Hi Lisa While cleaning up my e-mails, I found this. I hope it will help you. Maybe someone else can explain it to you. I have not learned how to save files yet. You can only take it one step at a time. Thats why my collection of e-mails about the BN is so big.
Terry Powers -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of franklin johnson Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2003 9:00 PM To: Braillenote List Subject: [Braillenote] a very helpful message... The key here is back up, back up back up. I have a 5 GB card and I back up on a daily basis. the reason for me is that I am adding addresses, planned meetings etc on a daily basis. Well written message from the sender. Franklin At 02:17 PM 11/26/03 +0800, you wrote: >Laura, > >This is what happened to your backups: the contents of the file on the >Flash Disk were wiped out before you did a backup, and because you could >only do backups while you're outside the file, you were not aware that the >file was already blank or corrupted. > >What should be done with the BrailleNote?: Hurl it to the street below >from a 10-story window. Just kidding! You can send it to the Philippines >if you want because there's a kid I'm helping here who needs a >notetaker. OK, what's the right way of making backups? > >1) Someone advised using the Copy File option in the File Manager instead >of the Backup Option in the Utilities Menu. I wouldn't recommend that for >ALL files, maybe just some, but not all, especially the databases. That's >how I lost my copy of an 8.13 MB e-mail DB. >You would think that the file is being copied successfully. You would >even be asked about replacing an old DB copy. But when you need to load >it back into your unit, it's gone... not just the contents, but the file >itself. The Backup Option hasn't done that to my knowledge. > >2) I'm sorry I did not reply to your post earlier. I should've corrected, >or at least added something to, the advise to do multiple backups. Notice >that the reason why you've lost three months worth of work on that file is >because you do not have old backups lying around. The right thing to do >is to retain complete, not corrupted, backups during certain times. This >would depend on how much storage space you have. >For example, you should not just have one backup folder on your cf >card. I have a backup folder for November, for October, for September, so >on and so forth. You could have weekly folders if you want. They do not >contain the same stuff because I move to a different storage those I won't >be needing anymore in a different month, and files in the newer folders >are longer (more updated) than those with the same file names in older >folders. Thus, if I lose a file saved in the November folder but was >originally created in July, I don't lose data from July to November, but >just for November. The shock of losing data in this case is more >tolerable (though still not completely forgivable). > >3) Since you already have learned (though learned it not from this list, >but the hard way - from experience) that relying on backups made on to cf >cards using your BrailleNote will inevitably corrupt data, if and when you >have your own computer running a respectable screen-reader, save or >transfer to it copies of all important files (databases, lecture notes, >planner or lists of appointments and phone numbers, etc., meaning, you >don't need to include those that you can download from the internet again, >or are just your "scratch" files, and the default BN files such as the DB >definition files, Readme texts, and Dictionary files). >Remember, using Active sync as some have suggested can also give you data >loss problems because it had been mentioned here before that large files >(the minimum problem size is unknown) likewise get truncated during file >transfer. Thus, as I have suggested many times to you off list, get a >PCMCIA Type II adapter for ease of file transfer from BrailleNote to your >laptop. If you're family is getting a desktop, then get your own card >reader if you cannot take home the one you use in school. Neither the >PCMCIA adapter nor the card reader would cost more than 30 dollars, so >getting one or both shouldn't be a problem for you. >You can keep the Keyword files in their format when you save them in the >computer, but I would suggest, if you're not feeling lazy, that you >convert the lecture notes (or those you use on a daily basis) to another >format as well that is readable on the computer (say, .txt or .rtf) and >save both the Keyword and non-Keyword copies of the important files, just >in case you follow my suggestion above of throwing your BrailleNote out >the window, <laugh>. BTW, I use two cf cards for this purpose. One >contains the backups accessed through the BrailleNote. The other contains >the files that are to be transferred to the computer, which in your case, >I suggest that you check the size once on the laptop and if it does not >correspond (say it's 0 or a smaller number than the original size), then >you can be sure it's corrupted and must be replaced with the complete one. > >4) Though no one would confirm this to be true, I still think you need to >get 48 MB on-board memory. I have much longer files for my notes in >graduate school, containing not just my notes in class for the five months >of a semester, but also researches from the net and solutions and proofs >from four different math books, that the files reach a size over 4 MB, >with extensions such as .kwb, .kwt, .rtf and .doc, but I have never lost >data in any of these large files. You know for a fact that the only files >I've lost or got corrupted are the databases, but if you can take my word >for it, though I save copies of all important files in my laptop since I >got it, I have had no need to load them back to my BN yet. >People can call my insistence on the link between data loss and the 16 MB >memory pure speculation, but they could never explain why I haven't had >problems with large files getting truncated or wiped out. A few say their >units have 48 MB memory and have lost data, but I think that's already due >to mishandling of files (e.g., not giving the BrailleNote enough time to >finish its "house-cleaning" tasks when saving, exiting, opening, copying >and moving files, by turning off the unit or pressing RESET or pulling out >the cf/storage card too soon), which would explain why only few of these >48 MB memory users report losing data. > >Speaking of house-cleaning matters, the word "disbelief" is written NOT >with the "letters" b e contracted as dots 2-3 (see your original subject >line) because using that lower sign in the middle of a word is to contract >the letters bb. This is true for grade 2 Braille, not just Duxbury on the >BrailleNote. But as for DBT on the BN, I think I've told you this >already, you cannot use one- and two-cell contractions before an ellipsis, >and that you must spell them out; otherwise, they are mistranslated as the >letters comprising the contraction (see your message below). > >HTH, >Roselle > > >----- QUOTED MESSAGE ----- > >Sent by: Laura Wolk <"[EMAIL PROTECTED]"@smtp.enter.net > > >Oh Kellie, I sure hope you don't have some sort of vendetta against me, > because you will not believe what has happened. Obviously, because I can't my. > > >After my data loss yesterday, I did what any good user would do, and > backed up my data, not once, but twice. B... everything, absolutely > EVERYTHING, is gone from three files. Not just on my flash disk, but in > both my backups as well. This time it's not just missing information, > absolutely blank documents. I think I'm in shock actually because it's > inconceivable for me to realize that three months worth of work, energy, > time... is just gone, from three subjects. J...' poof! I, well, I guess > I know what I'll be doing this weekend, either begging, pleading, > groveling, bribing friends to send me their notes or going through the > whole thing myself and doing it. Laura > > > > >___ >To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit >http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote Franklin Johnson National Training Consultant on Assistive Technology for the Blind Rehabilitation Research & Training Center on Blindness Mississippi State University (662) 325-7831 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.blind.msstate.edu ___ To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
