It's not "if" but "when." Computer breakdowns, blackouts, file erasures - we will all have them sooner or later. And we will all need to vent about it. Post your disasters here!
Let me begin. At 10pm Saturday night, two hours before I had planned to start typing away, our house computer's monitor died a horrible death. It's not a hard drive crash or anything, but it did mean taking the monitor off of my NaNo computer and putting it on the main computer. I am now computerless until Tuesday, at which point I will have some crazy catching up to do. In the meantime, I'm sneaking on the house computer when I am able.
Oh yes, and by the way, everyone, PLEASE remember to back up your novel!!!
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5,935 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 10 05
I have spare monitors to lend.
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My name is Hannah Montana
You heard my father
Prepare to linedance
38,561 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 11 15
First of all - cindik - I LOVE your signature!!!
Secondly, sorry to hear about the monitor mishap! As a side note, backing up is really important... I use Dropbox and love it! The address is getdropbox.com - it's free and really easy to use. Best of all you can sync files and folders across any computer you use, no matter what monitor is hooked up to it! ;u)
------------- click my banner to visit my site! ---
40,311 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 14 43
I have a sentimental attachment to my clunker of a laptop. It weighs a ton of bricks and if I type on my lap too long I risk third degree burns from the heat it generates, but I'm grateful to have it as it's seen me through my '08 NaNo which was infinitely better than my handwritten '07 work. Plus, I covered it with some wacky stickers so even if it's a dinosaur, it's got character. Like I said, sentimental attachment.
Nevertheless, the battery indicator light keeps flashing yellow (low) even after a full night of charge. Turns out the battery still works fine (or at least fine enough for my commuting time) but I'm crossing my fingers that it will see me through the next 28 days with no problems!
To the "back up your work" advice I will add: Frequent saves, frequent saves, frequent saves!
23,325 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 21 58
So sorry to hear about your monitor! I've been there, sort of, way back when my first laptop had the screen go out and I had to make do by hooking it up to the desktop monitor for a couple weeks until I could get it fixed. So I feel your pain! I hope you can get things fixed quickly!
I have to pull my thumb drive out to back up but I'm using Scrivener this year and that saves every time I stop for more than two seconds, I love it.
In addition to backing up to Skydrive and my thumb drive (and possibly also Dropbox...mine is getting full), I also post my daily output to LJ so that's a bit of an extra backup. :)
~MJ~
----------http://knitchick1979.livejournal.com
41,019 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 21 11
Thanks for kind words and offers of monitors. Thank you also to TigerDirect.com (in Naperville, of course!) for mondo quick shipping of a new monitor. Now it's off to catch up on the word count!
w00t!
45,459 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 01 07
Elbakerone: Go buy yourself a laptop cooler! I have one by BYTECC. It has two fans and and plugs into a USB port. It not only keeps the bottom of your laptop cool, but by keeping the battery cool, it prolongs its life!
This is what the Bytecc cooler looks like, so if you actually use your laptop on your lap, it won't be a good fit since it doesn't have a flat bottom. I use my laptop on a desk or table, plus always have it plugged in. (It's one those large 17" desktop replacement models) but the bottom always stays cool/slightly warm to the touch, even after 12 hours of continuous use.
I'm not sure if Best Buy sells coolers, but the Micro Center Warehouse on Ogden, east of Cass in Wesmont, IL, sells them. (That's where I got mine, years ago)
Oh, and I also <3 the "Princess Bride/Hannah Montana" sig of the second poster. :)
22,294 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 03 21
Alas, I've started to have an issue myself. My netbook's keyboard and touchpad cut out at random intervals. Once that happens, I have to plug in a USB mouse, close everything out, and reboot the computer.
I'm still looking for a way to fix this, but it doesn't sound promising. Seems like it's a semi-common thing with this model.
40,311 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 09 40
Thanks for the advice! I might look into one of those for home, but since most of my writing is on-the-go (train, bus, etc) the model you showed wouldn't do me too much good. I've settled for just keeping my free-writing notebook under my laptop and the paper is a fairly decent insulation.
One of these day's I will upgrade but until then I'll remain fondly attached to my dinosaur. (Hmm...maybe I should see about finding a dinosaur sticker...)
This is what the Bytecc cooler looks like, so if you actually use your laptop on your lap, it won't be a good fit since it doesn't have a flat bottom. I use my laptop on a desk or table, plus always have it plugged in. (It's one those large 17" desktop replacement models) but the bottom always stays cool/slightly warm to the touch, even after 12 hours of continuous use.
I'm not sure if Best Buy sells coolers, but the Micro Center Warehouse on Ogden, east of Cass in Wesmont, IL, sells them. (That's where I got mine, years ago)
Oh, and I also <3 the "Princess Bride/Hannah Montana" sig of the second poster. :)
5,174 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 11 15
I . . . have a virus on my desktop. Fortunately I have the nano on my laptop. I did have some notes there, but nothing that will affect me greatly. Still getting the virus cleared up is a pain and a distraction.
7,058 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 16 08
I came to the Write in at Caribou tonight (early!) and realized that I neglected to convert the files on my desktop (which is a Mac) to something my dinosaur of a laptop (Windows) can open...
I guess I'll just have to try and remember where I was and go from there. And then convert it back and add it on to what I have when I get back home tonight.
Fail.
**Update 2 seconds after I posted this...**
Turns out I can open a thumbnail of what I have so far, so at least I won't be typing blind. I'll still have to mash the two files together later when I get home, but at least I know what I have so far and where I was planning on going from there.
45,459 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 02 38
One more suggestion, especially good if you use different computers: use Google Docs! You can access it from any 'net connected computer. I've been using it for my actual writing, since it has live spellcheck, and then after each scene I copy it to the appropriate place in yWriter. This way I have all my chapters and scenes setup for easy bouncing around, and have the whole thing as a complete document online that I can't lose. No more Backup freakouts like last year when my laptop crashed.
:)
40,311 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2009 - 08 21
In the continuing saga of my dinosaur laptop, I've had a rather amusing problem. The "e" and "r" keys are sticking a bit and tend to come out as double letters. Thus, "the" is being typed as "thee" and all my "r"s seem to "rrolling".
If I slow down typing it doesn't usually happen, but I can't help but think that my characters seem to want to be speaking in Scottish accents!!