Most of us have heard the stories. A writer friend distraught over a computer crash, or virus which wiped out their files. Months, maybe years of hard work gone. Hopefully, you aren’t the one telling the story. This post will walk you through step by step how to backup your files so if this does ever happen to you don’t lose a thing. None of this is magic, all it takes is some preparation. Let’s get you started on creating a good backup strategy for your files.
Dropbox
Dropbox is a cloud service which can store files. All cloud means is you’re storing stuff on someone else’s computer.
The first task is setting up a DropBox account. Go to Dropbox.com and signup for an account.
Either click create an account, or Sign in with Google. If you choose Sign in with Google, you’ll be prompted to log into your Gmail account, and Dropbox will use the information from Gmail to set up your account.
If you choose create an account, you’ll be prompted to enter your first and last name and email.
Your email address will become the username for your Dropbox account. If you’re going to use your Gmail address, it would be easier to select “Sign in with Google”. Then you’ll enter a password, and have to click the box that says “I agree to Dropbox terms.” No one reads these, anyway. If you want to use the service, you click the box. Once you’re all done click Create an account.
Install the Dropbox app
Next, you’ll want to install the Dropbox app on your computer. Click here to go to the downloads page. As soon as the page loads, it should download the program into the lower left had side of the Internet browser.
Click the little arrow, and select Open. This will install the client on your computer.
After it installs, you’ll see a Dropbox area in your computer.
You see that little green check mark? That means your Dropbox folder has saved everything to the cloud and you’re all backed up. You’ll be limited on size so choose your most important documents to go into your Dropbox folder. This means all your writing, especially our Work in Progress.
To get them there, simply drag and drop them onto the Dropbox folder. Dropbox will also appear as a save option in programs like Word.
If you use Word, you can choose to open the file from the Dropbox folder and work on it from there. If you do, your work is backed up to the cloud seconds after you hit save. Check for the little green mark to let you know if you’re not sure.
Furthermore, if you work on multiple computers, say a desktop and a laptop, if you install the Dropbox client on each one, and set up the folder, you can move seamlessly between writing on on device or the other. You can even read your work on your mobile device with the Dropbox mobile app, though I’ve found it difficult to make edits.
Scrivener
I would recommend you don’t store your Scrivener files in Dropbox. Sometimes the Dropbox synchronizatoin and Scrivener’s file structure don’t always play nice. Instead, you’ll want to use Scrivener’s back up feature to back up your work from Scrivener to Dropbox at the end of your writing session,
Carbonite
Dropbox is a good start, but its not enough. Cabronite will back up your whole hard drive, everything in your computer. While Dropbox is free to use, Carbonite costs money. I’m sympathetic to the finanical struggles of writers, I’m right there with you myself. But this product, I’ve found to be worth the money.
To get Carbointe, go to https://www.carbonite.com.
This will bring you to a page to pick your plan. I go with the home plan for $6/month which I pay yearly. Click on “Start home trial.”
Next, you’ll actually sign up. You’ll fill in your email, enter it a second time in the Confirm Email box, and put your password in the password and Confirm password box. Fill out your country, click the “I’m not a robot” box (assuming, of course, you’re not a robot), and click Submit.
Continue to follow the instructions on the page to install Carbonite on your computer. The initial backups can take some time but after that you won’t notice it unless you do some stuff to really tax your computer like high end rendering, compiling or gaming.
If anything ever happens to your computer, you can get a new one and use Carbonite to restore everything. It’ll take a while, but you’ll be right back where you were before the problem without losing anything.
If you have your Dropbox app, Carbonite also backs up your Dropbox so its double backed up.
Why both? Carbonite will backup many more files than Dropbox. Dropbox is great for moving files between computers, like a laptop and a desktop, and for sharing with other people.
It also gives you multiple points of failure. It’s unlikely, Dropbox, Carbonite and your computer would all have a huge catastrophic failure at the same time and if they did, the world if facing larger problems. It’s basically zombie apocalypse time.
Flash drive
Carbonite and Dropbox both backup in the background soon after a file changes which still might still leave you vulnerable to a nasty computer problem called a ransomware attack. These are just frightening.
To guard against this worst case scenario, I recommend a flash drive from a reputable office store. These are always on sale during Black Friday, but even right now you can pick up one for less than $15. This is the smallest size they sell and you could store thousands of novels on it.
When you plug the flash drive into your computer, it will look like another drive. On my computer, the flash drive is letter F:
About once a week, copy your Dropbox folder (where you’ve put your most important files like your WiP), to your flash drive. Once you’re done copying, remove the flash drive from the computer.
Following these steps will ensure you’ll never lose your work to a computer crash or virus.