How do you back up your work?

MonikaRuth · Apr 19, 2011

i recently had a terrifying experience where I wrote for a few hours, and then my computer decided to feign death. I thought I lost everything I had written, plus everything from the past couple of months. I have an external hard drive, but move around with my laptop a lot, which means the hard drive is laying here or there and is not usually connected to the computer for easy backing-up. As you can see, my computer came back to life (but I'm pretty sure it's on it's last legs...) so I've been backing up my work onto my external HD after every writing session.

How do you ensure the safety of your stories?

Kateness · Apr 19, 2011

Dropbox - online free storage. Google it.

Email it to myself when I think of it.

Flashdrives.

CD/DVD copies of my entire writing folders. (again, when I think of it)

kuwisdelu · Apr 19, 2011

We've had tons of these threads.

My advice? Get a Dropbox account and a flash drive.

jmarkbyrnes · Apr 19, 2011

I back up three different ways.

1) I use an Apple Time Capsule with Time Machine. I have it set to automatically back up my laptop once a day. It does it wirelessly over my home network.
2) I use Mozy Online Backup which constantly monitors for changes in certain folders on my laptop (i.e. my "writing" folder) and then backs it all up online (I think this is similar to the above mentioned Dropbox).
3) I periodically print out hard copies of my stuff and label and file it in 3-ring binders on my bookshelf.

Hope that helps.

-J. Mark Byrnes

backslashbaby · Apr 19, 2011

I use a flash drive and email it to myself (two different accounts). I use the external hdd periodically, but mine sounds like your setup. I'm not saying mine's the safest way to go, just what I do

kuwisdelu · Apr 19, 2011

jmarkbyrnes said:
1) I use an Apple Time Capsule with Time Machine. I have it set to automatically back up my laptop once a day. It does it wirelessly over my home network.

Take my advice: do not let your cat sit on the Time Capsule. No matter how warm and comfy it might seem to her.

I realize this should be totally obvious, but I couldn't always be around to knock her off. I never considered having to cat-proof my router. RIP.

MonikaRuth · Apr 19, 2011

kuwisdelu said:
We've had tons of these threads.

Sorry!

Snowstorm · Apr 19, 2011

After every work session, I copy the work into a thumb drive and I email the file to two separate email addresses that have different providers.

Glad to hear your computer revived itself in time for you to back up your work!

COchick · Apr 19, 2011

I email it to myself every night.

blacbird · Apr 19, 2011

For business reasons, I have a desktop, laptop and sub-notebook computer available. I keep everything backed up on all three. Plus two flashdrives.

cameron_chapman · Apr 20, 2011

I've gone cloud-based recently. Most of my writing is done in either Google Docs or a private Wordpress.com blog (which also houses all my research). Docs has version control, so I can go back to an earlier version if things get screwed up. I copy and paste actual chapters from Docs to WP so I have two copies.

My main reasoning for this has to do with being able to access my writing on my phone or Nook. I've found the Android WP app to have the nicest UI, so that's what gave me the idea. My secondary reason is that I'm awful about doing backups (and Dropbox refuses to work on my Mac, despite many, many attempts). This way I don't have to remember to do anything.

RobJ · Apr 20, 2011

Friend of mine lost her hard drive this week. Luckily she has a good back-up strategy in place so the impact was minimal. Whatever mechanism you use, use something. Not backing up is no way to live.

jmarkbyrnes · Apr 20, 2011

kuwisdelu said:
Take my advice: do not let your cat sit on the Time Capsule. No matter how warm and comfy it might seem to her.

I realize this should be totally obvious, but I couldn't always be around to knock her off. I never considered having to cat-proof my router. RIP.

I beat the cat if he even looks at my electronics

-J. Mark Byrnes

shadowwalker · Apr 20, 2011

I use Mozy as well. They have a free version (or at least they did have) which covered all my writing files easily. I went to the pay version to cover all my other 'valuables' as well. Set it up and it's all automatic after that.

Jamesaritchie · Apr 20, 2011

I back up all sorts of ways.. Google Docs and Skydrive online. I also back up to an external hard drive.

I keep all my writing files in a folder, and when I add words to any project, I copy the entire folder to a DVD. I do this the moment any writing session ends. Just takes a minute.

Tirjasdyn · Apr 20, 2011

I back up daily to a an SD card. I back to a flash drive, an external hard drive, Long term files on a DVD, copies updated on two computers and use an online back up. OH and printed hard copies of files that can printed, articles, novels, ss, etc.

The key to back up is AS MANY PLACES AS POSSIBLE.

I don't use automatic backup service because I use autobackup on software and the two conflict causing corruption. YMMV

<rant>
I don't use our time capsule because it's a piece of crap. We all hate the stupid thing. As soon as we can afford to get rid of it and get the router we have our eye on we will. Damn thing is the most unreliable piece of tech in this house. </rant>

maestrowork · Apr 20, 2011

Multiple backups: you MUST have redundancy.

1. Dropbox -- that's my day-to-day backup solution for my most frequently used and important files. It's free. It's automatic. It's pain-free. I have 2.8GB storage, more than enough.

2. External drives -- I have two, small enough to travel with me, large enough to back up my entire system

3. DVD-ROMs -- these are usually just stacked away for permanent records...

4. Time Machine -- automatic, painless way to back up everything on my Mac/MacBook Pro.

5. Thumb-drives. They are a dime a dozen. Good for on-the-go file transfer and small backups.

Other less-used methods:

6. SD cards

7. Google Docs

8. Google Mail

9. Storage on my web/FTP server

10. iPod/iPhone or iPad

AmsterdamAssassin · Apr 20, 2011

I have a PC, a laptop and a USB flashdrive. I use the flashdrive to transfer the latest version from PC to laptop and I email myself files once a week.

kuwisdelu · Apr 20, 2011

Call me new-fashioned, but I always find it odd that so many people still back up to DVD's when externals and flash drives are so cheap. To me, it feels like backing up to a floppy in 2006.

scarletpeaches · Apr 20, 2011

I tattoo every word I write onto kuwisdelu's mansack.

maestrowork · Apr 20, 2011

kuwisdelu said:
Call me new-fashioned, but I always find it odd that so many people still back up to DVD's when externals and flash drives are so cheap. To me, it feels like backing up to a floppy in 2006.

The problem is drives fail. I've had two external drives fail on me already. DVD is like floppy... I can still read my floppies circa 1990s! As long as you keep them in cases and don't touch them... they last longer than your average drive.

CaroGirl · Apr 20, 2011

AmsterdamAssassin said:
I have a PC, a laptop and a USB flashdrive. I use the flashdrive to transfer the latest version from PC to laptop and I email myself files once a week.

I do this ^^^^^^.

kuwisdelu · Apr 20, 2011

scarletpeaches said:
I tattoo every word I write onto kuwisdelu's mansack.

Yeah. I have big balls.

maestrowork said:
The problem is drives fail. I've had two external drives fail on me already. DVD is like floppy... I can still read my floppies circa 1990s! As long as you keep them in cases and don't touch them... they last longer than your average drive.

Weird. My DVD's tend to crap out first. In general, I find optical media more fallible, and it's easier to check a few big hard drives and some flash drives for errors than a wallful of DVD's.

Besides, I hate organizing them.

CaroGirl · Apr 20, 2011

maestrowork said:
The problem is drives fail. I've had two external drives fail on me already. DVD is like floppy... I can still read my floppies circa 1990s! As long as you keep them in cases and don't touch them... they last longer than your average drive.

Where in the heck do you stick your 1990s floppies? (and no, I'm trying to be rude) Is there a place in a modern laptop/hard drive?

kuwisdelu · Apr 20, 2011

CaroGirl said:
Where in the heck do you stick your 1990s floppies? (and no, I'm trying to be rude) Is there a place in a modern laptop/hard drive?

There are some USB floppy drives still around.

How do you back up your work?

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