't lost anything. When I was 14, though, I lost everything I'd ever written to the FBI, DEA, and IRS. They confiscated the contents of our house, including the six journals full of complete dreck I'd written by age 14. Dreck, yes, but the loss of those journals stunted me. I didn't write another word until I was 19.

stormie · Sep 2, 2008

Thankfully just one four-page manuscript. I misplaced it and never did the whole back-up thing with it (email, flashdrive, etc). Who knows though. It could have been the beginning of a best seller. Right. :roll:

jessicaorr · Sep 2, 2008

Redzilla said:
Once I started working on computer, I haven't lost anything. When I was 14, though, I lost everything I'd ever written to the FBI, DEA, and IRS. They confiscated the contents of our house, including the six journals full of complete dreck I'd written by age 14. Dreck, yes, but the loss of those journals stunted me. I didn't write another word until I was 19.

Redzilla, that's horrible! What a theft. Fire, flood, earthquake. Awful acts of uncontrollable nature, bad luck, sure but... the IRS! And why on earth couldn't they give them back after any investigation was completed? Words fail... I'm so sorry.

JoNightshade · Sep 2, 2008

When I was about 14 or 15 I lost the entire shebang. And that sounds like nothing, but I had spent 90% of my spare time writing since we bought our computer when I was... 11 or 12? Yes, I cried. And no, I never let that happen again. Which reminds me, I should go make another backup.

bsolah · Sep 2, 2008

My laptop got stolen a few months ago, lost everything except for my current novel, two WIP shorts, and anything I'd self-published to my website. Mainly lost a couple of unworkable shorts, and two old novels that I thought I'd never touch again.

Funnily enough, this last month, one of thos novels has been resurfacing and I can't find any backups anywhere!

Matera the Mad · Sep 2, 2008

I lost the first chapter or so of my first fan-fic. Oh the pain. Ha. Worse than that was losing some fractal parameter files. I can always re-write, but only Fractal Explorer can do the fancy math.

Fillanzea · Sep 2, 2008

When I lived in Japan, I was writing my novel longhand in notebooks. Well... I'm not sure what happened, but one or two of those notebooks got lost in the moving process, and all I ended up with was tendinitis!

maestrowork · Sep 2, 2008

Two short stories. I switched computer and thought I made a backup. I did, but somehow those two files weren't on the hard drive.

Still a mystery to me.

Chasing the Horizon · Sep 2, 2008

I lost a couple thousand words off one of my novels when I switched laptops because I accidentally overwrote the newest version of the file with an older version. Because of that I never overwrite files period anymore for active WIPS (which explains how I've ended up with over 30 copies of one of my current WIPS,

).

It would be virtually impossible for me to lose much, because I keep copies of my writing on both my PowerBooks, my iBook, a zip drive, and my compactflash PC card. I keep hard copies of my completed novels in the trunk of my car, but it wouldn't make sense for me to try to keep backup copies of active projects anywhere outside my house because I know I wouldn't update them frequently enough. If my house ever catches fire, expect me to come running out with an armful of laptops.

L M Ashton · Sep 2, 2008

I haven't lost a thing. Not because I haven't had hard drives fail (at least three) or computers stolen (also three, although maybe four) or notebooks that died (uh, let me see - Acer craptop, Dell, Acer Ferrari... three again. What is it with three?) - I have. In spades. But I'm paranoid to start with. And, you know, sometimes paranoia pays off.

Clarec · Sep 2, 2008

My laptop died several months back and I knew I hadn't backed up for ages. I know better than that, I kept thinking about backing up but never got round to it. I had older copies of things but not the newer versions. Luckily my clever hubby got the laptop working long enough to copy it all on to the external hard drive then it died for good. Now I back up on to disc, external hard drive and google docs.

Looks like it takes a loss to make most of us wake up, hmm? Oh and I've forgotten a password before too, which is annoying. There wasn't much in the folder but still. ARGH!

Clare

hammerklavier · Sep 2, 2008

Just a few pages of a screenplay due to this weird bug in Celtix. When I'm using OpenOffice, I press Ctrl-S often to save and then email copies to myself whenever I've made any progress.

J C Coy · Sep 2, 2008

I've never lost more than a paragraph or two when Word has locked up a few times. I save often and back up on a jump drive all the freakin time.

What's the most you've lost?

living in the past

They've been very bad, Mr Flibble

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