Both the folder containing zipped back-ups, and the separate folder with the live projects, are on my desktop (I’m sorry if I didn’t make that clear).
In other words, 2 different folders, but they are within the same containing folder, the desktop.
Just belt and suspenders, exactly what are the folder names under ~/Desktop? I’m guessing all is well, but being specific helps being sure and others lurking here.
When you say “desktop” do you mean your “desktop computer”? That’s not what I am asking.
I hear that putting a lot of files in or under ~/Desktop slows down macOS. True? Dunno. So I use that folder for very temporary stuff that I delete when done with them.
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I’m sorry! By “desktop” I mean the working screen that you see when you boot up (I only use one computer, a MacBook laptop). I understand that this visual “desktop” is in itself a folder.
My live projects are in a folder called “ScrvHQ” and the backup zips in a separate folder just called “SCRV” (those also get manually uploaded to cloud drives), and they both sit on the screen-desktop.
(The slow-down thing hasn’t been a problem for me.)
OK. So that means:
Scrivener Projects: ~/Desktop/ScrvHQ
Scrivener Backups: ~/Desktop/SCRV
I would not use ~/Desktop like that, but if it works for you, why not? You have the backups separated from each other and if not Scrivener would have complained. And you have redundant backups of those locally stored folders–and the system–onto external media. Don’t see an issue.
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All this sounds reasonable, but brings up another question (which also exposes my lack of a deep understanding of the electronics involved.) How does a different partition on the same solid state drive stack up? Safe? Or would an external drive be better?
I already backup my whole disk to an external drive, but that’s only once per week. A lot of writing can happen in a week.
I’m also curious about that 2-second automatic backup. Where does it go? Certainly not to the same file as a formal backup, either at shut-down or by manual back-up.
You still are confusing Scrivener project files and backups files. There is no '2-second automatic backup".
When you save files, they go to the project folder that you create when the project is created… When Scrivener detects 2-seconds of inactivity (or whatever you set it at, but 2-seconds is default), the save goes where all other saves go–to the project folder you created.
Backups only launch when they are set to launch by you. they go to the folder you set for backups. That is a different folder location than project folder.
I have no idea how to answer this as it’s showing an understanding so far from my understanding of how computers work. Sorry.
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I think I understand that saves and backups are different, but since I include date and time stamps on both, …
Wait. I have an idea.
It worked. I just opened the File Explorer to my Save folder, then made a change in my project, waited a two seconds, and the Save was updated. Pretty cool.
Better for what?
A catastrophic failure of a drive is likely to make all partitions on that drive inaccessible. But SSDs are probably less likely to fail catastrophically. (No moving parts.)
A drive physically attached to the computer is vulnerable to any mishaps that might befall the computer. A drive stored in a safe deposit box is not.
FWIW, I have Scrivener’s automatic backups, a Time Machine Drive (permanently attached), and a BackBlaze offsite backup. I do a full disk copy to an external drive once a month, with a rotating library of drives that gives me about a year of backups. I also keep my active projects on Dropbox, which doesn’t protect them from user error (Dropbox is not a backup!) but does mean I can keep working when away from my main computer for whatever reason.
An important point that’s easy to lose in this discussion of backups: the vast majority of data loss that I see is due to user error. Modern computer hardware is extremely reliable. Most of us are not going to have our equipment stolen on a regular basis. But many of us will accidentally delete something, mangle a project with a misguided global replace, or something similar. Make sure your backup strategy protects against the risk you are most likely to face: yourself.
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Uh, how do “time stamped saves” work? Are you creating a new copy of the project with an updated date? Using the Save As command? As noted way upthread, incautious use of the Save As command can cause exactly the symptoms you are seeing.
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In File>Options>Backup, one of the options is to check the box “Use date in backup file names”. It also includes an up-to-the-minute time indication. So in my experiment, which I did twice, I had to wait at least a minute between tries, to see a new file-name update. Not a new file name, as with the backups, but a new file name (up-to-the-minute).
The Backup also shows the date and time in the zipped name, but it did not update in my experiment. But I suppose that multiple Backups per day (whether manual or end-of-day automatic) would show which was the most recent.
By the way, don’t you guys ever sleep?
As the option indicates, this affects the names of your backups. It doesn’t change the name of your saved project.
Do you have the “backup on manual save” option enabled?
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It does indicate Backups, but the Save file name changes, too. I’ve looked and so far I can’t find a separate time-stamp option for save-file names only.
I do have the backup with each manual save option checked. The only one left unchecked is the “Back up on project open” box
Why are you saving and backing up all manually? I never ever do a manual save or backup (with time stamped file names) and nothing ever lost. Ever.
Let Scrivener do it for you. @kewms points out the possible flaws created when doing that.
I don’t, routinely, but the option is there if I ever need to. It would have a more recent backup in case of a crash, losing less than a full day’s output. Beside, I have had several apparent losses (or at least I thought so until I found them in the zipped backups). I must have checked that box at some point while trying to resolve this problem.
But you say you have time stamped saves.
That would be where the “time stamped saves” are coming from.
Scrivener cannot and does not change the name of the active project without your explicit instructions.
Edit: I guess it’s possible that something else on your system is changing the name of your active project. That would be very bad and quite likely to cause problems. It could definitely be the source of the issue you’re seeing. But it wouldn’t be the first time that overly “helpful” applications have strayed out of their lane.
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It would have the same effect as saving to different folders in the same SSD partition. When the SSD goes (or is stolen or hit by lightning or damaged by a power surge) it’s bye-bye partition(s), folders and files.
Keeping your working file (saved project) out of the folder of your backup files, is your first step to safety.
Next you consider cloud sync backup, then external devices and offsite.
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I was afraid of that. Oh, well.
Can’t imagine what else could be messing with my files, which leaves me with waiting for the next “Can’t locate” popup, and going from there.