We’ve all misplaced something valuable at one time or another in our lives. And some of us have had the misfortune of having something stolen from us. Sometimes our valuables are destroyed by accident or fire. It’s unavoidable.

We prepare for some of these eventualities, and just deal with others. When it comes to losing things, we might have to just deal with the loss and replace the lost item. With precious valuables, such as family photographs, we store them in fireproof boxes. Some valuables, such as cars, are insured so that they can be replaced quickly.

But when it comes to losing less tangible things, the pain of their loss is more deeply felt. Take, for example, the experiences of several Masters students a year, who lose their entire thesis when their USB drive is lost or fails.

It is a painful lesson to learn. How does a student in that situation cope? Without a backup copy, there aren’t many options. One is to scan in a paper copy of the latest version of their thesis, and the other option is to retype from scratch.

When you lose an object, you replace it. But if you lose your academic work, you lose not just the time it took to write your paper, you lose some of the ideas you have while you are writing, and it is hard to feel sure that you remember everything you thought when you first wrote your paper.

Back up your work.