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Writing Tip: Keeping Your Writing Life In Sync (And Backed Up)

Renee Stevens

Entry posted by Renee Stevens in Writing Tips

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So many of us write from multiple computers and I know from personal experience that it can be a pain to try and transfer files back and forth between laptops/desktops/etc. Today, Myr is telling us about a great way to make our life easier when switching between computers!

 

 

 


Keeping Your Writing Life in Sync


(and backed up)

 


In this day and age, many of us have multiple computers or devices that we use in our daily lives. For those of us that write, we could be writing in any number of places.

 

For me, I often write on my laptop, but edit on my main computer. I also, from time to time, make notes on my writing when I'm on the go.

 

I use one free piece of software to keep everything backed up and automatically synched, no matter which computer or device I'm using.

 

Microsoft's Skydrive. It's free and not only works on Windows, but windows phone, any internet browser, the Mac, iPad, iPhone and coming in the next couple of weeks, Android.

 

It's really easy to set up and it puts a folder on your computer. anything you put in that folder automatically synchs to all places. (There is also Dropbox, for you Microsoft Haters, but it has had repeated severe security breaches lately)

 

You can get Skydrive here:


More about Skydrive(for techies)


I strongly recommend it. I have been using it myself (or its predecessor for years).

 


Myr

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Cia

Cia 59,363

Posted

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Myr just gave me a link to his a few days ago and I tried it out. It is so helpful. I really recommend it too!

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SidLove

SidLove 1,655

Posted

I have heard the Skydrive is very helpful, but never tried it before. I have two laptops and a PC and like you said, I write on any of them - depends on my mood lol

But then I have all my stories saved in one pendrive. And when I work on either of the computers, I simply plug in the pendrive and start working on whatever I am doing. :)

That helps too.

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Cia

Cia 59,363

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The benefit of Skydrive is that you don't have to keep track of any pen drive though. I'm constantly losing my thumb drives and stuff. This is super easy. You just save a copy to the skydrive folder on your computer and voila... done. For my netbook, it's a bit harder. I have to go online to save to it, since it won't support the app, but it's easier than emailing files to myself on my ongoing work and it's also a good way to store older stories I don't want to lose but I'm not actively working on too.

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SidLove

SidLove 1,655

Posted

I will surely try it Cia. Curiosity always gets to me lol

And I have had the software for quite a few months now.. Its time for me to go for it :D

Thanks Myr, Cia and Renee! ^_^

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Andy78

Andy78 3,097

Posted

This looks like something that I'd find useful as well. I use both my laptop and my main PC for writing and I'm forever e-mailing stuff to myself - it drives me nuts. I don't like using USB flash drives as I've lost a few over the years, but thankfully with nothing important on them.

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SidLove

SidLove 1,655

Posted

Oh USB flash drives are easy to misplace.. but I always keep it plugged in one of my computers.

I am very forgetful but thankfully, I havent misplaced any of those yet. And I hope I never lose. There's too much in it :unsure:

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Gene Splicer PHD

Gene Splicer PHD 965

Posted

Skydive is sweet. Live mesh was cool too, but I guess they're killing that. I'm a M$ partner so I get 25 gb free.

 

If anyone has onenote, it can sync to a web (skydrive) notebook, meaning you can have a notebook that syncs in addition to documents.

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Caffled

Caffled 146

Posted

I'm not keen on trusting my data to nebulous third parties - they generally offer no guarantees if their service goes tits-up.

 

If I was to use them I'd probably put my data in an encrypted container first, if only to protect my intellectual property.

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podiumdavis

podiumdavis 623

Posted

Caffled, all my stories are encrypted too. Which is why I feel safe in uploading the container. No one can break my 56 character length password. :)

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wildone

wildone 17,895

Posted

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I know there is a lot of Google haters out there, but Google docs is my preference. I can pull up my document anywhere, and in the case of someone editing/sharing, you can add them to the permissions to just see that particular document. You can also limit what they can do, edit, comment, or just read. Great for getting that next chapter to your editor...My one dislike, it doesn't have all the capabilities of writing in MSWord on grammar and structure, but does spell check as you write.

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Trebs

Trebs 1,132

Posted

Flash drives are nice - unless you have it in your pocket when the pants are in the washer...

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Andy78

Andy78 3,097

Posted

My only problem with Google docs is that sometimes I'll write some stuff at work on my lunch hour and Google is blocked by our work's internet policy (but GA isn't, go figure), so wouldn't be any use to me.

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Myr

Myr 32,486

Posted

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Microsoft is hardly some third party that is going to go tits-up sometime soon Caffled. And as they've built SkyDrive into Windows 8, I'm doubting that this service is going anywhere for a while. And if it did, you'd still have a copy of your stuff on all your computers when the service did die. So, no risk scenario.

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Cia

Cia 59,363

Posted

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Flash drives are nice - unless you have it in your pocket when the pants are in the washer...

 

Actually, I've washed my thumb drive about 5 times... and it still works! *shakes head* Now if they could just make my cell phone that indestructable.

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Forsaken One

Forsaken One 4

Posted

 

I use iCloud with my Mac Book Pro, iPad and iPhone. The only issue I have is uploading onto this site. I quit using Microsoft and PC about a year ago.

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podiumdavis

podiumdavis 623

Posted

Cia, I too have washed my thumb drive. However, here lies the issue and why a cell phone won't work after going through the wash (unless you do some things)

 

With any PCB board, the part that connects everything; it's already submerged in acid, solvent, distilled water, etc. etc. Therefore, the circuitry isn’t going to break if it gets wet. With a USB drive, it has less surface area to dry, and has no power source on its own.

 

If you let your stick dry, aka going through the dryer, then it won’t fry itself. Although I don’t know that it would self-destruct if it were wet either.

 

Your cell phone on the other hand has an active current, which will more than likely fry the board if it gets wet. In most cases, the phone will power down. If for whatever reason the board didn’t fry, you would let it sit for up to a week to dry. And if all works out your phone would still work. The problem lies with the active current that would potentially destroy the phone smile.png

 

Sorry I just couldn't help myself smile.png

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