One of the most important things I can tell you is to back up your design files.
This won’t be the most fun post you will ever read, but the single most important thing you need to set up before you create anything is your backup system. You must back up your design files regularly to avoid losing everything you have created.
If you use your computer for crafting (or anything else actually) you must back up your design files or risk losing all those files you created or your treasured projects.
Your hard drive WILL fail one day or you may need to restore your system to a previous state. The question is only whether you have protected your files or not. It’s that simple.
You see examples of people losing all their files quite regularly. Don’t let this happen to you.
Setting up a backup system is so easy.
If you’re on a Mac, it’s built right into your computer. All you need to do is select the drive that will store your backups, turn Time Machine on and it will take care of backing up for you. It backs up every hour so the most you will ever lose is one hour of work.
If you run a PC (Windows computer), choose a system and follow their instructions. Some options include Acronis, Aomei Backupper, EaseUS, Cobian Backup or Paragon.
There are disk-based systems and cloud systems.
Disk-based systems mean that you install software on your computer and store your backup on an internal or external hard drive.
External makes the most sense because you can disconnect it and take it with you, something that is invaluable if you need to set up a new computer. I recently bought a 5TB (terabyte) mini external drive from Seagate for only $147 Canadian ($109 US). This drive contains the backups of everything I do on my Mac and the files saved on my PC for my translation work. This is because I use my own Cloud drive for my files and it is read by both my PC (translation work) and my Mac (for everything artistic). I sync my translation program settings to My Cloud drive so that I never have to set up my work tools again.
If you’re worried about needing help, don’t worry. There is a world of help out there for you. All of the suppliers of backup systems have customer service departments to help you. Besides, YouTube will have videos on every imaginable service so you will never be lost. You can learn anything you want by searching YouTube. The links to programs above are the web sites for the developers of the programs linked so you can find specific help there.
Yes, it’s pretty boring, but once you have it set up, you don’t need to think about it again until you need to get something from it. If you don’t set it up, you may end up losing all your photos, files, music and downloads, including items you have spent a lot of money on.
Please don’t leave this until you’re sorry that you didn’t set it up. Make it one of those things you get done.
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