Why Every Author Needs Good Backup Protection

It's like being in an auto accident. You never think that it's going to happen to you--losing critical data off your hard drive.

As someone who has been left with a permanent injury from an auto accident that occurred twenty year ago, I can attest that bad things in life can and do happen, and that includes every author's worst nightmare--losing all, or part, of a manuscript.

I'm currently working on a new book, and I spent the good part of last Saturday working on the manuscript.  I carefully saved the file before shutting down the computer for the night.  Sunday morning I launched Word, and, as I'm reading through my chapters, I suddenly come to the end--much  sooner than I should have.  The last thirty pages, that I had worked so hard on the night before, were simply gone. Kaput. No more. They had completely vanished into cyber-oblivion. I had been having some issues with my computer mouse, and apparently it did something to damage the file.

The first thing to do was not to panic. The second thing to do was not to panic.  The third thing to do was to recite George Carlin's seven words that you can't say on television, and then not to panic.

So, while I was busy not panicking, I decided to find out just how good that Carbonite off site back up package that I've been subscribing to for the past few years really was.  Well, guess what. The product worked as advertised.  While it has some funky ways of naming the actual files, I was able to find the back up copy, fairly quickly and easily, and it was reasonably good condition.  All that was missing was the last paragraph or two.

There are different ways back up your files.  You can do it manually by copying them onto a flash drive or CD, or you can spend a few dollars a year and subscribe to an off site service that does it automatically for you.  I personally happen to use Carbonite, but there are other products out there that provide the same service. You just have to decide which one works best for you. But whichever method you use, you need to back up your files frequently, especially your manuscript files.

My tip for the day.

GM