Back Up!

Ever gotten say, 2000 words into a really important thesis or proposal when the computer crashes and you lose everything? Anyone who has will tell you there isn’t anything worse. Once you have done it you will never do it again, you will be one of the converted that saves work every 10 minutes or so and you will likely purchase one of the many storage options on the market. The only thing worse than losing a paper you’ve been working on for hours is to lose your entire hard drive, and along with it every file and document you have ever created; every paper not yet submitted!

There are a few ways to avert this catastrophe. Most external storage products will offer memory storage sufficient to keep all documents safe and they are much cheaper than an external hard drive. An external hard drive costs more but has the capacity to hold onto your software as well as your documentation. Small storage devices like SD and compact flash cards really limit the amount you can store but are a better-than-nothing option for those on a tight student budget. They are also just too easy to lose or misplace and then you’re back where you started.

Another really cool feature of some external storage devices is the ability to sync. That means if you use a laptop and desktop you can plug the external storage (or hard drive) into either computer and sync to update the files on both computers. This eliminates the very annoying situations where changes to documents become muddled, deleted or confusing. I’m sure I am not the only person that suffers these problems?  It is very likely that these things can even be achieved using Bluetooth these days but for me I need the tactile experience of plugging in to know something is working. Whichever medium or method you choose you won’t be sorry you protected those precious papers by making it a habit to back-up – often!