Good Morning folks,
As many of you know there was a major system crash here that brought the site to its knees. Now thanks to a good back up system and a lot of hard work from dedicated staff we are back on line with a minimum of data loss.
Computers are wonderful tools, but like any tool they have their short comings. Things happen and data goes to the Monsters in Data Heaven, never to be seen again.
Trust me when I say it can happen to anyone, yes even YOU.
So think about how to save YOUR precious novel and how to stash it in other places.
For myself, I move between a laptop and a desk top. Every time I stop for the day I take a few moments to copy the file to a floppy disk, then move it to the other computer. So I have it on the laptop, the desk top and a floppy disk. (A sad note here is that all 5 1/2 of my novels fit on a single humble floppy disk and there is still room for more)
Think about ways to keep your words safe. Because if they get gobbled by the Monsters in Data Heaven before you submit it, your hard work is gone and no one can help.
Trust me this happens to folks EVERY SINGLE YEAR.
There are lots of ways to protect data. The most important is some kind of back up.
Put a copy on a floppy
On a flash drive (if you can wrestle it from the cat)
On an external hard disk
You can email it to yourself as an attachment or it to you mom (encrypted first maybe)
It is so important that you have a back up and every time you add to it, update the back up.
A good rule of thumb is to back up ANY data you do NOT have time to recreate. Trust me, November will push your time skills to the limit. You don't have time.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE BACK UP YOUR NOVEL.
Let the Monsters in Data Heaven go hungry this year.
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Important things to remember during NaNoWriMo:
You can still do this! Trust me, I know you can.
You don’t have to spell check
Grammar is optional
Editing comes later
And a plot is used for gardening
21,365 / 50,000
oct. 3, 2008 - 00 53
further to her royal majestys comments above - i suggest using Google.
Sign up for a gmail account, if you dont already have one. (gmail also gives you instant chat, which is cool*)
You then have a choice of emailing your doc to yourself at your googlemail adresss (7gb of free space) or alternatively click on the Documents link up the top and actually write online in Google Docs (whilst using the "save as" to do a backup FROM google to your pc). the benefit of this second option is you can write anywhere with an internet connection without having to carry anything with you...
...other than the thing you use to make the internet connection i suppose, so visit people with computers and use them ;)
* but an aid to procrastination. BEWARE!
4,300 / 50,000
oct. 3, 2008 - 08 56
Slight overkill perhaps, but as someone that spends far too much time with computers I reccomend my method as the only safe one: I store copies of all my work on my laptop, my netbook, a flashdrive, and my external HD. I'll be sticking my novel on a locked ftp server and possibly a second external drive too, jsut in case. Quintuple redundancy is the key!
50,463 / 50,000
oct. 3, 2008 - 11 16
Don't forget good old fashioned hard copy. Then if all the technology fails all you need is the services of a willing and speedy copy typist to restore your masterpiece and sanity :-)
51,609 / 50,000
oct. 5, 2008 - 07 26
I alway have a least two copies of my work, one on the hard drive and one on my pen stick.
21,365 / 50,000
oct. 5, 2008 - 23 21
further to my google comment above - if you do send a word (or indeed open office) doc to your gmail account - you get the option in gmail of Opening it in google docs right away - which automatically stores it and allows you to continue editing without having to download it.
So, when you find you have to leave for a few days in November - email your doc to your gmail address and transfer it to google docs later and continue editing - thats all you need to do. Save it from google docs when you return home and have access to your main pc again.
brilliant or what ? :)
105,240 / 50,000
oct. 31, 2008 - 09 55
Please read this one.
It really matters to back up your hard work.
50,203 / 50,000
nov. 12, 2008 - 05 43
I've got three copies:
105,240 / 50,000
nov. 12, 2008 - 06 17
Good work!
I'm delighted to hear it.
91,585 / 50,000
nov. 12, 2008 - 14 52
I was just doing laptop and USB back up, until someone pointed out to me that one small burglary could rob the world of my zombie novel. I've now sent it off in two formats to live on my e-mail server!
15,172 / 50,000
nov. 14, 2008 - 09 20
I don't really understand... what's wrong with a USB back up?
105,240 / 50,000
nov. 14, 2008 - 10 35
A USB back up is great. The concern is if you lose your lap top and your flash drive you've lost all your words.
There is such a thing as being too cautious. But at the same time, flash drives are small, easily lost, (as has been shown in the news lately) stepped on. I nearly dunked mine in my coffee tonight. I've heard of them getting flushed down the loo.
Basic good practice says to keep copies in different areas so if one is lost, the other is still available.
It doesn't matter how you back up. Only that you do it.