About to go crazy.

[Cruel2BKind]

I accidentally dropped my computer while it was on. That fucked something up, and I had to go to the Apple store to get it fixed. 3 days with my computer broken, 2 days in the Apple store, 2 MORE days in the Apple store after they realized that they had fucked up, and now it works, but it's been twelve days without my word processor of choice.

I have all of the files of my half-finished stories on my computer, but I literally cannot open them without the word processor 'Pages'. I called the apple help line and it turns out that I totally fucking bought that word processor, and they totally should have fucking replaced it when they had to give me a new hard drive.

So now it's day twenty without being able to write a single story. The CD to reinstall 'Pages' is in the mail, but might get delayed with the holiday coming up.

The silver lining is that we had the warranty, and they nixed the data transfer charges after they fucked up. But still, tomorrow will be my third week without being able to access or add to the ten or so stories in various stages of completion.

I feel like I was robbed or something. Early on in my writing about 40 pages of my material was deleted, and I was furious, but able to rewrite. Right now I have (rough estimate) about four hundred pages of material I cannot get to. And I haven't been able to make any progress, even when I try to write on paper, or the other word processor.

Wednesday is the latest date that I will get my CD and go back to normal. Wednesday can't come soon enough.

 

[PennLady]

Sorry. No fun when that happens, but there is an end in sight.

Could you use Text Edit, just in case inspiration strikes? That way at least you could get it written down.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

Sorry. No fun when that happens, but there is an end in sight.

Could you use Text Edit, just in case inspiration strikes? That way at least you could get it written down.

I have an old version of word, 2004. I had a wink of an idea about vampires (I have yet to do a vampire story, still brewing around somewhere.) I wrote about a page and the idea went stagnant.

I never save a piece until I know for sure that it will go somewhere. I just deleted the document with the start of my vampire story. That sucker (lol) needs some shaping still.

 

[PennLady]

I have an old version of word, 2004. I had a wink of an idea about vampires (I have yet to do a vampire story, still brewing around somewhere.) I wrote about a page and the idea went stagnant.

I never save a piece until I know for sure that it will go somewhere. I just deleted the document with the start of my vampire story. That sucker (lol) needs some shaping still.

Ha, I save almost everything. Never can tell. One thing I might advise with a vampire story (I wrote a couple) is make sure you know what rules you want. Classic stuff -- no garlic, no sunlight, etc.; or change it around a bit.

I haven't used Pages yet. I'm used to Word, and my aunt had bought it for the Mac, and I need it for work, so I just use that.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I know the feeling. I went a year without my own PC at home. I was either borrowing my parent's computer in the living room (can't write or watch porn there), or using this computer here in the office. It was very frustrating.

 

[StrangeLife]

The CD to reinstall 'Pages' is in the mail, but might get delayed with the holiday coming up...

"CD?" Can't you just re-download it from the Mac app-store?

 

[Bananaspoon]

I suggest you use Dropbox. It's a free cloud storage service that lets you save anything you want on the cloud.

This means that you can have access to it anytime you want using a smartphone or tablet. Although if you worry about their ToS i.e anything you upload might become their property, then it's not something for you.

Or you can buy a USB and backup all your important files on there.

Your smartphone can also be used as a storage device for doc files, some apps will be able to let you edit files.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

"CD?" Can't you just re-download it from the Mac app-store?

I originally bought it as a CD, that's what the receipt was for. A different price, I think. If I bought it from the app store I'd have to pay again.

I suggest you use Dropbox. It's a free cloud storage service that lets you save anything you want on the cloud.

This means that you can have access to it anytime you want using a smartphone or tablet. Although if you worry about their ToS i.e anything you upload might become their property, then it's not something for you.

Or you can buy a USB and backup all your important files on there.

Your smartphone can also be used as a storage device for doc files, some apps will be able to let you edit files.

I don't have a smartphone. Saving files isn't the problem, the stories aren't erased, just inaccessible.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

That's life in America now that we all have Gay Studies Degrees with minors in French Fryology.

 

[PennLady]

I don't have a smartphone. Saving files isn't the problem, the stories aren't erased, just inaccessible.

Dropbox -- or other services -- could be accessed from another computer, as well. Like at a library or such. You just need to log in. I think the point here is more that backing up files is a good habit to get into (although I admit I'm not as good at it as I should be). Even if you didn't have the most recent version of a file, it'd be better than nothing.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

Dropbox -- or other services -- could be accessed from another computer, as well. Like at a library or such. You just need to log in. I think the point here is more that backing up files is a good habit to get into (although I admit I'm not as good at it as I should be). Even if you didn't have the most recent version of a file, it'd be better than nothing.

Might be a good idea to save all of my stories to that once I get them back... Thanks for the hint guys.

 

[desireinyellow]

You can't drag or save the files on a stick or cd disk.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Well goddamn, I tried to open a .pages file in text edit. It won't. That's fucked up.
I did find this;
http://www.zamzar.com/convert/pages-to-txt/
but I would worry about privacy.

There are probably other conversion tools around if you want to look...

 

[emap]

Desktop PC, doesn't get carried around, doesn't get left on the taxi. All I am saying.

 

[TE999]

It's always good to have a second 'puter in case of trouble and to put EVERYTHING you write on flash drives. Laptop 'puters are dirt cheap anymore; I've seen 'em in Wally World for under 200 bucks runnin' Win 8 with a decent chip. You'll be usin' MSWord, but there are all sorts of conversion programs out there.

ps: Get an indy 'puter fixer next time; 'puter stores suck on service turnarounds and fixin' stuff.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Yep, desktop and laptop. If one breaks, I have a back up. All work is saved to flash drive every other day. The drive has, it's 16gig stick, five days of backup on it. I also copy from the desktop to the laptop every other day.

 

[GradeACdnBeef]

*Cringe*

 

[tolyk]

Try OpenOffice. It's a free word processing program that runs on anything. It's fantastic, and can open most documents.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

One hundred fifty years ago SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN magazine featured bazillions of articles of instruction for almost anything imaginable, like POPULAR MECHANIX magazine was 50 years ago.

Todays periodicals don't fool with practical applications, what they do is inform you how to guarantee that your new baby will grow up Gay with a certified disability good for a lifetime of SSI, and let you know who to sue if the kids normal.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I recently collected several stories stored on an old computer, and I mean old. It has no clue what a flash drive is. You cant buy floppies so I had to find a few in my junk pile. I downloaded the files to the floppy but Word was clueless of MSWorks. So back they went to the old puter for conversion to WORD97 then on to WORD2010.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I have Pages and Word; if you just need a couple of files converted to some other format PM me and I can probably give you a hand.

 

[_Lynn_]

Yep, desktop and laptop. If one breaks, I have a back up. All work is saved to flash drive every other day. The drive has, it's 16gig stick, five days of backup on it. I also copy from the desktop to the laptop every other day.

And then, in the space of three months, you lose both the desktop and the laptop the way I did.

 

[PennLady]

And then, in the space of three months, you lose both the desktop and the laptop the way I did.

Unfortunately, these things can happen.

 

[_Lynn_]

Unfortunately, these things can happen.

Yep. I looked at what I had saved, thought about what I lost, and went back to writing.

 

[sr71plt]

You cant buy floppies

You can. I just did buy a new batch of them. And that's what I back up stories on. (And they can be reused over and over again.)