Having had
complete loss of my desktop(s) not once, not twice, but (gulp) thrice in a
period of a year, the matter of preserving one’s work is not a theoretical one.
Yup, 2022 was a doozy for my shouldn’t-have-trusted computer(s) and two years later, in August of 2024, I once again experienced the joy of having to transition, as my oldy (they all were) desktop needed to be replaced because Windows 10 support ends October 2025. Happily, for now, we crossed that bridge. 👍
I learned a few
things in the process. Best thing was to (finally) succumb and pay for cloud
storage. The thing is, I am not sure I know how to retrieve my digital contents
from the cloud. If you do, let me know. But it feels better to have it.
I also learned
that my habit of saving all my documents onto flash drive(s) saved me from total
loss. More than one flash drive, because I have had these die without warning
in the past. I've also had two hard drives that backed up and died. Best thing about this sort of saving (flash drives) is that I do know how to
retrieve and upload when the need comes, and as I said, it came and came and
came.
In the pre-historic
days when I first began using a computer, I printed everything that mattered in
order to have hard copies. Flash drives weren’t invented yet and didn’t become
ubiquitous until later. I had files saved to a CD, which was somewhat more
cumbersome.
The hard paper
copies are great for proofreading, but if the digital work meanders to the
great nowhere ether forest or evaporated by a bug, it means typing and typing
and more typing from the printed pages. It isn’t an elegant solution. But in
those ancient times I just didn’t trust the ephemeral nature of words on a
screen. I only believed the reality of something I could hold. I still feel this way about books I am
reading, by the way.
But digital files
need a digital back door storage.
What do you do? I’d
love to know.
7 comments:
Oh dear! I recently invested in a Seagate external drive and when I went to copy my photos onto it, I discovered I had 28,000 files! Yikes! I have Windows 10 and have resisted upgrading it to Windows 11. Do you suggest I go ahead and take the pain of doing that?
Ooofff, I feel your pain, Mirka. It's no fun. Flash drives, emailing docs to myself and a friend so they're on the cloud (and on different computers) have helped. We had an external drive and that failed. So I'm thankful for the printed photos and the ones on my blog. It's one of the reasons I post a lot of pictures :)
Vijaya, I recently emailed my WIP to me first Beta reader even though she can't get to it for a while just to have it on someone else's computer, so I get it. I love the photos you share on your blog, a bonus for us.
Sorry to hear about your technological woes. It happens to everyone, unfortunately, at some point. But you're doing the right thing getting Cloud storage. As with all labor-saving devices that have been invented, they're great when they work, but they are time robbers when they don't.
I'm interested to read everyone's comments since I really do need to find better solutions to backing up my files. And, no, I haven't yet switched to Windows 11. Ack!
Ditto on preferring manuscripts on paper, and physical, printed books. I also don't know how to retrieve from the cloud. Love flash drives for copies. We'll be switching to Windows 11 soon.
I strongly believe in having data in multiple places. I save things on my desktop and my laptop (via dropbox), plus I have Carbonite backing up my desktop, plus iCloud backs up my MacBook Air. And, if you have to restore a doc from a printout, many printer/scanners will let you scan to OCR--you'll still need to compare, but it's better than retyping everything.
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