-- Backing up the Files --
We can not stress enough how important it is to back up your files.
This reminds me of a story from many years ago.
I was taking a course at the local community college, and came out after class to find that in my haste, I'd locked my keys in the car.
I had a spare set at home, but that meant when I called my Dad, to get them for me, he had to drive all the way over to my house, in the exact opposite direction from the college about 5 miles, then back to the college 10 miles to give me the keys.
Since that time, I've always had a spare key in my wallet.
There has been a couple times that I'd had to use it, but what could be a major problem is now just "Oh crap! Did it again!" And I pull out the spare key from my pocket and unlock the door.
It's almost the same thing with having the files from your computer backed up.
There's been times when I've messed up a file really bad, but, instead of losing it, all that is required is to go to the backup and get the original back.
Since the advent of USB memory stick, there's just no valid reason not to have stuff backed up.
I have a couple 4 Gigabyte memory sticks that stay plugged in almost constantly.
With windows XP or Vista, here's the process to backup to a USB drive:
- Plug in the USB drive. Wait for the computer to recognize it.
- Hover the cursor over the file or folder.
- Right click the file or folder you want to backup.
- Select Send to: Compressed(zipped) Folder.
- Once the zipped folder is complete:
- Right click on the zip folder, select Send to:
- At the bottom of the list that comes up you will see your USB drive listed.
- Select that and it's done. What could be easier?
It's not really necessary to zip the folder, however, it can save memory on the USB drive, and often it's faster.
Keeping two computers syncronized
When I had just one computer online, I pretty much knew that whatever was online came from that machine. However, when I got the laptop and went wireless with it, the big, ugly question reared it's head......How do I make sure I'm working on the current version?
I had all kinds of mixups on the websites at first. I'd make a change on one computer, and upload it, but then it meant the file on the other computer was no longer current. I'd try and remember which file I'd made changes to, so I could fix it on the other computer. I'd back them up to a memory stick, but then forget which computer it was backed up from.
Finally, the answer, (which was very obvious) was to: Download the file I wanted to work on from the website. It will always be the current version. Then, when I'd changed what I needed to, check it out, and send it back to the online server. There's an added benefit to doing it this way, in that if I really mangle it badly, all that is necessary is to delete it, download another copy, and start over..
Mind you, I still make my backups. Servers have been known to crash, any number of things could happen to the online files, up to and including hackers. Make backups!