Backup Solutions for your Novel - Revision history

NewMexicoKid: /* Advice for Scrivener users on Macs */

2014-11-14T13:00:37Z

Advice for Scrivener users on Macs

NewMexicoKid: /* dropbox */

2014-11-13T12:49:15Z

dropbox

NewMexicoKid at 00:59, 13 November 2014

2014-11-13T00:59:43Z

NewMexicoKid: /* Scrivener + Python */

2014-11-13T00:37:03Z

Scrivener + Python

NewMexicoKid: /* Scrivener + Python */

2014-11-13T00:36:35Z

Scrivener + Python

NewMexicoKid at 00:35, 13 November 2014

2014-11-13T00:35:51Z

NewMexicoKid: /* Backup Solutions */

2014-11-12T23:58:54Z

Backup Solutions

NewMexicoKid at 18:42, 12 November 2014

2014-11-12T18:42:55Z

NewMexicoKid at 18:41, 12 November 2014

2014-11-12T18:41:30Z

NewMexicoKid: Created page with "== About this page == This page will document the prevalent backup solution options for writers."

2014-11-11T13:11:37Z

Created page with "== About this page == This page will document the prevalent backup solution options for writers."

New page

== About this page ==
This page will document the prevalent backup solution options for writers.

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:00, 14 November 2014
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	Because of the complexity of Scrivener's project structure (it is a folder with lots of interlinked document fragments plus notes, comments, and other resources) it is sometimes difficult to restore back to a previous state. In general, though, Time Machine restores are very reliable if you can go back to a time when Scrivener was quiescent for an hour or more. Scrivener continuously write the contents of everything to disk, every few seconds, and keeps its own log of deltas for the purpose of undoing changes. This makes it much less likely that you'll seriously mung your project by restoring from either Time Machine or CrashPlan, but it's always possible.</em>		Because of the complexity of Scrivener's project structure (it is a folder with lots of interlinked document fragments plus notes, comments, and other resources) it is sometimes difficult to restore back to a previous state. In general, though, Time Machine restores are very reliable if you can go back to a time when Scrivener was quiescent for an hour or more. Scrivener continuously write the contents of everything to disk, every few seconds, and keeps its own log of deltas for the purpose of undoing changes. This makes it much less likely that you'll seriously mung your project by restoring from either Time Machine or CrashPlan, but it's always possible.</em>
		+
		+	== Scrivener and other backups ==
		+	[http://nanowrimo.org/participants/spellguns Spellguns] writes:
		+	<em>Stage 0: Separate Internal Harddrive. I keep my work off the OS disk, so that in case of a serious windows fault, all I have to do is pull the work drive, wipe the system to zeroes, and reinstall. The part that takes the longest here is of course reinstalling all my work apps, but I got back up and running in about a day the last time I had to do this. It also means that I can yank the drive quickly in some kind of weather emergency, even if I can't get the whole computer.
		+
		+	Stage 1: Scrivener's backup utility. This step just makes sure that I've got a local backup in case my computer shuts down unexpectedly and corrupts my file or dropbox has a little accident and revisions my files back to neverwhen.
		+
		+	Stage 2: Dropbox. My Scrivener document lives in a dropbox folder, so I can write/edit on my desktop or laptop. This (in theory) makes sure that my work is saved in the cloud, for catastrophic failures of home integrity.
		+
		+	Stage 3: NAS drive. This does a nightly backup of my work harddrive, saving all of my freelance work changes (including my writing) onto a separate machine. Cheap to build, fun to put together, and provides me with more peace of mind.
		+
		+	Stage 4: External Harddive. I have what I call "stacks," a seagate 1tb external that I only plug in to make big backups of finished projects. I keep it away from the rest of the equipment and unplugged, so it'll be safe if I get nailed by lightning.
		+
		+	Stage 5: (Last one, I promise) FTP Backups to a remote server. Every week I have my backup software zip up a large archive of my work documents and FTP them to the server that I use for my websites. Bring on the meteorites.</em>

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 * Note: if you get your dropbox account from an existing dropbox user, both you and they get an extra 500 Mb of storage.
 * Dropbox will create duplicates if you alter a file on two different computers without syncing them first so one file doesn't override the changes on the other.
 === google ===

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:59, 13 November 2014
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	This is my favorite Scrivener feature. I can play Dr. Mengele with a project binder, I've never corrupted anything, and I've never had to ask a soul how to pull it off - kudos for transparency to Literature and Latte!</em>		This is my favorite Scrivener feature. I can play Dr. Mengele with a project binder, I've never corrupted anything, and I've never had to ask a soul how to pull it off - kudos for transparency to Literature and Latte!</em>
		+
		+	== Advice for Scrivener users on Macs ==
		+	[http://nanowrimo.org/participants/greg-shenaut Greg Shenaut] writes:
		+	<em>I use a Mac. I have a Time Capsule WiFi base station that does a Time Machine backup (onsite) of anything that has changed on my hard drive each hour, plus as many previous snapshots that will fit on its 3T disk. If I am working away from home, Time Machine snapshots are done on my hard drive and as many are kept that will fit, until I get back into range of the Time Capsule. Furthermore, I have CrashPlan, which does an off-site backup of changes to my home folder every 15 minutes whenever I'm online.
		+
		+	I use Scrivener for writing, and it has an automatic backup capability that I have enabled, and it backs up each time I quit the program (probably about once per day on average, and it keeps five of those backups around if I need them.
		+
		+	Because of the complexity of Scrivener's project structure (it is a folder with lots of interlinked document fragments plus notes, comments, and other resources) it is sometimes difficult to restore back to a previous state. In general, though, Time Machine restores are very reliable if you can go back to a time when Scrivener was quiescent for an hour or more. Scrivener continuously write the contents of everything to disk, every few seconds, and keeps its own log of deltas for the purpose of undoing changes. This makes it much less likely that you'll seriously mung your project by restoring from either Time Machine or CrashPlan, but it's always possible.</em>

@@ Line 73: / Line 73: @@
 == Scrivener + Python ==
 [http://nanowrimo.org/participants/marengo Marengo] writes:
-''Linux is my personal platform of choice - I'm a Unix admin by trade. However, after years of life happily without Microsoft, I got addicted to a couple of Windows applications. I use vi and vim all the time, I am a recovering emacs user, but for creative writing it's hard to beat Scrivener.
+<em>Linux is my personal platform of choice - I'm a Unix admin by trade. However, after years of life happily without Microsoft, I got addicted to a couple of Windows applications. I use vi and vim all the time, I am a recovering emacs user, but for creative writing it's hard to beat Scrivener.
 I write on a Windows laptop. I'm a sellout.
@@ Line 92: / Line 92: @@
 It's sort of a backup system - once I've exported the files out of Scrivener, Scrivener itself could explode and I would still have my project - including all my binder names.
-This is my favorite Scrivener feature. I can play Dr. Mengele with a project binder, I've never corrupted anything, and I've never had to ask a soul how to pull it off - kudos for transparency to Literature and Latte!''
+This is my favorite Scrivener feature. I can play Dr. Mengele with a project binder, I've never corrupted anything, and I've never had to ask a soul how to pull it off - kudos for transparency to Literature and Latte!</em>

@@ Line 73: / Line 73: @@
 == Scrivener + Python ==
 [http://nanowrimo.org/participants/marengo Marengo] writes:
-Linux is my personal platform of choice - I'm a Unix admin by trade. However, after years of life happily without Microsoft, I got addicted to a couple of Windows applications. I use vi and vim all the time, I am a recovering emacs user, but for creative writing it's hard to beat Scrivener.
+''Linux is my personal platform of choice - I'm a Unix admin by trade. However, after years of life happily without Microsoft, I got addicted to a couple of Windows applications. I use vi and vim all the time, I am a recovering emacs user, but for creative writing it's hard to beat Scrivener.
 I write on a Windows laptop. I'm a sellout.
@@ Line 92: / Line 92: @@
 It's sort of a backup system - once I've exported the files out of Scrivener, Scrivener itself could explode and I would still have my project - including all my binder names.
-This is my favorite Scrivener feature. I can play Dr. Mengele with a project binder, I've never corrupted anything, and I've never had to ask a soul how to pull it off - kudos for transparency to Literature and Latte!
+This is my favorite Scrivener feature. I can play Dr. Mengele with a project binder, I've never corrupted anything, and I've never had to ask a soul how to pull it off - kudos for transparency to Literature and Latte!''

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 This page attempts to document the prevalent backup solution options for writers.
-== Backup Solutions ==
+== Physical Backup Solutions ==
-* flash drives - GOOD: small/portable; no network required. '''CAUTION: flash drives will eventually fail -- do not rely on this for your only backup''' BAD: Not automatic.
+=== paper ===
-* external hard drive - GOOD: more reliable than flash drives. CON: not quite as portable as flash drives. '''CAUTION: hard drives will eventually fail -- make sure this isn't your only backup''' BAD: not automatic.
+* GOOD: you can hold it and read it!
-* E-mail to yourself - GOOD: simple (everyone has access to e-mail). NOTE: You can do this with gmail as gmail gives you a lot of space. BAD/NOTE: no version control in this method. Also not automatic.
+* BAD: contributes to tree usage; expensive/takes time to create
-* [http://www.dropbox.com dropbox] - WHAT: this is cloud storage with enough available for free that you can just use the free account; there are programs you run on your computer that keep a local directory automatically sync'd with your remote drop box account. GOOD: automatic! Can sync with multiple local computers. NOTE: network access needed to access the backup or sync to it.
-** Note: if you get your dropbox account from an existing dropbox user, both you and they get an extra 500 Mb of storage.
+=== Flash Drives ===
-** Dropbox will create duplicates if you alter a file on two different computers without syncing them first so one file doesn't override the changes on the other.
+* GOOD: small/portable; no network required.
-* [https://subversion.apache.org subversion] or [http://git-scm.com git] - WHAT: version control software. NOTE: requires a remote server host and network access. GOOD: version control software is very reliable and saves every change you make. BAD: not automatic by default, but can be scripted to be.
+* '''CAUTION: flash drives will eventually fail -- do not rely on this for your only backup'''
-* [http://drive.google.com google drive] - WHAT: cloud storage with office apps (though you could just use this as cloud storage). GOOD: automatic versioning. You can write your novel in google docs directly. Can export to various office suite formats like OpenOffice/LibreOffice or Word or RTF.
+* EH: Not automatic.
-** NOTE: there might be a usability limit of 40K words for google docs files
-** NOTE: [https://www.google.com/settings/takeout Here, you can get a copy of all (or select folders) of the documents in Google Drive at once] by using '[https://www.google.com/settings/takeout Google Takeout]', which will create an archive of all of them in the format you desire. You can also export any document individually from its File menu, again to whatever format you want. I recommend doing this any time you get anxious.
+=== external hard drive ===
-** There is a Google Drive client for Linux called Insync. I've used it in the past, and I was pleased with it. It automatically converted my documents from Google Drive's format to ODT and back. It's not free (as in beer or freedom) but for $15 (US) I found it to be well-worth the money.
+* GOOD: more reliable than flash drives.
 * [http://spideroak.com spideroak] - another cloud storage provider.
-* save your file into alternating filenames and onto separate physical disks - GOOD: some reliability/redundancy gained. BAD: not automatic by default.
+* save your file into alternating filenames and onto separate physical disks
-* paper - GOOD: you can hold it and read it! BAD: contributes to tree usage; expensive/takes time to create
+* GOOD: some reliability/redundancy gained.

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:41, 12 November 2014
Line 1:		Line 1:
	== About this page ==		== About this page ==
−	This page ~~will~~ document the prevalent backup solution options for writers.	+	This page attempts to document the prevalent backup solution options for writers.
		+
		+	== Backup Solutions ==
		+	* flash drives - GOOD: small/portable; no network required. '''CAUTION: flash drives will eventually fail -- do not rely on this for your only backup''' BAD: Not automatic.
		+	* external hard drive - GOOD: more reliable than flash drives. CON: not quite as portable as flash drives. '''CAUTION: hard drives will eventually fail -- make sure this isn't your only backup''' BAD: not automatic.
		+	* E-mail to yourself - GOOD: simple (everyone has access to e-mail). NOTE: You can do this with gmail as gmail gives you a lot of space. BAD/NOTE: no version control in this method. Also not automatic.
		+	* [http://www.dropbox.com\|dropbox] - WHAT: this is cloud storage with enough available for free that you can just use the free account; there are programs you run on your computer that keep a local directory automatically sync'd with your remote drop box account. GOOD: automatic! Can sync with multiple local computers. NOTE: network access needed to access the backup or sync to it.
		+	** Note: if you get your dropbox account from an existing dropbox user, both you and they get an extra 500 Mb of storage.
		+	** Dropbox will create duplicates if you alter a file on two different computers without syncing them first so one file doesn't override the changes on the other.
		+	* [https://subversion.apache.org/\|subversion] or [http://git-scm.com/\|git] - WHAT: version control software. NOTE: requires a remote server host and network access. GOOD: version control software is very reliable and saves every change you make. BAD: not automatic by default, but can be scripted to be.
		+	* [http://drive.google.com\|google drive] - WHAT: cloud storage with office apps (though you could just use this as cloud storage). GOOD: automatic versioning. You can write your novel in google docs directly. Can export to various office suite formats like OpenOffice/LibreOffice or Word or RTF.
		+	** NOTE: there might be a usability limit of 40K words for google docs files
		+	* [http://spideroak.com\|spideroak] - another cloud storage provider.
		+	* save your file into alternating filenames and onto separate physical disks - GOOD: some reliability/redundancy gained. BAD: not automatic by default.
		+	* paper - GOOD: you can hold it and read it! BAD: contributes to tree usage; expensive/takes time to create