Backup tools?

[sophiaserpentia]

If I'm stuck here, I might as well learn how to minimize loss of existing and future entries. Several of you recommended backup tools, in comments to an entry that is now gone. Could you please repeat those recommendations?

So far, the "LJ Backup Tool," "LJ Book," and "ALJ" have been recommended, but I would like to hear about additional options if they exist.

When I DLed and installed the LJ Backup Toolkit, it didn't work, I got an "application failed to properly initialize" error (or some BS like that) so I can't comment on that tool

As for the LJ Book -- I'm not particularly interested in having all of my entries (1000+ of them) glommed into one monster PDF file that will probably be too large for my computer to open.

ALJ I haven't tried yet (as I got too frustrated last night to work with it), but it sounds very time-intensive. That would be fine, if it saves my entries.

Comments

[rmwilliamsjr.livejournal.com]

i am sorry for your problems with LJ.
if it is a little consolation i did take your warning to heart and dl'ed the backup tool and grabbed my journal. so i thank you for the warning.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Yes, *everyone* should do this before it happens to them. LJ is getting steadily worse, not better. I don't anticipate that things are going to improve.

I'm glad the backup tool worked for you. It won't work for me, for some reason; it doesn't even open.

I note that you, like me, use your journal for organizing thoughts and research. LJ contains some very powerful tools, like memories, for organizing and collecting and collating notes over time, that would be difficult to replicate outside of LJ.

[ahladita.livejournal.com]

If you move on to something like MovableType, you can use categories which will show up on a sidebar and are more easily accessible to visitors than LJ memories are.

[rmwilliamsjr.livejournal.com]

absolutely.
since i work on several different computers, with different access levels and different OS's everyday, and the library(s), i need LJ or something equivalent just to get my notes straight.

[ahladita.livejournal.com]

I can't believe you're having such problems! The only problem I'm having is that only about half of the comments I'm receiving are being emailed to me. Some of my comments in other journals have been deleted, but I think you're the only person on my friends list who is experiencing the deletion of random entries.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Read through the comments and weep: this problem is BIG.

http://www.livejournal.com/community/lj_maintenance/86549.html

[ahladita.livejournal.com]

I'm saving my more recent entries, although I do tend to make it a habit to save my LJ entries as text files too. I'm not in the affected cluster but that's not to say I won't experience this problem someday.

[hearthstone.livejournal.com]

You've definitely convinced me to save a few notes here and there, although so far I have had no significant LJ problems at all. My journal isn't focused on the spiritual work I do, but there's enough there that I wouldn't like to lose it.

[arcanum-dogma.livejournal.com]

for the most part, i've been issue-free. during my "must save journal entries" phase, i just copied the text to Notepad and named the resulting text file accordingly (i like to go for the lowest common denominator).

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

I was doing that too, but I'm not always at the same computer, so that is not the most practical backup method for me. I need a central place like this, on an internet server.

Besides, many of my entries have links and/or interactive stuff, which doesn't quite translate to .txt; and I won't save comments that way unless I go back and update the .txt.

Still, it will do in a pinch. ::Contemplates thousands of entries and 10,000's of comments to back up::

[keshara.livejournal.com]

Have you heard of Furl? Saves entire web pages for you on their server, which you can make publicly or privately viewable.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

No, I hadn't heard of that. Thanks! I'm getting really desperate at this point. Nothing I am trying is working.