A common mistake many people
make with modern technology is instilling too much trust. Every day someone learns
once it’s too late that a computer crash can take all your data along for the
ride. Knowing some dear folks who have suffered this, I’d like to share a
simple idea.
While I own a solid state
external hard drive I don’t use it on a frequent basis. For one thing, that
hardware is as susceptible to failure as any other. But safeguarding my
fiction, especially in the process of intensive rewrites, is important to me.
So I discovered an
alternative. Rather than trust disks, hard drives, or Internet 'cloud' storage, I email documents to myself.
Having two separate email
addresses using different platforms provides an added layer of protection. One
email saves a copy in the ‘sent’ folder while the other's ‘in’ box (I hope) preserves the
same information. The process is quick, easy, and the document can even remain open.
Do you back up your data? If so,
what’s your method of preference?
I don't do anything as serious as writing that would require backing up except my old photo shoots. I basically have them saved to disc. I have an external hard drive that I never got around to hooking up because at the time I got it I was suffering with pain too much and working full time. And to be honest I would be in a world of hurt if my big computer crashed because I have about 4 yrs of stuff I have shot not backed up to anything. I have always been someone that put things off but in the 4 to 5 yrs my fibro has consumed my life making even simple things hard. Now being retired I try to get things done that need doing only it takes forever and I push on the good days, and crash on the bad. Understand I am not looking for pity....I just want people to know that I am not lazy. I just have yrs of stuff I am trying to get too when I can....oops....sorry, got off track.
ReplyDeleteI am so awed by what you accomplish. How could anyone consider you lazy? Please, just promise you won't push too hard and make the crashes worse. I suppose that's tough for one so used to being superhuman. ~grin~ Blessing to you and yours, my dear.
DeleteThat is a great idea. When I thought my last computer was getting ready to crash, I uploaded my photos to my Walgreens account. And I did send some things to myself by email because I have no idea how to back up anything.
ReplyDeleteGood on you for being proactive. And thanks for sharing your tip on photos. I even email those sometimes, honestly, in entire folders.
DeleteI've emailed myself stuff, but usually it's photos. That's a good idea.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it's worked out for you. Be well!
DeleteThe email Idea is fabulous! I do that also, then save those emails in a "document" folder. I recently experienced a crash and while I had an external hard drive and thought everything was backed up, it wasn't. I lost one month of Happy Cat Club records that I must now reconstruct. My computers mother board failed, but the hard drive is ok and my brother says I can get some sort of cable to connect it to my new old computer with usb to extract the lost month of records.
ReplyDeleteOh, wow. You've been diligent and still suffered loss! Poor dear. I hope your brother is right and the lost records can be retrieved. Thanks for the faithful visits and kind word. It means a lot.
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