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What to do when you compter eats your manuscript.
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This has happened to me. I now backup ALL my writing projects. I don't ever want to face that terror again.
I had an issue once where I lost about twenty thousand words. I screamed a little (okay, a lot) and started writing again. I think the second draft came out better than the first.
I lost everything TWICE for my first novel. Chalk it up to idiocy and not backing up... ;) Thankfully, I had most of it all out on paper (which is where I do most of my scheming and writing before transferring it to the computer). Just a lot of retyping to do! What a bother. And a heart-sinker...
Two words: Ubuntu One I have used the Ubuntu operating system exclusively for a number of years now. People tease me for being a geek or criticize me for being down on Windows but the simple fact is that I have not had a system crash that wasn't mechanical failure, ever. Nor have I lost even one word of writing since I switched. I've had one motherboard go out, but I was able to take the hard drive out of that computer and attach it temporarily to another system and retrieve all of my files.
Ubuntu also has a cloud service, Ubuntu One. It's awesome. I designate my writing files to be synced and it automatically uploads ever file to the cloud whenever changes are made. When my last netbook gave out, I got a new one, signed onto my account and downloaded all the old writing files. Whether you make the leap to a linux system like Ubuntu or buy into someone else's cloud (google, Amazon and Apple are all setting up clouds) it is so worth it. (I should point out though that the first two gigabytes are free on Ubuntu One and I have yet to use that up in four years.
i've had a few documents in msword that i couldn't open anymore because they somehow turned into a bunch of wacky looking code. pissed me off because i had a first chapter finished, as well as a few outlines, and even my tax files from last year, and now they're useless. the coincidence is they were all on the same single flash drive, so perhaps it had something to do with that, not the computer.
M. Todd wrote: "I had an issue once where I lost about twenty thousand words. I screamed a little (okay, a lot) and started writing again. I think the second draft came out better than the first."Good answer, Todd, and I have experienced the same thing. For all the great advice others have given to avoid the trauma, the truth is, it could happen, and sometimes your new draft is an improvement, even if you didn't like having to do it. :-)
Elle wrote: "Here is an article about what we all fear. Your computer crashes and takes your manuscript with it. You might want to read this now, so that you don't want to jump out the window later. This articl..."What is not mention is doing some planning at the time you set-up your computer.
I always set-up my /home (Linux) to be on a different partition. This way if the OS goes bad my home director is normally good. And I can do a full OS install and be right back where I was.
I also agree you should make sure you back-up your stories to at least a USB memory stick.
I try to always have a hard copy binder of my finished manuscript content and also back up the electronic files onto my laptop. (I work from a stick drive, typically.)But back in Ye Olden Days of Floppy Disks, when I was just a wee little writer, I had to do many a retyping job on my work due to disks that suddenly decided I'd looked at them funny and refused to work.
I don't miss those days. On the plus side, I'm a speedy hunt-and-peck typist. :)
Jenn wrote: "I try to always have a hard copy binder of my finished manuscript content and also back up the electronic files onto my laptop. (I work from a stick drive, typically.)But back in Ye Olden Days of..."
Jenn! Way to have a Positive Mental Attitude and keep a sense of humor. :-)
Jenn wrote: "I try to always have a hard copy binder of my finished manuscript content and also back up the electronic files onto my laptop. (I work from a stick drive, typically.)But back in Ye Olden Days of..."
Jenn! Way to have a Positive Mental Attitude and keep a sense of humor. :-)
If I ever lost a project I would probably NEVER write again...yes, I get heart broken easily. Since I know that, (and I work in the I.T industry) I use Google Docs, McAfee online backup (free with my AV), backup to an external hard drive and a jump drive....overkill I know, but hey, one can never be too safe.
Joana wrote: "If I ever lost a project I would probably NEVER write again...yes, I get heart broken easily. Since I know that, (and I work in the I.T industry) I use Google Docs, McAfee online backup (free with ..."it's not overkill if it makes you feel comfortable!!!
I backup to my harddrive every few pages but I usually just save on my thumb drive ( I call it my Book Stick ) but hubby bought me some 4gb "sticks" and I'm gonna save each book I write - when it's finished.
but I lost my book stick once and had a heart attack!
hubby found it and I cannot explain the RELIEF !
so - not overkill - not at all!
And then there's backup in the Cloud via Dropbox or Evernote. I use Dropbox -- but you have to make sure it's actually running. Once, after a restart, the program didn't start up as it usually does, and I had two weeks' worth of work less-protected-than-usual without realizing it.
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Jenn wrote: " don't miss those days. On the plus side, I'm a speedy hunt-and-peck typist. :)..."I'm a typist/secretary and PROUD OF IT. Why do we have to change the name to "assistant" etc. ?
I type for a living and do everything a secretary would do... but they think of me as MORE than that?
huhhhh? Sect'y is PLENTY!
Hey Della Street would be insulted! She wouldn't let Perry get away with that! LOL
Susan *ARK* wrote: "Joana wrote: "If I ever lost a project I would probably NEVER write again...yes, I get heart broken easily. Since I know that, (and I work in the I.T industry) I use Google Docs, McAfee online back..."I keep my "book stick" on one of those canvas necklaces people clip security badges to at conferences, so it's big enough I won't lose it. (No, I don't wear it. It coordinates badly with outfits.)
But it does ensure I know where the thing is. The downside is my cat thinks it's a toy if I don't watch him. :)
I am a little OCD when it comes to this. I lost a week of work once and to this day I still think there was a paragraph of brilliance that I will never get back.I have a sugar sync folder that is also my dropbox folder. I work from here usually, and about once a week, or after a particularly big edit session, I email myself a copy of the draft to my gmail. I also have my main gmail set up to forward all such novel attachment emails on to a second address.
Since I started this regime I have not lost a word.
edit: I also wanted to say -- DON'T TRUST USB STICKS. They seem safe and solid, but those little buggers have died on my before.
Does anyone know how to set AT&T webmail not to periodically empty out older email in the Inbox?
Actually, working directly off of a jump/thumb/flash drive is a bad practice. Flash memory is typically rated at 10,000 to 100,000 write cycles, after which they are susceptible to failure. Even internal SSD drives are susceptible to this type of extended write failure. Many SSD manufacturers recommend several optimizations for windows to limit the number of write cycles the flash drive experiences (turning off indexing and other tweaks).It is much safer to save directly to your hard drive and back up to the jump drive periodically, rather than the other way around.
But no matter what you use, one copy is not enough. Spinners WILL fail sooner or later (unless they’re replaced by obsolescence first), and flash memory of any type has a limited life span in terms of write cycles.
I save my work several times a day onto a flash drive or other media, and every few days copy my files to another computer.
a new thing i learned is to save each chapter individually. this way, if something happens to one file, it's not the whole manuscript, just one chapter.
another option is to use "save as" each time. so the first document file will be ch. 1. then next will be ch's 1-2. then ch's 1-2-3 and so on. yeah, i'm going to try that way instead.
another option is to use "save as" each time. so the first document file will be ch. 1. then next will be ch's 1-2. then ch's 1-2-3 and so on. yeah, i'm going to try that way instead.
Richard wrote: "a new thing i learned is to save each chapter individually. this way, if something happens to one file, it's not the whole manuscript, just one chapter.another option is to use "save as" each ..."
I do something similar. Drives are so huge these days that one can afford to waste space. I create a “Back-up” directory, which contains progressive backup directories titled “bk000”, “bk001”, “bk003” … etc. My last project had “bk000” through “bk472”! This created an archived record of 473 backup of the manuscript from the very beginning of the project al the way through completion.
Have you ever thrown some text away that you ended up wanting to use elsewhere in the book? This progressive backup not only allows you to save a complete snapshot of your project, should you need to pick through it later, but also fends against overwriting a good backup with a corrupt file.
It also has the added bonus of providing a record of your work and it’s progression. When the project is complete, I move all the backups onto DV/DVD as a permanent record. If my work shows up under someone else’s name, I can show how long I worked on it (by the file timestamps) as well as how the story and text developed over that time. This provides additional evidence in court (should it come to that), which is evidence that someone pilfering your book won’t have.
My strategy, so far, is to create each chapter as a separate file and backup everything to an external hard drive every couple of weeks. Marcus' idea of putting them on a disc for archiving is pretty good. I had not thought of that.
D.L. wrote: "My strategy, so far, is to create each chapter as a separate file and backup everything to an external hard drive every couple of weeks. Marcus' idea of putting them on a disc for archiving is pret..."
I do save chapter by chapter as well and a the external hard drive should be every authors best friend!
I do save chapter by chapter as well and a the external hard drive should be every authors best friend!
I have always - always backed up my book on a disk or jump drive. I fear the computer will crash and well, the outcome would not be good.
I was at a local book fair this weekend and one of the authors there told me that John Grisham sends a hard copy of every single draft he writes to his old university library and they archive it. Though I suspect most of us in this group aren't John Grisham and the local library would file our rough drafts in the big round file, if you know what I mean. :)!
Most libraries would accept a good quality book, especially by a local author, and be happy to feature it. Am I behind the times, though, or would is still need to be library binding?
An author I'm working with to do the layout for his POD version of the book will donate a copy to his local library once it is ready. He will try to make it a press event at the same time, thus getting his name in the paper as a local author.I have talked to him before but I will once again suggest he also donate some bookmarks to the library at the same time (with an ad for his book of course).
That is a great idea, Tony! Hope he takes your advice!
I'd totally freak out. I've lost written pages of notes and that drives me crazy enough. I can't even imagine what I'd do if I lost the whole thing. Now I'm going to be paranoid.
http://ellelapraim.com/recover-data-a...