It probably wouldn’t be the end of the world if you don’t zip it. The main reason I recommend zipping for network saving is to reduce how long it takes to send the file, and to reduce potential compatibility problems as the bundle has to leave the Macintosh world and become a directory full of files. Some services, like DropBox, even try to “handle” that and have been known in the past to mess things up (though I think they fixed that bug). I’d rather just avoid all of that mess and keep it in a simple zip. It also will make your files dramatically smaller. If your projects are mainly text, they’ll be about one tenth of their original size. With services like DropBox that means you can store more without having to pay for a large quota, and slow modems or connexions will not have to spend lots of time with the transaction.
Everything druid already stated is what I meant to say the first time around. “Use” implies having Scrivener open, the Project in question open, and that project either physically over a network on a mounted drive, or in a local folder that is constantly and automatically syncing, like a DropBox or iDisk folder. Use does not mean that you cannot store zip files on it. That’s perfectly safe (as safe as anything is, within reason).
I have no data or statistics to give you a reasonable answer other than my own speculation. I’ve had problem with flash drives in the past corrupting files. Just remember it is a floppy disk and not a backup server and you’ll be okay. I don’t zip, myself, but I use an application that does full data verification after copy. It copies, then looks at both the original and the copy and makes sure they match precisely.
Modern flash tech (or the interface circuitry) seems more reliable than in the past. I still treat it like a floppy, though. Or in analogy, as a message on a postcard. I just assume that everyone in between my friend and me is going to read it. I just assume the flash will die and thus only trust it for transfer.
ChronoSync. It’s not a Finder replacement (so it wouldn’t be a good choice to just copying some random files), but an application meant to keep two selections mirrored. You choose Folder A and Folder B (or the entire drives) and it will scan both for changes and let you merge them.
Wow, late to the discussion and surprised to see recommendations against what I’ve been doing for so long!
I had initially used a USB drive, except that it fell off my keychain a few times (by luck, I was able to retrace my steps and find it each time). So I began keeping it on my computers’ hard drives, syncing my Powermac and MacBook over the LAN using Synk 4.2 (an older but still perfectly functional freeware version of Synk 6.x). However, I would sometimes forget to do a sync and open up my MacBook miles from home to discover an older version of the project than what I had on the desktop. So, I’ve started to open the MacBook’s Scrivener projects on the Powermac over the LAN, which made sure each system had the most current projects.
So, now both of the latter two were wrong? Synk seemed to handle the multiple component files just fine–it showed that it was copying many files over, newest over oldest. I’m really not keen on going back to the USB drives… would synching be “less bad” than working over the LAN?
I should really clarify the original post as there is some confusion over terminology (you aren’t the first to conclude that I’m advising against synchronisation software). Synchronisation software which scans two volumes and updates them as necessary is, in my experience, a fairly safe action (though it can be susceptible to errors originating between the keyboard and your eyeballs, but then so is practically everything). Most of these programs are very careful about how they copy data, using redundant caches and such to guard against the kind of USB issues you’ve experienced.
Synchronisation applications which offer “Cloud” mirror are an entirely different thing, and this is what I advised against in the original post.
Incidentally, working over a high speed LAN should not be a huge problem. It is more risky than an internal hard-drive, naturally, but ethernet is robust and these modern cards are excellent at assembling data in both directions. Given the choice, I would always recommend copying files to a local internal drive before opening it in Scrivener, and then copying it back out over LAN, USB, or wherever only after it is closed and you are done for the session. This is always going to be the safest way to work. And of course, no matter what methods you use, always periodically back up using the handy Cmd-Shift-S feature in Scrivener. In the grand scheme of things, I’d take LAN over USB any day. It’s a much older and more robust technology, and while I’ve seen many dozens of issues even with USB hard drives, it is very rare that I see transmission errors in a LAN network (that are not transparently corrected). That said, I would never work off of it myself. I always always always work off of internal hard-wired drives, and I’ve never had a data corruption issue (outside of intentionally attempting to cause one, which doesn’t count!)
Thanks for the clarification. The LAN option seemed the best for me, as it always ensured that I had an up-to-date copy without forgetting/losing a USB drive (or, worse, accidental removal with a project still open), or forgetting to sync–how irritating that is, to open the MacBook and realize your newest material is back home!. Currently, I sync projects between my two systems by way of backup, but work off the MacBook so that I always have the newest version with me.
4.2 is substantially different than the 5.x reviewed in the linked page–one reason I’d never upgraded. In the years I’ve used Synk 4.2 I’ve never had a failure–it’s been totally rock solid, at least for my limited needs (making sure I have up-to-date versions of certain files and folders between desktop Macs and PowerBooks/MacBooks). Versions 5.x and later are from a different programmer, who took over the formerly freeware version (which is nearly impossible to find now).
I use Time Machine for backup now (before that, Intego Personal Backup, which I gave up on as being vexing to use).
Interesting note that the article you linked to says “Partially recommended” for Deja Vu. I have it (from Toast) and found it pretty undependable.
I’ve got a problem working with Scrivenir on two different computers – “office” and “home.” The office mac is where I do the bulk of my work with Scrivenir, and it works fine. I back it up both to the local disk and dropbox. I can retrieve my work from the both the local disk and dropbox with Office Mac without difficulty from either storage location.
However, when I try to retrieve my work from Home Mac via Dropbox, I get a version that is 2 or 3 versions previous to my actual work file. In other words, the file comes up fine, but it is not the latest version, even though I had saved the latest file to dropbox. From reading the comments in this forum, I suspect it is because I am guilty of turning off the Mac too soon after backup.
With that being said, how can I get my files synchronized again? You would think that the same file name on dropbox would download the same material into both office and home, but no. I get the correct and latest version in Office Mac, but an older version in Home Mac. Again, the file names are the same. What is weird is that it’s not the same wrong version – it’s an updated one, but not the latest one. It seems to lag 3-5 versions behind; in other words, doesn’t reflect the new material in the last 3-5 saves. To put it another way, it is out of date, but dynamically so.
How can I get everything synched again on dropbox? In other words, how can I get the latest version of the same file name on dropbox to download the same information everywhere?
And I will hold off on turning off my Mac so fast.
Just to clarify, you are using the zip option when saving back-ups to DropBox, right? So you basically have a file called ProjectName-Date.scriv.zip (obviously it will look different than that), and when you try to copy that file to your home Mac and unzip it, it’s two or three versions old? That would be very weird, to say the least.
They claim to be working on it. Here’s what it says:
For Our Advanced Users
Some older Mac and Linux files that depend on metadata are incompatible with Dropbox. Metadata, such as resource forks, are invisible files that contain data essential to the visible file. Dropbox ignores resource forks when syncing the file. The file on the original computer remains untouched, but the synced copies won’t open on other Dropbox-linked computers without the necessary resource forks.
A list of files known to use metadata:
Mac OS X Finder Aliases
Mac OS X Finder Colored labels
Mac OS X Finder Spotlight comments (File > Get Info…)
Mac OS X Finder Custom icons
Mac OS X Finder Clipping files (.textclipping)
Mac OS X Finder Saved url files (.webloc)
iWork (05-08) files (.numbers, .pages, .key, .knt, and .keynote). iWork 09 files are compatible
iWeb files (.sites2)
Quicken for Mac files (.qdfm)
Panorama database files (.pan)
Scrivener files (.scriv)
If you use multiple computers, it is possible that putting these types of files in your Dropbox and renaming or editing them could cause them to break when accessed from other Dropbox-linked computers. The Dropbox engineering team is working on backwards-compatibility for files with metadata. In the meantime, you should avoid storing these file types on Dropbox until the problem is addressed.
If you accidentally put one of these types of files in your Dropbox and it now fails to open, it is possible the file is still in the Dropbox cache on your computer. Dropbox keeps a copy of all files in its cache for three days after they are moved, revised, or deleted. You can find your cache folder where Dropbox settings are stored.
That’s perfectly safe (as safe as anything is, within reason).