How often do you back up your designs?

[dramaw]

I back mine up at least weekly,,,then if I purchase a new set I back that up also..Do you think it's necessary to back up that often...

Should they all be backed up routinely or just the new designs? I think I am getting back up crazy!!!

[momma4anna]

I back mine up at least weekly,,,then if I purchase a new set I back that up also..Do you think it's necessary to back up that often...

Should they all be backed up routinely or just the new designs? I think I am getting back up crazy!!!

I have an external hard drive that backs up my laptop. The program that came with it reminds me to back up once a week. Between that and putting almost all of my designs on thumb drives, I feel pretty safe

[sewingfor3]

I bought a flash drive to back up all my designs, now I have 2 flash drives. Everytime I buy I put them on my flash drive. Should I do anything else? thanks

[Jami Johnson]

If for some reason you ever end up loosing the designs, you can always come back and redownload the designs that you have purchased from our website, using the "Download Center" link in the left hand menu.

It's also great if you have 2 sewing machines that take different formats, since you can use the Download Center to download the designs in multiple formats.

[Jami Johnson]

I forgot to add... It's still a good idea to back up your computer from time to time.

[sewingfor3]

Thank you Jami for the tips.

[StitchinGrandma]

I back up my designs to our server no more than bi-weekly but when I purchase a new set I burn a CD then with all my purchased designs on it right away. Also, if I'm doing a hunt or get a design that's a special free download that won't be offered again, then I back all designs up as soon as I have collected all designs in the hunt. Once every two months, I burn a DVD with all my designs and all other sewing downloads such as my free patterns for totes, purses, etc.

[sewingfor3]

Wow, I see I need to do a better job. I like that burn a dvd with all your designs after so long, I think I'll try that too. Thanks

[Mabel]

I really should back up my computer more often!

[StitchinGrandma]

Yes, backing up your designs, or anything on your computer is very important. You just need to set a time aside and do it because you don't want to learn the lesson the hard way as to why you should do it. If you have family pictures or any other pics such as a vacation you'll never take again or things like that and the embroidery designs you wouldn't want to lose you do not want to learn that lesson after those have all been lost to a hardware failure on your computer. Do not depend on just one backup either. Don't buy an external hard drive and think that you're covered by backing all your stuff up there. Remember an external hard drive is nothing more than the same type of hard drive you have inside your computer put into a hard case to set on your desk instead of installing into your computer. They fail as often as one inside the computer. You should burn a DVD or multiple CD's of those things and do a backup on the external hard drive. I end up backing up to DVD's now because I have so much on my computer. Designs and things such as patterns and other sewing things take three DVD's alone and then I have all my pictures and many other things such as recipes etc. that are burned as well.

[fun2sew]

I really sould do this!

I know someday I will be sorry!

[Yeffie]

I have a disc of my designs.

I probably need to make another!

[StitchinGrandma]

I really sould do this!

I know someday I will be sorry!
Yep, you don't want to feel that sinking feeling in your tummy when you realize you just lost ALL your designs, free and paid for. It's not a good one.

Backup TODAY! :)

[idesign]

I back mine up when my husband reminds me and stands over me while I do it. I'm bad!

[StitchinGrandma]

I back mine up when my husband reminds me and stands over me while I do it. I'm bad!

LOL You have a good man. He knows how miserable you're going to be the day you lose everything and haven't backed things up. Just figure out which day of the month you don't have a lot going on and do it on that day every single month before you do anything else. Just be sure and do it.

[crumbear]

With 6k embroidery designs on my desktop computer, I was starting to get a little nervous having not backed my computer up. Ever. So I went and bought a backup drive that would backup my comp. every night automatically. Everything for the last 6 years of my life is on that computer. I get home, put the drive by the computer, and promptly fell asleep on the couch, not feeling well. Did the electrical thunderstorm wake me? Of course not. But it did manage to fry my entire computer, still sitting next to the backup drive that was never taken out of the box.

And let that be a lesson to ya, girls and boys. Always unplug your computer in the rain. (Which, incidentally, this was the absolute FIRST time I didn't unplug it, since I'd fallen asleep before the rain came and didn't think about it.) Oy vey. :eek:

[idesign]

LOL You have a good man. He knows how miserable you're going to be the day you lose everything and haven't backed things up. Just figure out which day of the month you don't have a lot going on and do it on that day every single month before you do anything else. Just be sure and do it.

I know VickT. I thank him for reminding me, even while I grumble about having to stop what I am doing to get the back up done. I don't look forward to the day when this computer dies, and I will have to reinstall all the designs to a new computer. I used to collect fabric, but since getting into embroidery about 9 years ago now, I collect so many "must have" designs. My husband kids me that I will never make even a dent in embroidering the designs that I already own!

[StitchinGrandma]

With 6k embroidery designs on my desktop computer, I was starting to get a little nervous having not backed my computer up. Ever. So I went and bought a backup drive that would backup my comp. every night automatically. Everything for the last 6 years of my life is on that computer. I get home, put the drive by the computer, and promptly fell asleep on the couch, not feeling well. Did the electrical thunderstorm wake me? Of course not. But it did manage to fry my entire computer, still sitting next to the backup drive that was never taken out of the box.

And let that be a lesson to ya, girls and boys. Always unplug your computer in the rain. (Which, incidentally, this was the absolute FIRST time I didn't unplug it, since I'd fallen asleep before the rain came and didn't think about it.) Oy vey. :eek:
OMG! I would have been screaming a blue streak at myself. I'm sorry. If nothing else this should scare some of them into doing a backup soon. LOL

I know VickT. I thank him for reminding me, even while I grumble about having to stop what I am doing to get the back up done. I don't look forward to the day when this computer dies, and I will have to reinstall all the designs to a new computer. I used to collect fabric, but since getting into embroidery about 9 years ago now, I collect so many "must have" designs. My husband kids me that I will never make even a dent in embroidering the designs that I already own!
What I've learned to do is first thing in the morning before I get engrossed in something more fun is to do the jobs I don't want to do like dishes and backups etc before doing anything else. Then the rest of the day is fun stuff. :D

[alissa]

I do back up just not as often as I should. I have had several scars with my computer and I still hate to set and back up all my designs.

[phins_jazy]

After having to format our computer over the weekend I realized that I don't back them up nearly often enough! Now I put them on their own seperate drive so hopefully that won't happen again!

[StitchinGrandma]

After having to format our computer over the weekend I realized that I don't back them up nearly often enough! Now I put them on their own seperate drive so hopefully that won't happen again!
My hard drive is partitioned and all my files are on a seperate drive as well. All computer running files such as windows are on one drive and then I have different drives for photos, recipes, embroidery designs and a few others. Much easier to back up that way and faster.

[Crafty Connie]

Oh boy. I guess I should back up my computer more often than I do. It's been...over a year?!?

[StitchinGrandma]

Oh boy. I guess I should back up my computer more often than I do. It's been...over a year?!?


:eek: RUN! DO IT NOW CONNIE! roflmao

[huffjoann]

I need to do this too,, ugh,, that plus my pics of DD

[Deedles]

I do it every couple of months. I know I should do it more often. I've been trying to figure out how to get the files on my desktop and the laptop in sync. I have a different filing system on each one and it's getting hard to remember where to find anything on either one.

There's a new computer in my near future if I can find one with XP. I like the idea of partitioning the hard drive. I think I'll do that.

[StitchinGrandma]

Partioning works great. My husband (Curt) gave them sensible letters so E=Embroidery/ P=Pictures/Q=Quicken and stuff like that. Works great so I don't get confused and try to put stuff in the wrong one. :D Yea, I would. LOL When I'm using my laptop I download things to a folder onto my desktop and in front of the file I put the digitizers name so they are all clumped together in that folder. Then I transfer tham over to my desktop where I have my main files and put them into the proper folders but I remove the digitizer name I stuck in front so that when I put each one into the proper folder and it's a duplicate I'll get the warning. I know that is what works for me. I don't use my laptop as much now.

[idesign]

OK, you guys convinced me, so I backed the embroidery files up last night, just before midnight. It had been since September that I last backed up files.

[StitchinGrandma]

OK, you guys convinced me, so I backed the embroidery files up last night, just before midnight. It had been since September that I last backed up files.

Good girl! :D Now you're safe. Do it agin in a few weeks or at least once a month from now on. A months worth of downloads can be a huge amount really if you buy a lot or download freebies alot.

[dana]

I am either an optimist that the computer will never faulter, or just ignorant to the possible problems. Until this thread, I never thought to back anything up. I guess I had better do that pronto- I would hate to lose my designs.


Thanks for all the great information.

[StitchinGrandma]

I am either an optimist that the computer will never faulter, or just ignorant to the possible problems. Until this thread, I never thought to back anything up. I guess I had better do that pronto- I would hate to lose my designs.


Thanks for all the great information.
It's called living in a cloud. ;) Trust me, my husband is THE biggest optimist in the entire world but he is also in the computer world for his profession and knows that computers fail. They sometimes give no warning at all. You can shut it off, go to bed, get up, flip that switch and have nothing, nada, NO computer just staring at a blank screen too shocked to even swear for a little while until it really hits. THEN that blue streak starts upon the realization you've just lost every.thing.you.ever.did!

[rubiesnana]

I haven"t done mine in a long time, I need to do it this weekend.

[Mamakin5]

I back mine up at least weekly,,,then if I purchase a new set I back that up also..Do you think it's necessary to back up that often...

Should they all be backed up routinely or just the new designs? I think I am getting back up crazy!!!

When I purchase new designs over the internet (not those bought on CDs), I save them in two places right away. One on my computer and another on an external hard drive. The chances of both crashing at once are slim to none, so I feel pretty confident that is a safe thing to do. Also, when I design something, I also save it in two places, by date, so it's easy to find.

[peachy3]

I try to do so every 2 weeks. I had a computer crash/death in Oct. of 06 and lost everything, so learned the hard way. Now, I back them up to my DH laptop and the PC every time I can.

P3