Backup Strategy
No, seriously, do you have one?
I had an out of body moment this morning. I lost the latest version of my manuscript. Sync services ate it.
I use a system for writing that involves two computers, SugarSync, and Scrivener among other programs. Now, I adore Scrivener. It allows me to manage my complex manuscript like the project it is. A Scrivener project is built around a package of individual text files indexed by the Scrivener application and presented in the UI as an integrated whole. There is a variety of metadata around each file that includes attributes like last changed, scene, status, or anything else you could possible imagine or create. It also allows you to take snapshots (i.e. versions) of any part of the project and save them so you can roll back if you decide that the outrageously brilliant plot twist involving slugs and penguins was just a wee bit too far out.
It also means that there are about a bazillion tiny files inside a Scrivener package. Not a big problem, unless you are syncing the files individually. Ahem.
Syncing between computers is hard. I’m certain of this because I’ve used a broad assortment of sync services over many years with little to no success. Man, it must be a freaking hard problem. But in the past couple of years, sites like SugarSync, Apple’s .Me, and DropBox all seem to have it working pretty well. Until it doesn’t, of course. And let me say here that I use all three services for different things.
That’s what happened to me today. I lost my latest version of my manuscript A Fault in Time in a sync collision that corrupted the Scrivener package. This is the manuscript that finaled in the contest, the one that an agent has requested. I said I had an out of body moment, because that’s what it was. An out of body moment.
I looked stupidly at the terrifying error message that told me my file was horribly corrupted.
I said, “*&%#”.
I launched Time Machine, restored the file, and kept working.
Total elapsed time lost….about 20 seconds. (Ignoring the time to blog about it.)
Total data lost….nothing.
What’s your backup strategy? Have you tested it lately?


