Hurricanes and Power Outages - Good Reminder to Save!

Thankfully, Hurricane Sandy didn't do much damage to our lovely campus the past couple days and our power stayed on! Hip-hip hooray! But she did bring with her a strong reminder to save files. Power can go out very unexpectedly and if you care about what you are working on, you don't want to become its victim. Here are a few good ways to save files while you work:

1. Use Google Drive (formerly Google Docs). Working on Google Drive automatically saves every so often so you don't even need to remember to press the save button... unless you want to. 

2. Use AutoRecover and AutoSave in Microsoft Office. Check out these instructions to set up your Microsoft Office AutoSave options: http://word.mvps.org/faqs/general/automaticsave.htm. You can change the frequency you want your document saved so that if the power goes out it will automatically recover the files when you open it up again. 

Note: Does NOT work on library computers because ALL files are deleted upon restart.

3. Use iMovie. iMovie saves automatically after every edit to wherever you want your file saved. As with Microsoft Office, files saved onto the computers in the library will be lost upon restart so make sure you use an external hard-drive and set it up to start saving automatically to it. (You can check out an external hard-drive at the Student Multimedia Design Center service desk).

These are just three ways to make sure you don't loss all your hard work and start to cry during a power outage. Be smart, be prepared, and save!