Don't leave the safety of your files to chance!
Today I want to share a great backup tool with you.
DropboxI recently subscribed to Dropbox. I opted for their free 2 GB of online data storage – so far I’m using almost 39% of my allowed space. I have to say I really love it.
I do my work each day, and when I’m done, I just copy the files to my dropbox files (right on my computer). You have no idea how relieved I feel knowing that my clients’ work is backed up.
In addition, I’m backing up all my manuscripts, articles, and posts.
What I especially like about Dropbox is that I save only the files I want to. I was a little concerned about having my entire hard drive backed up online because of personal information that is on some files. But, now I don’t have to worry about it.
And, what’s just as beneficial is that you can register your laptop, and other computers to your Dropbox account. This means once you save a file to the computer or laptop you’re currently working on, the updated file will be available on every other computer you listed on your account. Now, that’s impressive and makes life just a bit easier.
Since I think it’s such a worthwhile tool for backing up important files, and the 2 GB storage space is FREE, I’m promoting it.
Once you join, for every person you get to join up, you’ll get an additional 250 MG of space (up to 8 GB)
If you think it’ll be beneficial to your writing and work, give it a try - there’s absolutely nothing to lose. And, I would never blatantly recommend a product I didn’t use and didn’t think is great.
So, click on
Dropbox or the link below and see for yourself.
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Lately, a number of writers I know have had their sites and emails hacked into. While there are no guarantees that anything you do will protect you, the more obstacles or barriers you put up the better. If you were a knight, your first line of personal defense would be your shield. As an internet user, your first line of defense is your password.
1. Use Strong Passwords
Many sites, groups, forums, etc., that require passwords have a password gauge. It actually tells you how strong your password is.
This is convenient and a great tool if you actually use it. I watch as I type in my password; it goes from weak to medium to strong; using the best combinations of words and letters creates the strong reading.
An important tip from the Elance.com blog (a freelance writer’s job listing site) is to mix it up. What does this mean? Don’t use “Iwantin” as your password for everything. If a hacker figures out one of your passwords, you don’t want that to be the ‘key to the city.’
To keep track of all your passwords may need to create a Password Sheet. While it’s a bit of extra work, you’ll be glad you have it when you forget a password.
And, please be aware that I was just kidding with the password of “I want in.” Your passwords shouldn’t be your name or other simple word, date, or phrase, no matter how funny or cute. You need a combination of letters and numbers, and/or special characters. Pretend you’re at a carnival and you have the hammer in your hand…you lift it up and over your should, then you slam it down with all your might…the ball rises to the top and hits the bell. This is how you should view the creation of your passwords—hit the bell with each one.
To be extra careful, it would be a good idea to periodically change your passwords, even it they have a strong reading.
According to the Elance article (http://tinyurl.com/ydlzyfh): CSOonline.com has an excellent write up on how to create a solid set of passwords to protect all of your personal and business data. Check it out if you think you need some help in this area.
2. Back Up Your Work Daily
I’ve written about this before, but it’s such an important aspect of writing that I’m including in here.
Often, I know this pertains to me, we forget to back up our work. I also know how important it is because twice I lost VERY IMPORTANT documents. One of those documents was a manuscript I was working on – about a week’s worth of revisions…GONE. I ranted and raved…and cried.
Backing up your work should be done on a daily basis, if you’ve done any writing or saved an article or newsletter – it’s important to backup. If you’ve bother to save useful or interesting information, it’s worth it to back it up. I save so much information from sites or emails or newsletters that I intend to read later...often I forget where I saved it, but that’s another story.
The strategy I use now is to save directly to a zip drive. If it’s an exceptionally important file, say, my manuscripts or clients work, I “save as” to my hard drive also. Then, I save the important folders to a 2nd zip – I should be doing this daily, but I always forget. And, as a full back up, I save any folders I’ve worked in to a 3rd zip drive once a week. I feel confident that a 3and 4 layer backup should be safe.
I know may writers save their work at offsite services such as carbonite.com or backupsolution.com (please note, I’m not recommending any service), but I haven’t journeyed down that path yet. I have enough monthly writing expenses without adding an offsite backup system. Even at $5-7 per month, it’s more than I’m willing to pay right now. I just hope I don't end up regreting my decision.
Until next time,
Karen Cioffi
http://karencioffi.com/media-page/
http://dkvwr
I Wish I Were A Packrat
by Rebecca Gomez Farrell
I lost six years of my life. Okay, I’m being a tad dramatic. I lost six years’ worth of word processor documents. They’re gone. They left for the great recycling bin icon in the sky and some jerk emptied it. I’m the jerk.
A few years ago, I decided the old college laptop had to go. It had been wacky since my roommate borrowed it for a night of feverish essay typing and spilled a mug of coffee on it. The keys sank down like molasses when you pressed them and came up 1. . . 2 . . .3 seconds later with a loud click. The down arrow key would possess the cursor, sending it on a race down the monitor, which no control-alt-delete combination could halt.
My new laptop came, with its shiny casing and fancy Windows XP. I installed the software, then made a cup coaster out of the AOL trial CD-ROM.
“Honey,” I asked my fiance when I finished, “we already backed up my files to the server, right?”
“Yep, they’re under Becca’s documents,” he assured me. “You click on the icon for My Network and—”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I cut him off. I may not be a computer genius, but I thought I knew that much.
Stop! Check the files! The alarm bells go off in my head now, but they didn’t then.
A few months after that fateful day, I clicked through row after row of pixilated manila folders, hoping, in between my wedding guest list and hotel reservations, to catch a glimpse of Mr. Palen’s tan jacket as he held my hand while walking me the school office when I was 10. He was my teacher when my father died and I had written about him in a piece that I wanted to revise.
I still haven’t found him. Nor have I find my friend Ruth. I did a character sketch based on her once. When someone pissed her off, she would catch my eye and trace a checkmark in the air with her pointer finger. Then, she’d mime killing him or her, perhaps by pulling back a crossbow wire and releasing it. My personal favorite was her duck, roll, and rifle shoot. Her blonde ponytail would bounce with each trigger pull.
It’s most painful to accept the loss of my college papers. How many sleepless nights’ work are now gone? I’d tangled with Twain’s inner demons, battled the titan of Homeric verse, and analyzed depictions of African American manhood from slavery to OJ. Yes, I still have my degree, but none of the work that earned it.
In my dreams, I catch a glimpse of that lost folder of Word documents, just beyond my Excel spreadsheets and resume versions. It beckons me to double-click it, like a ghostly guide pointing toward a cave of treasure. If I just keep my eyes closed long enough . . .
Rebecca Gomez Farrell, a Californian with a bad case of wanderlust, migrated to the East Coast after college, thinking to improve her writing by gaining more life experiences. She presently writes, edits, and blogs from Durham, NC. Under the pseudonym, The Gourmez, she writes reviews of restaurants, cocktails, and wines as well as a weekly column on her lifelong obsession, General Hospital. She also writes modern short fiction, creative nonfiction, and is working on a fantasy novel.
You can view Becca’s work at http://blog.thegourmez.com/, http://eyeonsoaps.net/, and http://carpedurham.com/.
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