What's your backup strategy?

[sianablackwood]

I've seen some really sad stories lately about people losing their writing, so I thought I might ask everyone here how you back up your work.

I'd also like to say, if you're reading this thread, back up your work now!

For my backups, I have a flash drive I sync when I first start up my computer and then again before shutting down (and other times if I'm feeling nervous about losing something or if I want to undo a file system change). I also have a portable hard drive, but that only works in one of the three computers I regularly use, so it's not updated as frequently as I'd like - an example of a backup system not really working as it should, I guess. Two of the computers also sync to Dropbox (again, not ideal - I only have free Dropbox, which limits me to 3 synced devices and my third slot is taken by a computer I don't write on, but do work on files I need to share with the writing computers). Finally, I (nowhere near frequently enough) save zipped archives of everything to Google Drive.

I have some tidying up to do, but so far my system has been good enough to get me out of trouble when something goes wrong.

So, what's your backup strategy?

 

[Hammer]

It's a good and valid question! Having discovered how to lose a whole folder completely and irreversibly whilst working as an IT "professional" I should probably be more careful; I tend to rely on Dropbox being properly maintained, but as I access it from two computers, there will also be local copies on both of those machines, and I periodically back my whole laptop up to a portable drive.

 

[tde44]

After handwriting everything, at the end of each day I enter the info into the computer - Word for writing & OneNote for research/notes. The handwritten copy stays around until at least the first draft is printed out.

The docs are stored on a local drive which is automatically backed up using OneDrive. In addition, I have FileHistory turned on which keeps copies (each time I hit save or when Word does an auto save) onto an external USB flash drive. The history is kept for 3 months.

In addition, every month I backup everything on my computers (as well as the file histories) onto a different removable flash drive. Each flash drive can hold about 6+ months of my backups and I have 6 of these flash drives, rotating which one is used every month. Also, once a flash drive is filled, I always make sure to keep at least the last backup for any given year around, so have backups going back effectively 8 years at this point.

Finally, the backup flash drives are kept in an off-site fireproof safe.

While I have not had to go back so far to recover anything I wrote, I have had occasions over the years to find a file either myself or my significant other accidently deleted or can't locate on our computers, usually following an upgrade/replacement of the computers or their internal drives.

And yes, in a prior lifetime I worked in IT .

 

[Montecarlo]

I keep everything synced to OneDrive

 

[Mr Mononoke]

I have just backed up all my stories onto USB and besides my stories being in folders and word docs all over my homepage, that's all I do.

I might save them onto another USB at some point but never on Google or sync anywhere else.

 

[Dogberry's Watch]

Handwrite, type up, print immediately, repeat. Sometimes I'll upload to Google drive, but mostly it's just hard copies always.

 

[CatrionaGrace]

I email everything to myself each time I close down one computer, then save it to the other computer and an external hard drive. I also print out new sections regularly.

 

[Qvortable]

3 2 1 strategy, no cloud though since the implication of it is that it's not mine.

 

[Link the Writer]

I write everything on Scrivner for iPad, whereupon I move it to its counterpart in the Pages app where I have it all saved to iCloud, which I then upload to my laptop into Word, which I then transfer it to Scriviner for PC.

Effectively, I would have to actively go out of my way to delete my writing to lose it.

 

[Catrin Lewis]

I fork over for a Carbonite subscription for both my laptop and my PC. Really critical files, like the formatted version of my novel, get backed up to a thumbdrive.

 

[Counterpoint]

I use iCloud but don't consider that a backup. Any changes to files are immediately synced, and there is no version history to revert to. I use Backblaze to back up the contents of my hard drive, and it includes one year of version history.

 

[KBWrites]

My Backup and Archive System has been years in the making. Mostly from trial and error. It's those errors that have forced me to improve. Not long ago I thought I had a great way to improve on that system, only to learn after I lost some much needed files, that the new way left me with a gaping hole in my protection, so I'm back to using my tried and true method.

My way of doing things will work on windows, Linux or mac, and all it will cost you is a little time for the initial setup.

My Errors

1. Using a backup solution that created the backups using it's own filing scheme. Everything was going smooth on the backup front, I thought I was covered. Then, I wasn't paying attention while installing a new Linux distro. Instead of it installing on the OS drive, It wiped my data drive. My heart crashed when it rebooted into the same OS that shouldn't have been there. My data was gone. No worries, I had the backups right? Wrong! After over 24 hours it had only copied over about 45% of my files, should have been done in around 2 hours. My most important files (business & financial) was also still getting backed up using the old system. That's when I learned your backups need to be in their native file formats accessible to your standard file browser, not locked away in a programs format.
2. Thinking I had found a new way of backing up using Tar files (zips for you windows folks). The plan was to delete the old files when the drive filled up to make room for the newest. What I didn't plan on is accidentally deleted files would be stored in one of the older Tar files.... and now gone forever. This caused me much anxiety since it was my LLC paperwork. Once again back to the tried and true method I'd been using with one major modification to ensure no file goes missing ever again.

My Solutions

My manuscript has redundancy on top of redundancy.

Every day I create a new file similar to >> 20250313_book title_33,232_rewrite, by changing the date and deleting the word count

• Then everything on my OS drive and Data Drive gets copied over to my redundant drive using FreeFileSync by creating folder pairs. The first copy will take the longest, after that it is just coping new and changed files. I call it my redundant drive because it is physically connect to the computer at all time, even though the drive is encrypted and powered off. I'm not worried about hackers accessing it, but a power surge could destroy it. I have FFS set up to mirror the OS and Data drives. It is also set to Versioning under the delete or overwrite area. My naming convention is Time stamp [folder]. This puts all the deleted or changed file into a dated folder inside my versioning folder.
• Then about once a week, every file gets copied over to a disconnected external for my first true backup also using FFS set to mirror. This time however I have the delete or overwrite area set to permanent. (this only deletes from the external backup)
• I repeat the process about every two weeks, the latest redundant copy gets copied over to the external, along with an external that is stored offsite in case of a major catastrophe at the house. These get treated the same as the first backup copy with FFS.

Fail-safe Protection

In order to ensure I no longer have data accidentally deleted. I initiated an additional Archive step into my solution. I created a 22gb encrypted container using Veracrypt , also available for all three operating systems. The reason for this is I have financial and business files going into the versioning folder.

Once that versioning folder hits 21gb, the contents are moved into the encrypted container, and that container file is burned onto a blueray disk. The disk is labeled with an alphanumeric code and stored away for 10 years. At this point in the system, you have at least one external copy of your files. If you want to step it up a notch those 21gb versioning file could also be put on an offsite hard drive.

Archive retrieval - in order to make your life easier keep a spreadsheet with the disk number and a list of whats on the disk. Then you can use the spreadsheet's search function to find which disk and folder has the file you seek. You could do the same thing in a word document. Whichever your more comfortable with.

According to the last time I looked at the IRS's website, individuals can toss tax related paperwork after 7 years, and 10 years for businesses.

 

[Homer Potvin]

Anybody remember floppy disks?

 

[KBWrites]

Anybody remember floppy disks?

I still have a bunch of 3.5, and a sealed pack of 10 Looney toones disks

 

[CatrionaGrace]

I still have a few floppy discs.

 

[ProductionBlues]

I simply memorize every draft of everything I write.

 

[Rad Scribbler]

I save everything on a flash drive.