what to do if your computer eats your manuscript

[Everly]

I know this has happened to a lot of writers out there. It has happened to me, so don't let it happen to you. Here is a step-by-step of what to do if it happens to you.
http://ellelapraim.com/recover-data-a...

[Christa]

Thanks for the very helpful information. Since I work with a fair number of important documents (the most important ones being, of course, my novels in progress), I got into the habit of saving frequently and either send a document I'm working on as email attachment to myself or upload it to SkyDrive (part of Windows Live) on a daily basis. It's also a good idea to regularly save your work to either a stick or, better, to an external hard drive. Your article just reminded me NOT to forget!

[Heidi]

Great advice! I am lucky enough to have a tech head for a hubby, so he keeps up with all of this stuff for me. Even knowing it, I often forget to do what I know I should! Thanks for the reminder.

[Martin]

Give it something else to eat. If it's been bad, I'd suggest a virus to teach it a lesson before taking it for repairs.

[Andrew]

Always back up your work. I have a couple of external hard drives and regularly back up to optical media too. If all does go pear-shaped then latch on to your nearest friendly IT professional before you do anything else with the machine. I'm a friendly IT professional if you don't have one handy.

[Razmatus]

I use my gmail inbox to do backups... and I label those emails, so I can find em anytime

[Karen M]

I use a little flashdrive. Inexpensive and easy enough.