Protecting Your Digital Audio Workstation from the Slings & Arrows of Outrageous Fortune

Ever notice how much more often things go wrong with computers than in the old days? I notice it a lot. I wish I could just "set it and forget it" as the Fidelity ad goes. But I set it and then play with it until it breaks. That's what happened to me last Saturday night. I mean, what kind of an idiot starts playing with volatile programs between finishing a long narration for a client who wants it the next day, and actually editing the narration and sending it to them? And on a holiday weekend? But that's what I did, and my system crashed, and I ended up having to reinstall the OS. And re-do the narration.

Apart from the narration and a lot of sleep, I didn't lose much. Oh, I lost 2 years' worth of email, but it's probably high time I got rid of all that. The most important data I have are the contact information from all the production companies and ad agencies I've ever written to - and that's over 2600 names. The program I use to manage those data is Time & Chaos, and it backs your data up every time you exit the program, if you let it. I had backed up my data onto an external hard drive a few days earlier, so I only lost a few dozen entries. It was incredibly easy to restore the database - I downloaded the program again, entered my registration number when prompted (I called T&C to get that number, no problem), stuck my little dehydrated backup data nuggets in the right place, clicked on Restore Data and watched in stunned relief as those 2600 + entries reappeared, fully hydrated. Wicked.

Morals:
Back up yer data at least weekly
Have a separate Digital Audio Workstation that is not on an internet-accessible machine.

By the way, I will be starting to send out newsletters soon. The database is long past being too big for individual emails. When I got Time & Chaos reconstituted, I saw in my ToDo list that I had 368 updates to send out. Something snapped - I've been just way too old-fashioned and it's simply untenable to send out a quarterly update to 2600 + people and counting via individual emails. It won't be quite as personal, but I think you'll like 'em. So, look for newsletters in the near future, and look for 'em every 6 weeks. I like to write. So watch out ;)