RLPF.ar

Why should one not use a USB stick for active development files?

Because they wear out!

Two files were DOA this morning. Fortunately the loss is minimal -- rebuilding the lost bits should not take much more than an hour. Still, it's disheartening to open a file representing dozens of hours of work and see only:

ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ

This is known in the computer profession as an "oh sh!t" moment.

Yes kids, they really do mean it when they say "Backup early, backup often." I do have a backup from a few days ago, recovering the majority of one of the files. My working method saved the rest: I use scratch files for rough experimentation, then tidy up the code into "process objects." The "processes" go into a clean file that simply loads the process definitions (kind of like an "include" in other languages). I lost the experiment file, but I'd already moved the latest processes into the include file. The clean file is intact! So I still have the really important bits.

I had been using the stick so that I could move easily between my Mac and my Linux netbook. Time to rethink that strategy.