Currently I use blogger for storage and universal access. It is convenient to back up and to use from multiple machines, but is not very good for storing different versions of a chapter. What do you use for storing your writing?
I use Dropbox. I use it because it allows my computer platform and my portables to all sync to the same file. I use Scrivener on my Macs and Notebooks on my iPad and iPhone. No matter the device I am using, everything syncs and is updated to all of my other computers and portables.
Three flash drives (ie copies in triplicate) , Mac's Time machine plus I have copies in both Word and Scrivener.
Yep. I have three computers I use, each with Dropbox. My Scrivener files are saved to Dropbox, so I immediately have copies across all three systems as well as in the cloud.
I've converted my novel to a 'universal' format (the Mac's TextEdit) and sent it via email attachments to several of my friends. This way I can access it as 'saved email' via my internet-based email account, no matter what computer I'm using or where I am. This is in addition to flash drives (5!) which contain older versions as well as the newest one, and the good old reliable hard copy on paper. Paranoid? You betcha! Years ago, I lost everything BUT the hard copy because my files corrupted, without my knowledge, so everything I saved got automatically corrupted too. It wasn't till I tried to access an older chapter that I realised what had happened. Fortunately, I was able to key the story in again, via my precious hard copy. I now keep many versions of my files, so if one gets corrupted I don't keep replicating the problem. Wasn't it simpler, when we just worried about fire and flood???
I have two laptops and keep copies of my stuff on both. I also have an external hard drive and at least one copy is there. In addition, I have a couple of flash drives with copies. I am also obsessive about printing my work out - I can't seem to edit it unless I'm reading it on paper. So I have several versions of everything in hard copy in my filing cabinet.
I weekly back up my writing to a flash drive. I also save as I go to the hard drive and a different flash drive. In addition, I email the latest version from one of m accounts to another account (ie Flank Hawk v 113). I will sometimes save to a flash drive and leave it at work, should flood or fire or tornado or theft or whatever destroy computers and flash drives at home.
SD cards. I store every step of the novel (each night's work), with small notes on where it is in the story, and revisions taken.
External Hard drive and flashdrives followed by hard copies and the drive on both of my comps. I have Kids........enough said.
A flash drive, laptops hard drive, my Kindle and I periodically email copies to myself and save them in drafts.
Dropbox is the way to go. It's on your computer and a remote server. I also backup everything on a portable hd every once in awhile. A lot of it is online as well.
One copy on an SD card. One copy on a thumb drive. One copy on my phone. I once made several copies, before I went back east. When I came back I could not find the original. I was SO GLAD I had made all those reassuring copies. Also the thumb drive that I used to carry on my keychain died. Nothing on it works anymore. It had copies of two entire books on it. Copies. Not originals Multiple backups!
I am the most disorganised person in the world so constantly forget where I have saved stuff on my computer and lose memory sticks. Hopeless really. Saving it online seems sensible. I have heard of Icloud which some people use and I have since used dropbox and send my work via emails as well. Cannot be too careful when backing stuff up where computers are concerned!
Flash drives are small, relatively fragile, and easy to lose. I never use them for anything I care about losing.
You guys talked me into it. I got Dropbox today and put my writing there. I hope it's still there in the morning!
It will be there and on any computer you have Dropbox installed on. Also, another thing you can do is save a local copy to your computer hard drive and a second copy to your Dropbox folder for backup and distribution.
Yet another great feature of Scrivener. All my platforms have their local copy which updates from the Dropbox copy from which they all sync. Where I live internet can be a sketchy affair, so having a solely cloud based copy is not convenient for me.
