STOP! Go Backup Your Sequences, NOW! And everything else.

[QLDKing(Brad)]

This was posted on the LOR forum, but it is probably a timely reminder to backup everything at this time of year, regardless of what software you are using. Also, a good reminder to back up all your controller settings, music and video files, and anything else related as well.

If you are new to insert your software here you may not be aware how much time goes into creating your sequences. However, as time goes on you start to realize that it can take a lot of time.

One thing you should do is make frequent backups of your sequences. This saves you an enormous amount of time should you run into problems. Please note: It is best to save a copy of your work on a different computer. If your computer is lost, stolen or just dies, any backups stored on that same machine would be lost too.

There are several ways to backup your sequences. Each of them will have their advantages and disadvantages, but each of them will save you time.

Here are just some backup methods.

1) Copy the files to a flash drive or SD card.
2) Copy the files to another computer in the house.
3) Use a backup program (Crashplan, Mozy, etc.) to back up your sequences off-site.
4) Use a file synchronization program (dropbox.com, etc.) to have a copy of your sequences saved 'in the cloud.'
5) Copy the files to a CD every night.

Remember: You should save the sequence files and the audio files. It might not be a bad idea to backup your entire insert your software here directory. This is *usually* in the "insert your software here" folder within your "My Documents" directory.

Credit to http://forums.lightorama.com/topic/45078-stop-go-backup-your-sequences-now/

 

[scamper]

I agree, this is a good idea and most people will think "it won't happen to me"
Let me tell you, I had a hard drive go down on my business computer once, unfortunately as I work for myself, it was at the time my only computer, and I lost years worth of photos. That is the thing that still stings today, the rest worked itself out over time, but it was a LOT of time wasted.
I now have a portable backup drive attached to my computer and I backup all my important stuff to that.
As far as xmas lights goes, I have backups on at least 3 computers around the house now as I have most of the family doing sequences, so we share all data all the time.

 

[videoman3857]

Yep, yep,yep
I do video editing as a hobby and I learnt long ago to back up - everything.
I get paranoid, but I work on a sequence and "save as" and may end up with 15 versions. When I am happy with the version it's saves on flash drive and to dropbox.
I also save to a little E-PC which hardly gets used.
I make a folder for every sequence. It contains all the files including audio or video that's used.
I am a LOR user (don't hold that against me) and I also include the info of the file used in the sequence file.

 

[QLDKing(Brad)]

Its getting to that time again. Something to consider over the next few weeks.