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How I Nearly Lost Everything ...

Sunday, 12 September 2010

The importance of taking backups.

So I switched on my computer the other day to work on the great unfinished novel and the darn thing wouldn't boot up. Muttering (unfairly) about Microsoft I tried again. And again. And again. Slowly it became clear that it wasn't going to work. The computer with all my novels, short stories, poetry, web sites etc. etc. on it was dead.

I then spent several grim hours wielding repair disks and utility programs trying to bring it back to life. No luck. In the end I had to wipe the machine. Delete everything. Reformat the disk and start again.

It was at about this point that I plugged my back-up drive into another computer and discovered that it hadn't been updated correctly for a couple of months. This drive had silently developed a fault too (possibly the source of all the problems). Everything I'd written for two months was missing and, what was more, I couldn't be sure that anything was left uncorrupted.

Dear reader, I may have sworn at this point.

But this little story is not a tragedy. I didn't actually lose anything apart from a few hundred words (since rewritten, and better too!) and several hours of my life - because, fortunately, I'd taken my own advice and made sure everything was safely, reliably and doubly backed up. And I'm telling you all this just as a gentle reminder. Computers can and do fail. If you write on one and all your work is stored there, please, please make sure you have a good backup. Preferably two. Preferably automated. The possibility of losing everything you've slaved over is unthinkable.

A while back I wrote a blog post about this. It's here. If you're not covered, do please go and have a read now. Or do it a different way. Just don't assume you won't have a problem. Because then you really could lose everything ...

Posted by Simon Kewin at 08:00

25 comments:

  1. Old Kitty12 September 2010 at 09:14

    Wise, wise, wise advise!!

    Even if you just save stuff on your usb stick, it's something!!

    Glad you've managed to salvage most of your work. I hope you have a well deserved cup of tea!

    take care
    x

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  2. Old Kitty12 September 2010 at 09:15

    p.s. and don't do what I do and use a password you'll never remember! :-)

    Take care
    x

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  3. Simon Kewin12 September 2010 at 09:26

    Old Kitty,

    Absolutely, do something. Good point about passwords too - definitely worth recording somewhere secure I'd say.

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  4. Karen Jones Gowen12 September 2010 at 09:40

    How scary, wow that was a close call. Our computers are backed up by another computer (I know I'm not using the right terminology but maybe you know what I mean). But I don't even understand that system or trust it either. And I'm a techno idiot, so I email each draft of my novel to myself as I finish it. That way if my laptop and the backup disappears, I can get on any computer, open my email and get my latest draft. (A friend of mine had all the computers in their house stolen even the backup one.)

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  5. Simon Kewin12 September 2010 at 09:47

    Karen,

    That's a good approach - so long as you remember to do it all the time! There are various web-based systems that let you do something similar, e.g. Dropbox. I also know of people who simply email a copy of everything to a friend too. It's something.

    You make a good point about computers being stolen. If everything is just at home and gets taken then you're lost - hence the need for an offsite back up too.

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  6. Anonymous12 September 2010 at 14:56

    Excellent post, sir. I agree 100%. And I guess I'm a wee bit paranoid, as I back up my work on three USB flash drives (one kept in a fire safe), my laptop hard drive, my desktop hard drive, and a removable hard drive. I may consider a web-based system as well, but that could be overkill...

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  7. Simon Kewin12 September 2010 at 15:11

    Milo,

    Thanks. I admire a man who takes so many backups. I'd definitely consider a web-based one if you can, though - it's great that you just set them up once and then forget about them.

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  8. Anne R. Allen12 September 2010 at 17:30

    Whew! So glad you had the second backup. This sure is a wake-up call for me. All I have for back up is one flash drive. I've got to start sending emails to my Yahoo account with my work attached.

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  9. Simon Kewin12 September 2010 at 17:42

    Anne,

    That's definitely worth doing - relying on one back up is always going to be a bit risky.

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  10. Anita Saxena12 September 2010 at 18:49

    I would have totally freaked out if this had happened to me. I always email my work to myself, so unless the google servers fail, I think I'm safe. I also periodically save things on a thumb drive- these can be a little less reliable, but as a second back up source it will do. So glad that you didn't lose everything.

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  11. Simon Kewin12 September 2010 at 19:10

    Anita,

    Sounds like you're covered - fantastic!

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  12. Anonymous12 September 2010 at 21:27

    I back-up my WIP's weekly. To be honest I should really get into the habit of doing it daily.

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  13. Simon Kewin12 September 2010 at 22:11

    Donna,

    I think you just have to consider how bad it would be if you had to go back to your backup. Losing a week's work sounds pretty painful ...

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  14. Thomas Taylor13 September 2010 at 10:21

    A favourite blunder of mine is overwriting new material with an older version. There's really no excuse for that, but I did just a few days ago. I like the idea of e-mailing onesself -- I might try that (thanks Karen).

    Anyway, I'm glad you didn't lose much, Simon, but I'd love to see a list of the swear words you used when you thought you had:)

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  15. Simon Kewin13 September 2010 at 10:33

    Thomas,

    Yep, that's easy to do! The backup software I use actually lets me keep x previous versions of each file so I'm protected from that, which has been very useful at times!

    The list of swear words! I think "bother" might have been one of them. Even "darn".

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  16. Unknown13 September 2010 at 16:20

    Sage advice. I usually e-mail a copy to myself.

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  17. Simon Kewin13 September 2010 at 17:42

    Andrea,

    It's interesting how many people are adopting that approach. So long as you have an internet connection you'll be covered!

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  18. Lindsey Renee Rose13 September 2010 at 17:46

    This is probably my biggest fear. I need backups all over the place to feel safe!

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  19. Simon Kewin13 September 2010 at 18:11

    Lindsey,

    It's just great that you do have all the backups. The more the better!

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  20. Writer14 September 2010 at 01:37

    WOW Simon! That's scarier than a Stephen King novel. It's a good thing you had backed up elsewhere. I always ask my husband to back up my stuff because he's the computer whiz in the household (my cats don't care for hardrives or computers) LOL!
    Good advice and reminder! Thanks.

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  21. Simon Kewin14 September 2010 at 07:12

    Caludia,

    You're welcome. Just glad you have everything covered.

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  22. Talli Roland14 September 2010 at 10:53

    Great advice! Thank you - this is something I really need to take note of (of which I need to take note, whatever!).

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  23. Simon Kewin14 September 2010 at 11:25

    Talli,

    I hope the reminder is of some help.

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  24. JB15 September 2010 at 16:46

    Scary! Glad you didn't lose anything. I have no idea how to back up, but I will look into that as I am starting to write a novel. Have a techno-smooth week!

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  25. Simon Kewin15 September 2010 at 17:38

    JW,

    Hopefully my article can be of some use then - defintely, definitely make sure you back up!

    Thanks for commenting. If you have any questions about the technicalities, feel free to post them here; I'm happy to reply.

    Simon.

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