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So, I wanted to work on 300 Rains and lo and behold the file is massively corrupted. Thankfully, this site had all the chapters and in good form. Thus I was able to spend a good deal of time to copy and paste all forty chapters into a new file. Bleargh!
At least it is don now and I can work on the file in peace, without huge data gaps. Yes this means that chapters may be coming back at you.
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Backups!
At least by the sounds of things you hadn't started on the next chapter - it would have been even worse if the file got corrupted after spending several hours writing!
It might be a good idea to buy a USB stick and every so often copy all stories in progress onto it (or at least periodically save a copy under a different filename on your hard drive). Oh, and don't forget to "Safely remove" the USB stick once you've finished using it - despite being physically rugged devices, Windows will sometimes throw a panic attack if they're not removed in the recommended way (and may even refuse to read it the next time it's inserted).
There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't...
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
So, What Is The Recommended Way?
I generally don't work from the USB stick. I just put files in there and retrieve them. Any documents or files that were open are always saved and closed before removing the drive.
Portia
Portia
USB sticks
They are useful devices, but it's best to use them for backup / retrieval - i.e. don't work from them directly, but just copy across the files as and when. Once you've finished, using Windows' "Safely remove drive" function allows it to automatically close any open files (including temporary files it may have put on there) and notify you when the drive is safe to remove.
But once it's disconnected from the computer, you can drop it, wash it and (apparently) even run over it in your car and the data will remain intact. Just put the cap on or retract the connector (depending on model) to minimise the chances of that being damaged.
The slightly more expensive option is a portable hard drive, which would allow you to periodically back up all your documents / images / music / videos etc., as well as the installers for any programs / device drivers / updates you've downloaded from the 'net (so when Windows decides to throw its toys out of the pram, you can get your system back to a working state without needing to spend hours waiting for Windows Update to do its stuff!)
As for how often you'd back up, the answer would have to be "it depends". You'd probably want to do a fairly full backup soon after getting the backup device, but then how often you top it up depends on how often you write / download stuff / convert CDs to mp3s etc.
There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't...
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
300 Rains is currently on a
300 Rains is currently on a thumb drive. That will certainly help matters. I should be getting a new computer soon, which will also help. But it is very frustrating trying to make sure that everything is taken care of and not corrupted.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Another form of backup, and it's free...
is to open a gmail account for the specific purpose of backup, and mail your stories to your archive account periodically. This has the advantage too of allowing you to include formatting, pictures, and links, and it's fairly trivial to extract the "good parts" in most mail clients, or through a screen dump of the e-mail source on Google.
Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
more 300 rains!
Yay! does a happy dance!
Dorothycolleen
You Can Download All the Chapters at Once
Heather, in case you didn't know: Click on "Printer Friendly Version" on the series chapter index page. That will load all the chapters listed in the index in a single page viewing file. You can then download them all at once. It works on all but the largest series. Can save lots of time. Depending on how big the series is and what's happening with the site, it can take several seconds for a series the size of 300 Rains to display.
That would have been good to
That would have been good to have known earlier. ;)
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Glad to hear it
I keep checking, and sadly clicking to somewhere else.
It is preferable to what I thought was happening. How is the shoulder?
Computers and files are important, but health is precious.
My left shoulder is still
My left shoulder is still twitching on its own, but it has slowed down a great deal. So it goes.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.