Using SVN to save your novels  

How to make sure that your manuscripts, drafts and projects are safe from accidental deletion on your hard drive? How to access to your writing from the Internet? Are you fed up with all these "my_novel_old.doc" and "my_novel_old_old.doc" ?

To resolve these problems, I use SVN to save my writing !


SVN is a version control system. Wikipedia will do a better job than me to explain the intricates of the system. To sum up:

• SVN saves your data on a remote server: instant backup and your writing will be avaliable (with a login/password) everywhere.
• SVN saves previous versions of your data: easy reverting to old versions
• You still have a local copy of your work - no need to stay connected
  
• No need of creating new tags/folder hierarchies (ever thought about moving all your writings to Google Docs? Losing your folder hierarchy is a big deterrent in my opinion) . Just use your current folder hierarchy!
  

If you want to give SVN a try, make sure you have the following things ready:

1. A SVN host. ProSVN is the best I've found. It's free and you get 5Mo of storage space (that's enough if you write your manuscripts in plain text). There's also Unfuddle, with 15Mo of storage... but it doesn't give you a secure (SSL) web access to your data.
   
2. Tortoise SVN. It integrates SVN in your Windows Explorer (right-click menu), thus making saving/updating easier.
3. A folder hierarchy with all your manuscripts inside. It will become your repository (right-click on your root folder and choose Tortoise SVN - Create Repository here)
   

When you finish configuring your SVN, you just have to learn two commands (right-click on your local repository folder):

1. Commit: sends your modifications to the remote server.
2. Update: download the latest modifications made to the server.

That's about it! I have been using this system for almost 6 months. The only thing I worry about: I've almost eaten the 5Mo offered by the ProSvn host... *sighs*