I just lost 6,000 words ...

[Marie-Cris]

I was trying to move my NaNo across to my desktop and when I let the file go the weird "find start" window that seems to always open when I turn my comp on flicked up. I closed that off and my NaNo was gone! GOOOOOOOOOOONE! I did searches and my file had disappeared completely! Thankfully there were some older ones in the recycle bin so I've only lost 6,000-odd words, but ... I ONLY HAD 300 MORE TO GO!!! *wails*

So, discuss the value of BACKING UP EVERYTHING.

It's kinda funny, in a way, that I changed my avi to this last night, before this happened. It's seems highly appropriate now.

[Homicide at its BEST]

Well I'm currently 18k away from the finish line and this would be awful for me! I'm happy for you that you don't have to completely restart though.

I've been backing up my novel a little bit so (knock on wood) I haven't lost any of it yet. I almost lost my writing book with half the novel in it yesterday and so I had the worst nightmare about losing parts of my novel that were crucial but I couldn't remember how to rewrite them. And every time I thought I had the answer to getting the lost pieces back, I would lose more. D: It was a heart-breaking dream that I hope never comes true for me and I'm sorry for those it has come true for.

Good luck regaining those words and specifically, the scenes you must have lost.

I love your avatar.

[Marie-Cris]

Homicide at its BEST

Well I'm currently 18k away from the finish line and this would be awful for me! I'm happy for you that you don't have to completely restart though.

I've been backing up my novel a little bit so (knock on wood) I haven't lost any of it yet. I almost lost my writing book with half the novel in it yesterday and so I had the worst nightmare about losing parts of my novel that were crucial but I couldn't remember how to rewrite them. And every time I thought I had the answer to getting the lost pieces back, I would lose more. D: It was a heart-breaking dream that I hope never comes true for me and I'm sorry for those it has come true for.

Good luck regaining those words and specifically, the scenes you must have lost.

I love your avatar.

Oh, hold on tight to your writing book! *would clutch something physical if there was anything to clutch* That's a horrible nightmare to have gonk

And thank you! I hope I do it just as well as before, particularly since last night I had reached the end of a rather climactic scene.

Thank you again!

[Le Scratch]

I lost 700 words or so once but nothing that drastic. I think I would cry if I lost that much.

[Marie-Cris]

Le Scratch

I lost 700 words or so once but nothing that drastic. I think I would cry if I lost that much.

Oh, trust me, I did! I wailed so much that I woke up my partner at the other end of the house, even though I was relatively calm and restarting my comp in the hope of it appearing by the time she came out.

[Madam Chai]

That...really sucks. cat_gonk

But it could be worse- you could've had a larger word count, such as 20K or so.

[Marie-Cris]

Madam Chai

That...really sucks. cat_gonk

But it could be worse- you could've had a larger word count, such as 20K or so.

Or the full 49k that I had. If it wasn't for previous, hard-to-save documents that had forced me to duplicate new ones and send the others to the recycle bin, I would have lost the lot.

[Wild Magic User 16]

I always have to back mine up in both Google Drive, my email and on my computer. Those three have saved me so much, but at the beginning i almost lost the most of my set up so I know how you feel.

[V i r]

yikes. this reminds me i've been meaning to get an external hard drive

[SerenaLyoko720]

Wow that sucks at least you still have time to catch back up? This is why I use Zoho Writer everything is online because I do not trust my own computer. But I think I might back it all up offline on a few other computers too because I would die if anything happened to my work.

So good luck with catching up!.

[E.Beth]

I know what you mean. My roommate lost all of her assignments for the year because her hard drive fried. It killed the jump drive she had plugged in. Over three projects 20 some pages each lost.

E-mailing the documents to yourself really helps.

This give you the chance to explore the sections lost again though. Sucks but sometimes its for the best.

[Psychotic Maniacal Sanity]

In 2007 or so I lost about 10,000 words. I'd already hit the 50k, and went on to write 100k total for the month, but that project just died. I couldn't face working on it again after that. DX

[twopeasant]

ninja

[kitty868theonly]

Marie-Cris

I learned my lesson last year. Last year...I lost 45k words. You read that right. I was only 5k away from my goal, and then my computer does a weird blue screen of death (or was it black? I forgot now, but both happened to me the same year). I could not get them back at all, since my computer wouldn't let me go pass the Windows start screen I was super pissed for about a week...which was all I had left before NaNo was over. I could not, no matter how fast I write, type 50k words within a week left. It was not possible, for me anyway.... emotion_donotwant

I was seriously on the verge of throwing my laptop out of the window....

So yes, it is very important to back up your stuff whenever you can...and everyday at a certain time if possible, or constantly if you want, too.