“What do you mean it won’t boot up? The thing’s only a month old!” I demanded 2 years ago.

You see, Reader, I had just gotten my very first MacBook Pro that wasn’t a hand-me-down and the thing had effectively killed itself the first time it updated.

Oh, and did I mention it took all my data along with it? Months of story work, edits, and design assets gone just like that. Poof.

Worst day ever. 😭

I had thought me and the Universe were buddies. Or at the very least not frenemies. Nope. Because it went and did me wrong.

You see, the new MacBook 💻 had spent the whole morning nagging me to update it. But I was WORKING. So I had planned to update it AFTER I was done for the day.

I guess IT had other plans. Because when I left it unattended to go downstairs and get lunch I came back to the black screen of DEATH ☠️.

It had died. Like super died. As in reset to factory and lose everything died 😵.

In a moment of cosmic what-the-fuckery dozens of worlds would have been snuffed out of existence by a factory defect.

But they weren’t because of these 3 things:

👉 A 5TB Seagate external drive

👉 iCloud (you can use Google Drive or Box too)

👉 Scrivener​

And if you use this 3-fold system, Reader, your stories will be protected come fire, flood, or act of vengeful digital gremlin.

External Drive

You can pick up a 5TB Seagate external drive from CostCo for about $70-99 or online from your favorite eRetailer.

You should back up your important creative files (stories, research notes, digital assets like covers) every 2 weeks, but never go longer than once a month.

Slap that big white Apple sticker that came with your MacBook on it and you’ll know it’s your backup drive.

Now, this is SUPER important. Never EVER take your external hard drive out of your home unless you are fleeing from a natural disaster. Like—for example—the catastrophic fires wiping out whole towns and cities in Southern California.

Cloud Storage

I use iCloud because I’m primarily a Mac user, but you can also use Google Drive or Box for your cloud storage needs.

The same files you’re storing on your external drive should also be stored on here. In the event of a natural disaster or home theft, having your important files off-site is a lifesaver.

Or if the worst happens and you’re on vacation in another state or country when a massive fire wipes out your town. 😬

Scrivener

Now here’s the coolest part. Not only does Scrivener save to the folder you’ve designated on your computer, it also saves a zipped backup copy of the entire story file to a second location you’ve designated every time you hit the Save button.

And if that location is in your cloud storage? Bam! The ultimate failsafe!

I like to keep a least 3 to 5 saved copies in my iCloud and then delete the oldest every 2 weeks. Scrivener date and time stamps the backups for you automatically.

To set this up, open a Scrivener project then go to Scrivener > Preferences… > Backup and make sure the following boxes are checked.

Backup location: is the cloud storage you have linked to your computer or tablet.

And it really is that easy to set up.

By using this 3-fold approach to protect your creative work, even if your computer decides to blue screen its way into an early eRecycler, you won’t lose a thing.

​
Well until next time, Reader, this is your friendly neighborhood storytelling Kat wishing you a wonderfully creative week.

​

Your cohort in storytelling,

Kat Vancil

🐱

PS 👉 Just so you know I’m perfectly safe, Reader. Yes, I live in California. But I live in the SF Bay Area which is about 400 miles from the fires (7 hrs).

For reference, California is about the size of Japan. Or the entire East Coast if you lose Florida and everything above New York.

​

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