Backing up your writing.

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cylemmulo

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So, I'm curious what methods people use to keep their writing backed up. Currently, I have my file in a google drive folder, with a shortcut to my desktop. I write using that copy, and after a decent bit, I back it up locally on my machine.

This works well most of the time, but cloud syncing can be finicky, especially when trying to use the document between two computers. I've twice now lost about an hour of work.

Does anyone have any good methods of backing up, and editing on multiple devices?
 

Brightdreamer

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I save a copy on my hard drive. And a copy in Drop Box. And periodically I back up on a flash drive.

And about four times a year I do a backup of Things I Might Miss If The Computer Exploded onto an external hard drive (after which I usually delete older junk stuff.)
 

Marlys

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I write directly in Google Drive, and have yet to lose anything there. If I make a mistake and delete something or change it and want to go back, I can pull up an earlier version--I think they save all changes for 30 days. And I do mean "all." In the doc I was working on today, I can see 57 different versions saved in the two hours between 4:40 and 6:40 PM.

But yes, I still back up sometimes on a thumb drive. It's hard to completely trust any particular technology.
 
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NRoach

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I have a folder somewhere on my hard drive (I'm not entirely sure where, I open it through word's recently opened), and that's it.
Honestly, though, if my computer bricks itself, losing that document wouldn't matter to me as much as losing the ~£1000 worth of actual PC.
 

Gringa

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Email to myself at the end of the day. Create folders, add to a thumb drive.
 

Forbidden Snowflake

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I have chapters on Google Drive.
I e-mail them to my partner for a backup as well.
If Google crashes and burns and my computer fails, well, then I'm screwed.
 

Osulagh

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I run a SSD as my boot drive... past that, I don't back up at all. Can't really be bothered to do so. Cloud backup is annoying when running in the background, and backing up on a flashdrive is too much of a pain. Perhaps I'm too lazy to secure my work, huh? :tongue

Well, if I lose my work, I'll just start all over again.
 

BenPanced

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I have a Dropbox account and I also do regular back-ups on a Time Capsule drive. Saved my bacon on several occasions.

Mmm. Bacon.
 

Shara

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After past disasters with dying hard drives and flash drives, I now use Drop Box.

My drop box folder is installed on my NetBook, my laptop, and my iPad. It's also installed on my husband's iPad.

Whenever I sit down for a writing session, I open the current WIP files from the Dropbox folder. When I'm finished, I copy the updated files from the dropbox folder to the computer I'm working on (generally the NetBook). The next time I sit down at the other computer (the laptop) and the drop box folder updates, I will copy the new files onto the laptop as well.

This way, if one my devices dies, I will still have all my writing files on my other device. And if both devices should die, I can still get to my drop box account and save my files.

And if the worst case happens I can even see them on my iPad - though since I can't actually work in Word on my iPad, just read the files, that's really only there as a disaster recovery plan.
 

PenTeller

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I use Dropbox. I have it running on my computer at all times so when I make a change to a document, it changes it on the server (and I can access old copies as well, which is great).

I also have extra security in that my MSs have been emailed to my Kindle/to my agent/etc.

It's very soothing to know I'm at very little risk of losing my work...unless we get a big solar flare that shuts down all electronics, I suppose, but then losing my work might be the least of my worries!
 

Gilroy Cullen

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I have a copy on my laptop, a copy on my desk top, and two running thumb drives with the files on them. Plus I have printed copies of everything because I edit better on paper than on screen.

If all that fails... Yeah, don't want to think about it.
 

mrsmig

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I write to Dropbox. About once a week I save an additional copy into my hard drive. About once a month I back everything up on a thumb drive.

When I complete a work, I print out a hard copy which goes into a ring binder in my office.
 

Hapax Legomenon

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I have a Copy folder on my computer that I back up drafts on. I'll often email stuff to friends so I know that I would be able to recover files from my email archives as well.

Many times I also post privately to a dreamwidth, so I guess that's a backup, as well. Some of my first drafts were written on Evernote in the first place, too...
 

VeryFairy

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I have a flash drive, keep a copy on my eReader, I email all changes to myself and my sister, and that's it.
 

WriterBN

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Time Machine to disk and flash drives for local backups, Dropbox for the cloud. You can't have too much redundancy (which I learned the hard way, many years ago).
 

robjvargas

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I work directly from SkyDrive (now called Onedrive) but regularly back up to a flash-based drive (I'm using an SD card. micro-SD actually, for no particular reason). I've encrypted the drive using Bitlocker (which is accessible on any Windows 7 or 8.x machine, as well as XP with some tweaking).

Lot's of people use email as a backup. But that's not secure.
 

K. Q. Watson

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I've recently started the Google Drive method, but occasionally I'll email copies of my work to two or three different email addresses. In case one gets hacked. I also put copies on my external hard drive. Just in case.
 

Bolero

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We back up to an external hard drive and periodically cut CDs which are stored in a different room in the house.
On the to-do list to buy a small firesafe for the CDs.

There is also a form of back-up with the laptops - we have PCs, and laptops. The PC is the main file and the laptops synchronize to the PCs - so work is on there too.
 

KTC

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saizine

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Daily backups to a flash drive and copies on Google Docs.
 

Sixpence

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I have bits of things everywhere, but the stuff I'm serious about goes into Scrivener and gets backed up to Dropbox. I'll save chapters to google drive here and there, mostly to allow my sainted crit-pals to rip into them, and I back up to a USB key every now and then too.

I've never actually lost anything (apart from about 800 words to a terrible "office suite" on android that was uninstalled sharpish), but I know people who have so that's made me pretty cautious. I also write between my PC and an android netbook-type-thingy, so backing up fits in handily with the transfer process for me.
 

M.S. Wiggins

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Laptop, external hard drive, emails, print-outs for hard copies. No, I'm not paranoid at all!
 
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