(Yeah, I made a Dungeons and Dragons reference in the title...so? :P )
Regardless of what anyone will tell you,
I don't have a lot of things worth saving at the moment but ,when I do though, I want to make sure that my work is safe in terms of me not losing it to some computer glitch.
I guess, probably, the most safe method would be to write everything out, longhand, and have hard copies lying around. No thanks...my handwriting is wonky enough as it is...especially being left handed. I'm not knocking this method, mind you, I know of quite a few people who still do this and there's nothing wrong with it....it's just not for me. Of course, hard copies could also get destroyed, eaten by a dog, accidentally thrown away, etc., so even that's not a foolproof solution.
At this point, I mainly have two backup methods for my ideas, stories, characters, and the like.
My main being Google Drive, though I know a lot of people use/used Dropbox just the same. Storing things "in the cloud" lets you access it from any computer or device so you don't have to worry about a hard drive crash or any other sort of hardware incident. I really like this method....it syncs between my two laptops and Android and my stuff is always there and waiting. I think it gives you four or five gigabytes for free and you can upgrade to more if you want to pay for the service. When I need my work, I just click on the desktop link and there it is....simple.
My other preferred method is the "jump (or flash) drive, which I really like as well. They're easy to use and you can take them with you. The downside is, as with any other physical item, they can be lost, stolen, destroyed. You can also run into the data being corrupted as well as needing a USB port to plug it into. All in all, though, I find the jump drive to be pretty reliable...the advantage of it being that you don't need an Internet connection, as you do with "the cloud".
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| Two of my favorite jump (or should that be flight?) drives. |
What about you?
What do you like to use as far as saving your work goes?
Do you use one of the two methods I described or something even simpler?
8 comments:
I'm old fashioned - I still call it a thumb drive.
I print out my work, I back it up on two thumb drives, and I have two external hard drives. And often I will load it onto another computer or two. Oh, and the edited versions end up on my iPad.
Yes, I work with computers - I know to SAVE OFTEN and EVERYWHERE!
LOL...and here I thought I was being odd for backing up in more than one spot! When I get more stuff worth saving, I hope to be as thorough as the Ninja Captain :)
External HDs are another great idea and, yes, save -often-!!
I am certainly guilty of not backing up enough... I do own several thumb drives (sorry I'm with Alex, that's what I always call them too.) Your Superman is awesome! My favorite is a pink surfboard. I've just about filled it up though!
Heh, like I've mentioned in a previous post, I used to keep my stuff in an old shirt gift box. Of course, this was back -before- computers so there weren't a lot of options...so, I've been guilty of not backing up enough, in my sordid past :)
I've only heard them called thumb drives once or twice...well, more today, but still. I'm not sure where I heard the term "jump" drive, but that's how I've always referred to them. Of course, I've never been the most tech savvy, so... :)
I think I've seen the surfboard drives and they are very cool looking, too.
Thank you for the comment! :)
I just email my work from one account to another! Then of course the old external HD is always trustworthy!
And it IS a lot of HARD work... *dies*
Another good idea!
Yeah, I may have to invest in a good, external HD at some point.
Hard..., but worthwhile work, for sure :)
Do you ever worry about having your characters or your stories on a cloud drive? Call me paranoid, but I worry about some unscrupulous employee finding it and taking it as his/her own!
You know, Robert, I've never thought about that...mainly because, at this point in the game, I don't think my stuff is interesting enough for anyone to steal, lol.
Seriously, though, I would think that if something like that happened (and they'd have to be VERY hard up!) and I wanted to contest it, I could just reference the save dates on my flash drive as proof that I came up with the ideas. Provided I 'doubled down' and saved in both places.
A very interesting question, though...and totally valid these days.
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