Back Up Your Files

It's January!

It's a chance to start over. If you're like most people, you're feeling positive. You may even have made some New Year's resolutions related to your thesis or dissertation. You're on fire! And so, instead of a motivational post today (I'll save that for about 6 weeks from now when you'll be needing a pep talk), I'm going to give you some solid advice: this year, commit to backing up your files.

This is something we all know we should do, but usually don't think about until we're in a dire situation and it may already be too late. Hard drive failure is a real thing and it can happen without notice. The last thing you need is for your hard work to be in jeopardy. Even the most skilled tech can't always recover data -- it's the nature of the beast.

Chances are that Boxing Day sales, which seem to now last for weeks, are still going on in your city. Take the opportunity to purchase an external hard drive and back up all of your data. While you're at it, consider a jump drive for your active files. Whatever you pay, it will be money well spent. Then be sure that you back up all of your data regularly (at least once a month) and your active files daily. Yes, you can use the "cloud" for storage and backup -- DropBox is an incredibly convenient solution for moving between workstations -- but it shouldn't be your only document storage location.

I'm also a big believer in making a backup of your backup...

Overkill? You may think so, but let me share a personal experience from my own doctoral studies.

I was visiting my sister on Labour Day weekend during the last year of my PhD program. I remember being strangely ill-at-ease the entire weekend and I ended up driving back to St. John's early because of it, even though we had an adventure planned in New-Wes-Valley. Once home, I called a friend and asked if she wanted to go for a coffee that evening. Around 6:30pm, I left my apartment and made it all the way to my car before I realized I didn't have my jump drive with the most recent backup of my dissertation on it. For a moment I considered going on without it -- what could be the harm? But then I turned around and went back to my apartment to get it, all the while telling myself I was crazy and obsessed.

I had a lovely coffee with my friend and when I returned to my apartment that night at 9pm, it was pretty well destroyed. A hot water tank in the apartment above me had exploded without the elderly couple who lived there realizing it (they were napping after supper). Water poured through my ceiling for two hours -- enough that it also went through my floor and the ceiling of the apartment below me. Many of my belongings were damaged. It took a month for the apartment to be repaired (new ceiling, new flooring). I was displaced. (And I am forever thankful for the friend and his family who took me in during this time.)

Lucky for me, none of my electronics were damaged in the great flood of 2007. It's hard to believe, but around my desk was the only place that didn't have water. But if they had been damaged, I wouldn't have lost the most recent version of my research and dissertation, because I was carrying them on a jump drive in my purse.

So that's why I say to you this January: back up your files!

And stay tuned for more practical tips from Dr. Squirrel to help you crack the thesis nut in 2016!