I Wish I'd Known Sooner #5 - Saving your work

I'm skeptical to have this entry as a "I Wish I'd Known Sooner"...it might fit better as "I Wish I'd Listen" instead, regardless, it's good to know.

Let me just put it out there:

BACK UP YOUR WORK BEFORE ANYTHING HAPPENS TO YOUR COMPUTER!

This is not a sight you want to see:

And then trying to turn your laptop back on, only to learn that it won't turn on? Not fun.

Let me tell you a story of how my laptop crashed on me, twice.

The first time happened in first year near the end of the semester. I was between assignments (just finished one, had to start on another) when the blue screen of death appeared before me on my HP. I had yet to hand in my essay on turn it in and spent the rest of the semester writing my other essay on my friends' computer and the computer labs.

Two years after that was the last leg of my HP. It was April and I was working on my final paper for my Advertising course. It had to be 7 pages and I was 5 pages through with it. And guess what happened? The motherboard (whatever that is) was a goner.

Moral of the story: back up your work.