When was the last time you backed up your WIP?



Many people believe that there is no need to back up their work somewhere other than their computer. I was one of them.

Having used computers since the 1980s with no problems, in 2012 my newest computer decides it doesn’t want to boot properly, hence no access to a list of passwords and sites, not to mention my WIP that I will have to begin anew because there is no money to take the computer in and find out what is wrong and retrieve a CD stuck in the drive that is the set up disk for my new printer.

Miffed would be an understatement about this. Thank goodness there was an older computer that was able to be connected and allow internet access, except for rebuilding the password and site list from scratch. I still have trouble with a blogger account that Google hasn’t given me a password reset link yet.

Be forewarned, anyone working on a computer needs to save their work to somewhere other than the hard drive. I will not recommend any place, but there are numerous site online, or use a flash drive. Wish I would have.

Having information on something other than the computer itself will same time and some hair pulling if the hard drive crashes or something that makes the computer inoperable for some reason.

I would also like to recommend creating a backup copy of your files onto some type of medium so that you have ready access to those files should the need arise. Wish I did.

Robert Medak
Freelance Writer/Blogger/Editor/Reviewer/Marketer

7 comments:

widdershins said...

I back up my entire writing folder every night onto a flash drive. It only took one computer crash to make a believer out of me!

Margaret Fieland said...

Robert, I'm a computer software professional, and encountered data loss back in the 1970's. I was working for a large New York bank supporting the programmers who wrote the bank's applications software when a problem resulted in our group losing an entire library of routines that performed functions such as billing and validating users. It had to be all re-created from scratch. I've been paranoid about data loss ever since.

Mary Jo Guglielmo said...

Like you Margaret I have learned my lesson regarding data back-up the hard way---more than once. Now I try to back everything up multiple places.

Heidiwriter said...

YES! I once had to scan my entire WIP and then fix all the weird typos that resulted. A nightmare, but at least I didn't have to retype the whole thing. I now use Carbonite, which automatically backs everything up. It's well worth it!

Magdalena Ball said...

A very good reminder Robert. I back up monthly to a hard drive, but the WIP needs to be done more frequently.

Karen Cioffi said...

Ah, the backup. I've lost at least three documents - one was an ebook. Like most everyone else, I'm now paranoid. I use Dropbox (but there could be a glitch with it if you're working on files directly from it - I love it, but need something in addition). I'm now looking for a backup that works automatically. I'll be looking at Carbonite - I agree it's well worth the cost.

I used MY PCBackup for a few months, but their customers service and billing are a horror, so canceled it.

Bob said...

Thank you all for your input.

I am a believer now also, and will be looking into some type of backup off the computer.

Considering using a memory stick for many things especially my WIP and other pages.

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