The Colony

I hope they keep them in a safe place for people like me! I need to find the phone number and call asap before I start breathing into a paper bag! It´s got 3 years work saved in there! 3 WIP actually! What a fool i am!!!

Oh, gawd, I so hope you get it back. I suspect they'll keep it. I'm sure you're not the first person to leave a USB behind.

Just called them. They do have it! Nearly had a heart attack. I really, really need to get my act together!!

Phew!!! Maybe start keeping stuff in two places? And don't rely on USB only. Ever since I lost a handwritten draft of a short travel story through an open van window in Morocco, I back myself up to the point of obsession. (Of course is was the best short story ever.) I email myself my WIP after EVERY writing session. It's become a habbit. Really glad it worked out for you.

Thank you! Super relieved. That Morrocan story is pretty cool. You should write about that! Ie been told on countless occassions that I should back everything up, but Iḿ not really sure how when something is so long.

Nightmare...

Check out google drive and google docs, or any other cloud service. They're free, your stuff sits on a server that has multiple backups, you can access your work from any connected device, and everything is saved automatically as you type. You can also store stuff locally for those times when you don't have an internet connection – the next time you connect, everything get synced automatically.

@Rich i´ve heard from some people that google docs is not a very safe place to store your work, and that´s what has kept me from using it, but i´m interested in hearing other people´s experiences.

I used to work on Google Docs solely until I went to stay at a monastery whose internet was *brutal* and couldn't access my work at all. I now save a copy to Google Docs and use Word, saving it to a USB. What a stress, so glad you will be able to get it back!

I guess itś time to embrace google docs

Quillwitch, the very longest novel in word format is only a few hundred kB. I do the same as Barbara and email it as an attachment to myself every so often. At least then if you lose it, you've got a recent copy to go back to.

ok, i guess that makes sense too!

Jeepers, that sounds like a nightmare. Glad they didn't throw the USB out. I once had a laptop stolen and lost six months worth of work because I'd been lazy with my backups (this was before the Cloud). I've also and my hard drive fail :/ I am now paranoid and have copies saved everywhere: Dropbox, Google Docs, email, external HDs etc. Highly recommend using some sort of cloud app for peace of mind.