So atter a couple of busy days, this weekend I was able to start getting back into the groove of my novel still behind schedule, but making progress. Because I'd been working on a couple of different computers, I was keeping all of my novel on my USB drive.
This afternoon, I put the drive into my netbook ... and it was empty. My Nano, all of my advance prep work, the novel edits from a previous Nano that I'd been working on all year, my Flash Fiction Friday pieces ... all of it was gone.
LUCKILY, I had backed up my USB drive yesterday afternoon, meaning I only actually lost a couple of hours' worth of work. But for a brief, terrifying moment, I thought I had lost it all.
Everyone, let this be a lesson to you! Back your work up regularly! The last thing you want to do is lose those little pearls of wisdom that you're working on!
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--Ryan
TW FB LJ
92,143 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 17 07
I second Ryan's warning.
Some other tips ... use a thumb drive to store version.
E-mail the documents to yourself and to work or a trusted friend.
Burn CDs of files as they progress.
There is nothing more scary than losing data ...
----------2007 - 50K
2008 - 61K
5,200 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 17 34
So true. Once I uninstalled a program, and instead of just erasing itself, it erased every single file on that drive. I think I stopped breathing when I saw that everything was gone...but I did get my files back in the end. So, yes, save often and back up everything.
----------35,074 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 19 00
Glad you didn't lose it all, Ryan!
----------Natalia Lopez-Woodside
Co-ML for Toronto, Ontario
43,273 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 19 16
goodness, i am making a back up right this minute!
43,046 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2009 - 06 28
i've been doing the same thing - moving my usb key from computer to computer. I have, however, been saving the file to whichever computer i'm working on, then re-saving it onto the key later on, so i'd only be worried about the fact that i might not be able to get back to that other computer to get the most up-to-date version and continue writing.
good job on backing up, though!
67,713 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2009 - 08 03
backing up is for wimps, i live on the edge!
*panics*
I should really do that... I have a thumb drive and I can email my latest version to myself in duplicate, that should be enough.
35,016 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2009 - 09 50
Eek, that was a close call!
I backed up on Saturday (emailed to myself) and haven't written much since then. I try to do that every couple of days when I'm working on something - thank goodness for unlimited email space!
----------What comes after NaNo? National Novel Publishing Year! http://www.nanopubye.org
50,832 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2009 - 11 07
I normally write on Google Docs, so this isn't a problem for me, but I'm glad to hear that your heart dropping was not permanent! (That sounds fairly painful/lethal.)
----------TorontoNaNo.org/WordWar: Drew
Twitter: @bdoing
32,579 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2009 - 13 07
I've been backing up to a Writeboard (http://writeboard.com/). Every time I copy and paste into the window for the word count, I replace whatever copy was on the writeboard, so it's always the latest. That way i can nab the doc from my netbook, too.