Sub Ubi

Tom responded to my post on keeping backups; between the two posts, I think there’s a nice combination of information. As he points out, my comments are quite technical. I do my best not to get caught in the details, but it sometimes comes with the profession. It is also interesting to compare the posts: Tom’s is more discursive, while mine was more analytical—focusing on the details and mechanisms by which you could backup your work, and very little on how those mechanisms might fit into a writer’s workflow.

I like the combination of the two posts. I think we could continue by exploring just backup strategies further, but it is probably best that we move on, unless there are questions and comments from People Out In The World. Between Tom’s post and my post, there is a lot of information to work with, and a lot of fertile ground for questions to be born in.

… actually, on further thought, I think there is a prescriptive post to be done between these two. As it stands, we’ve left the Busy Writer to figure out, for themselves, how to create their own (good) backup strategy. That just won’t do. So, I’ll go ahead and give you a bit of a prescription for keeping your data safe. If you don’t have a backup strategy, this is a good starting point—you can read Tom’s account of how he keeps his data safe for some additional insight into how this fits into his workflow as a writer.

1. Save all of your work in one place

   What does “one place” mean? It means you have a single folder on your hard drive called “work”. Everything you do that matters to you, in any way, shape, or form, goes under that folder. For example, you are allowed to create as many folders inside of your “work” folder as you like… but they can’t go anywhere else on the hard drive. You see, if you have more than one folder that matters to you, you’ll have to remember to back them all up. And any time that you enter the equation, there is a big point of failure. So, one folder for all of your work.

2. Create a DVD every (week, month)

   How much do you care about your work? A little? A lot? Regardless, back your work up to a CDR or DVDR every week. You should make two copies, and one of them should be taken Somewhere Else. Keeping both at home doesn’t count as a “backup”. You can, if you like, stop right here, and do nothing else. You may stop here. If this is all you do, then you can stop here, as long as you are making weekly copies of your work, in duplicate, and keeping one DVD at home, and one at work (or Somewhere Else, wherever that may be). Keep in mind, you can still loose seven days worth of work if you are only keeping a weekly backup.

   If you only want to make DVD backups on a monthly basis, then you MUST read on.

3. Setup off-site, on-line backup

   Your data will not be “safe” if you buy an external hard drive and make copies to it. That hard drive will be sitting next to your computer, and will be destroyed in the same fire as the PC, or it will be stolen by the same thief who wants your laptop. Therefore, the only way to protect your data is to get it away from you!

   You MUST subscribe to an online backup service. Tom points to two different services that I’ve heard good things about: Mozy and Carbonite. If you are a bit more technically minded, you might consider Bingo! or Amazon S3 via either JungleDisk or S3 Backup. If you are not 100% comfortable researching these options yourself, ask a friend for help. Hell, pay someone if you have to. Your work is worth far more than paying a local 16-year-old $20-$50 to help you out. At that rate of pay, you can even require that they work with you to produce written documentation that guides you through every step of the process. It will be educational for them, and invaluable for you.

   Off-site backup is not an option if you care about your data. And, it MUST run on a daily basis.

4. Test your backups

   This is the hardest part. You must, on a regular basis, make sure that your backups are working. At the least, once a month, download one or two folders from your backup. Make sure that they’re intact. You should do this, though, after you have finished making a DVD. That is, if you screw up, you could (inadvertantly) download an old version of something over a more recent version. This would be bad. Therefore, on a monthly basis (after making your DVD backup of your work), do a quick check to see that your daily, off-site backup is behaving the way you expect.

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