35 replies to this topic

[jbenson2]

So, after scanning all my receipts in I wanted to test recovery and tranportability ... so I clicked on export and the formats offered are ENEX, html, mht.

I was thinking the export would be PDF??

I scanned in the receipts into EN and deleted the PDF thinking EN stored the PDFs in the cloud?

I don't have to keep the PDFs do I?? The more things to keep up with the more complicated it gets.

Warning bells went off when I read this. Please set up a system to backup your Evernote on a regular basis. If you scan through these forums, you will see several stories where people did not have a backup. Yes, if everything is handled properly, you can retrieve your information from the cloud, but things do not always go as hoped.

If you are using Windows and you only want the individual PDF file, you can right click it and save it to your hard drive.

GM's suggestion would be better for larger numbers of exports.

[GrumpyMonkey]

So, after scanning all my receipts in I wanted to test recovery and tranportability ... so I clicked on export and the formats offered are ENEX, html, mht.

I was thinking the export would be PDF??

I scanned in the receipts into EN and deleted the PDF thinking EN stored the PDFs in the cloud?

I don't have to keep the PDFs do I?? The more things to keep up with the more complicated it gets.

Warning bells went off when I read this. Please set up a system to backup your Evernote on a regular basis. If you scan through these forums, you will see several stories where people did not have a backup. Yes, if everything is handled properly, you can retrieve your information from the cloud, but things do not always go as hoped.

If you are using Windows and you only want the individual PDF file, you can right click it and save it to your hard drive.

GM's suggestion would be better for larger numbers of exports.

Correct on all counts. Backup, backup, backup. Time Machine for Mac. Oops!Backup (?) for Windows. I do a daily backup on one external drive, I have my current projects in Dropbox, and past projects (unchanging items like PDFs of books) get archived on two external hard drives -- one in my office and one at home. Evernote is on the daily backup, and also on the archived drives. Considering how inexpensive backup solutions are these days, not having something is a little like leaving your doors unlocked all the time. Sure, probably nothing will happen, but why take the chance?

[Ncdad1]

I think I figured it out ...

In Windows if I right click on the middle screen and export, I get the html ... If I right click on the right screen I can save as a PDF ... I have not interest in keeping anything on my computer and backing it up anymore... I am hoping to move to only being cloud based so I never have to worry about backups, etc. and can move from computer to computer , home, office, cafe in the future. Multiple HDDs, external HDDs, network HDDs, tape, thumb drives, etc. are a pain ... My only concern is if EN closes up shop how do I migrate my files to the next cloud provider.

[GrumpyMonkey]

I think I figured it out ...

In Windows if I right click on the middle screen and export, I get the html ... If I right click on the right screen I can save as a PDF ... I have not interest in keeping anything on my computer and backing it up anymore... I am hoping to move to only being cloud based so I never have to worry about backups, etc. and can move from computer to computer , home, office, cafe in the future. Multiple HDDs, external HDDs, network HDDs, tape, thumb drives, etc. are a pain ... My only concern is if EN closes up shop how do I migrate my files to the next cloud provider.

Hi. Use the method that I mentioned if you would like to ensure that you can export everything. Export is best for multiple notes (your entire account), while jb's method is best for individual notes. Either way, your data is portable. That is one of Evernote's principles.
http://blog.evernote...ata-protection/

As for having no external drives, that will be a little difficult if you have more than a few hundred gigabytes of data. I have several terabytes. But, assuming you have, for example, 150 gigabytes of data, you could purchase very affordable plans from Sugarsync, Dropbox, or Google Drive for storing it. I would strongly recommend that you store your files in more than one cloud service, but that is up to you. As for an external drive being cumbersome, you just plug it in, and then unplug it each day. Throw it in a drawer if you'd like. There really is nothing painful at all about it. But, that is your call.

[Michael Campbell]

> being cloud based so I never have to worry about backups

This is a dangerous mindset. No matter who you pay, or how much, or how often, the only one responsible for your data is *you*. Does it matter if you can sue a company for losing some precious piece of data if the data is unrecoverable, no matter what the cost?

Best of luck to you in any case.

[Ncdad1]

> being cloud based so I never have to worry about backups

This is a dangerous mindset. No matter who you pay, or how much, or how often, the only one responsible for your data is *you*. Does it matter if you can sue a company for losing some precious piece of data if the data is unrecoverable, no matter what the cost?

Best of luck to you in any case.

Here is my logic ... I have a HDD on my computer with a failure rate of X, a similar HDD is in my external enclosure with a a similar failure rate ... the cloud folks also use a similar hard drive with the same failure rate ... so all my HDDs are probably similar to all theirs HDDs... you gain availability by being redundant on two HDDs or two cloud services ... there is nothing special about the physical HDD in your computer or enclosure ... they are the same failure prone mechanical devices used on the cloud ... my point is having all these contingency plans - my HDD, ghost to an external, copy to a cloud is wearing me out ... it is almost as bad as keeping up with the paper I worked so hard to digitize. So, don't fear the cloud ... just be redundant.

[GrumpyMonkey]

> being cloud based so I never have to worry about backups

This is a dangerous mindset. No matter who you pay, or how much, or how often, the only one responsible for your data is *you*. Does it matter if you can sue a company for losing some precious piece of data if the data is unrecoverable, no matter what the cost?

Best of luck to you in any case.

Here is my logic ... I have a HDD on my computer with a failure rate of X, a similar HDD is in my external enclosure with a a similar failure rate ... the cloud folks also use a similar hard drive with the same failure rate ... so all my HDDs are probably similar to all theirs HDDs... you gain availability by being redundant on two HDDs or two cloud services ... there is nothing special about the physical HDD in your computer or enclosure ... they are the same failure prone mechanical devices used on the cloud ... my point is having all these contingency plans - my HDD, ghost to an external, copy to a cloud is wearing me out ... it is almost as bad as keeping up with the paper I worked so hard to digitize. So, don't fear the cloud ... just be redundant.

I get the redundancy thing, but I don't see how this is going to work better in real life. I guess I am not willing to pay several hundred dollars a year for 1 or 2 TB of data. Who doesn't have a few dozen gigabytes of music, movies, PDFs, pictures, etc. sitting around on their hard drive these days?

Something like Time Machine just does the backup, all you have to do is plug it in, and when you need the data on it, it is immediately available.

For the truly lazy, Time Capsule will do it over WiFi and you won't even know it is backing things up. It just does it. Then, the data is in your hands. If you need to access it, it is immediately available.

Rebuilding files from a service like Carbonite can be done, but it won't be pretty. I had a kernel panic and (long story short) ended up wiping my drive two days ago (true story). I was planning on upgrading to the new MBA anyhow, so it was oddly fortuitous timing (as my spouse was quick to note). Within minutes, I was back to work, and by the end of the evening, I had everything I needed in my computer and ready to go. No data loss.

You've found what works for you, and that is cool, but the reasoning about it being too troublesome doesn't seem very persuasive to me

[jefito]

@Ncdad1: Evernote's hard drives are almost certainly *not* like your hard drives. http://blog.evernote...6/shard-boiled/

[Michael Campbell]

just be redundant.

Yeah, that would "backups" =)

Don't misread me; I don't fear the cloud whatsoever. I'm probably more cloud-ed than a good many people, but in no way am I not also backing up the data I want to make sure I can't afford to lose, no matter where I put it.

[idoc]

NcDad1

Keep in mind that it's very easy to create pdf files with Acrobat (comes with snapscan) and then to combine them at a later stage. For example, right now you may have seperate pdf's for various projects but you may want to archive them later into one pdf. Or you may have seperate pdf's for various bills and receipts and may want to join them all together at the end of the year etc. You can do this within seconds/minutes once you know how it's done. Therefore, you don't' have to agonize regarding putting all the do*****ents together now or later. Here's my workflow for combining pdf's into one larger one:

-In Evernote I highlight the notes that contain the pdf's that I want to combine (using the shift key)
-I right click and select "Save attachments" (I save it to an empty folder)
-Once I see those pdf's in the empty folder I select them all,right click and choose "combine supported files in Acrobat"
-You will then be taken to a dialog box where you can shuffle them in the order that you want them combined.

That's it. Couldn't be easier to combine files and only takes a minute. Splitting files into smaller pdf's is easy also. Therefore, you can do it whatever way you feel comfortable without worrying about will I need to combine them or split them later.

[Ncdad1]

===========
-I right click and select "Save attachments" (I save it to an empty folder)
-Once I see those pdf's in the empty folder I select them all,right click and choose "combine supported files in Acrobat"
-You will then be taken to a dialog box where you can shuffle them in the order that you want them combined.
=======
Do you need acrobat to do that?
When I store the pdfs to an empty folder and select the pdfs and right click there is no combine menu selection in windows.

When I select multiple pdfs in EN there is a "merge" option ??

[Don Sakers]

GrumpyMonkey:

A cautionary tale. A month ago our electricity went out during a thunderstorm. Despite surge protectors, when the power came back my Verbatim external hard drive wouldn't start up again. That's the drive that contains my one and only Time Machine backup.

I got a new external hard drive...AND signed up with Carbonite. But I spent a few days without any backup at all. Very scary.

[jbenson2]

GrumpyMonkey:

A cautionary tale. A month ago our electricity went out during a thunderstorm. Despite surge protectors, when the power came back my Verbatim external hard drive wouldn't start up again. That's the drive that contains my one and only Time Machine backup.

I got a new external hard drive...AND signed up with Carbonite. But I spent a few days without any backup at all. Very scary.

Good suggestion and example.
I've been using Carbonite for a couple years. It is reassuring to know there is an offsite location backing up my data 24/7.
It only costs $60 a year.

And with the premium service, they offer Courier Recovery service. They will ship a copy of your backup shipped to you.

[GrumpyMonkey]

Yep. I am into redundancy. I was suggesting TC as a solution for the truly lazy (I hear there is a lawsuit pending about someone who lost TC data). I definitely do not recommend having just one thing, but it beats having nothing!

If you are willing to put in a minimal amount of effort (signing up for something like Carbonite) you can have pretty reliable protection. I'm into redundancy. The more the better. I always have multiple copies of everything, and the cloud is a big part of it, though I canceled my account with Carbonite

[Ncdad1]

I have one external at work and one at home and Ghost to each each week ... I can recover from anything in an hour ... I am in the process of retiring and will be travelling all the time and toting around multiple external drives just won't work anymore. I have moved all the apps to the cloud and want the backup to be there too ... I want to be physical device independent such that I can grab any machine in the house and do my work ... sort of like email ... I can go to the library or cafe if needed to do my email, taxes, banking, finances, email, bill paying, etc. ... note, the thread started with me wanting to rid myself of paper by getting all of it in EN ... I do not want to keep the originals since the defeats the purpose of going paperless.and I really do not want to have multiple backups in case EN dies ...

[GrumpyMonkey]

I have one external at work and one at home and Ghost to each each week ... I can recover from anything in an hour ... I am in the process of retiring and will be travelling all the time and toting around multiple external drives just won't work anymore. I have moved all the apps to the cloud and want the backup to be there too ... I want to be physical device independent such that I can grab any machine in the house and do my work ... sort of like email ... I can go to the library or cafe if needed to do my email, taxes, banking, finances, email, bill paying, etc. ... note, the thread started with me wanting to rid myself of paper by getting all of it in EN ... I do not want to keep the originals since the defeats the purpose of going paperless.and I really do not want to have multiple backups in case EN dies ...

Interesting. It looks like you have a good sense of what is available and what you need. I'd still recommend lugging around an external drive for backup (Time Machine if you are on the Mac), because they are now about the size and weight of a mobile phone, can be encrypted, and hold all of the data you are likely to need (up to 1TB for most models). But, if you are not generating many files outside of Evernote anyhow, then Evernote alone will be fine. They take data security and storage seriously, so you are unlikely to encounter any issues. Evernote won't die, but data loss is about the only worry I have, so I just prefer to have my own something "just in case". As an alternative, you might take an old computer, install Evernote, and login to it (remotely if necessary) every once in a while to sync with the servers. This is essentially a backup of Evernote, and will give you peace of mind.