Back that thing up (2x)

I can not, can not, stress this enough to my fellow creatives. Backup your work. And not just once, but twice. If you can, go for three times.

I know this from personal experience. I have an dual external hard drive enclosure that does RAID. Sparing your the tech details, basically there is a switch in the back that allows me to use both disks at the same time or separately. Well, I was moving files from my small laptop drive to one of the external drives while it was operating in single mode. Note: MOVING THEM. Not copying them like I should have. Well, so happens that one day I bump the switch in the back, freaking out the enclosure and screwing over my data. Quarters 1-4 were gone.

I still have a list of ADs I can contact and have made some effort to get my work back from them, though I'm sure they'll love me for it. I also have some files floating in my email, but it's still quite a hassle.

So to pass on what I've learned from a greater source, back up your work to at least two different places. Send copies to mom and dad, even if they live in Cambodia. You never know when your apartment might catch fire, some thief decides he'd like a new backpack, or in my case, be the victim of your own stupidity.