- If it's important, back it up. Even if it's not so important, back it up anyway. The best habit any user of data can develop is that of having a scheduled time to do backups to safe and secure places. It's also important to do frequent backups when you're working on major projects like a research paper, a take home final, or a presentation. If you rely on a flash drive, back it up to your hard drive. If you rely on your hard drive, back up key elements to a flash drive. Back both of them up to a server if you have access to one or sign up for one of the many cloud-based services to cover your data's back. The more intensely you're working on a task, the more frequently you should back it up.
- Having an equipment backup plan can save you a lot of stress. If you own more than one computer, make sure they all have the software you use the most installed and updated. If you don't have multiple computers, you still have options. Be aware of which friends and family members have equipment you can rely upon in a pinch. Keep in mind that your college or university has computers and printers available for students, and so do most public libraries.
- Flash drives (also known as thumb drives, keys, and several other names) are your friends. When flash drives first came on the market, they were quite expensive and had a limited capacity. I cannot recall exactly what my first one cost (I believe it was over $60), but I do know it was a paltry 256 MB. That's right, megabytes. My newest flash drive is 32 generous GB and cost all of $20 at a chain office supply store. I've seen simple 8 GB flash drives for as little as $5. At that price, it's worth having a few of them to help ensure your piece of mind (that is, as long as you can keep track of them). Not only are flash drives invaluable for backup purposes, they give your files incredible portability to and from a wide variety of devices and can really be essential in recovering from a computer crash.
- Print and save rough drafts of your work. Hold on to all those versions of your work until the final project is safely turned in. You never know at what point that your equipment may fail, so having an old school safety net like printed copies may be your only hope of recovery at times. If you don’t have ready access to a printer, make those multiple email addresses useful and send rough drafts to yourself. This was a trick that I used to avoid frantic teaching moments without my lecture materials in the olden days before flash drives existed, because a file you saved on a floppy disk at home was not always readable by computers elsewhere.
These tips have saved me from disaster many times both as a student and as an instructor. Modifying your computer habits just a bit can result in saving your sanity big time should your computer crash at the worst possible moment.
