Roselle, I apologize for my brailling error. I suppose I really wasn't TOO concerned with 1 or 2-cell contractions before an ellipse. I was sort of distracted by other things.
Well needless to say that I am using backups now. As luck would have it, I apparently saved a copy of these notes to a cf card about two weeks ago. I don't recall doing this, and have no idea WHY I would do this, but hey, I'm not complaining. Thank you for the suggestions, Laura "We accept the love we think we deserve." (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) >------ original message ------ >from: "Roselle Ambubuyog" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: [Braillenote] Disbelief re: Disbblief >Laura, >This is what happened to your backups: the contents of the file on the Flash >Disk were wiped out before you did a backup, and because you could only do >backups while you're outside the file, you were not aware that the file was >already blank or corrupted. >What should be done with the BrailleNote?: Hurl it to the street below from a >10-story window. Just kidding! You can send it to the Philippines if you want >because there's a kid I'm helping here who needs a notetaker. OK, what's the >right way of making backups? >1) Someone advised using the Copy File option in the File Manager instead of >the Backup Option in the Utilities Menu. I wouldn't recommend that for ALL >files, maybe just some, but not all, especially the databases. That's how I >lost my copy of an 8.13 MB e-mail DB. >You would think that the file is being copied successfully. You would even be >asked about replacing an old DB copy. But when you need to load it back into >your unit, it's gone... not just the contents, but the file itself. The >Backup Option hasn't done that to my knowledge. >2) I'm sorry I did not reply to your post earlier. I should've corrected, or >at least added something to, the advise to do multiple backups. Notice that >the reason why you've lost three months worth of work on that file is because >you do not have old backups lying around. The right thing to do is to retain >complete, not corrupted, backups during certain times. This would depend on >how much storage space you have. >For example, you should not just have one backup folder on your cf card. I >have a backup folder for November, for October, for September, so on and so >forth. You could have weekly folders if you want. They do not contain the >same stuff because I move to a different storage those I won't be needing >anymore in a different month, and files in the newer folders are longer (more >updated) than those with the same file names in older folders. Thus, if I >lose a file saved in the November folder but was originally created in July, I >don't lose data from July to November, but just for November. The shock of >losing data in this case is more tolerable (though still not completely >forgivable). >3) Since you already have learned (though learned it not from this list, but >the hard way - from experience) that relying on backups made on to cf cards >using your BrailleNote will inevitably corrupt data, if and when you have your >own computer running a respectable screen-reader, save or transfer to it >copies of all important files (databases, lecture notes, planner or lists of >appointments and phone numbers, etc., meaning, you don't need to include those >that you can download from the internet again, or are just your "scratch" >files, and the default BN files such as the DB definition files, Readme texts, >and Dictionary files). >Remember, using Active sync as some have suggested can also give you data loss >problems because it had been mentioned here before that large files (the >minimum problem size is unknown) likewise get truncated during file transfer. >Thus, as I have suggested many times to you off list, get a PCMCIA Type II >adapter for ease of file transfer from BrailleNote to your laptop. If you're >family is getting a desktop, then get your own card reader if you cannot take >home the one you use in school. Neither the PCMCIA adapter nor the card >reader would cost more than 30 dollars, so getting one or both shouldn't be a >problem for you. >You can keep the Keyword files in their format when you save them in the >computer, but I would suggest, if you're not feeling lazy, that you convert >the lecture notes (or those you use on a daily basis) to another format as >well that is readable on the computer (say, .txt or .rtf) and save both the >Keyword and non-Keyword copies of the important files, just in case you follow >my suggestion above of throwing your BrailleNote out the window, <laugh>. >BTW, I use two cf cards for this purpose. One contains the backups accessed >through the BrailleNote. The other contains the files that are to be >transferred to the computer, which in your case, I suggest that you check the >size once on the laptop and if it does not correspond (say it's 0 or a smaller >number than the original size), then you can be sure it's corrupted and must >be replaced with the complete one. >4) Though no one would confirm this to be true, I still think you need to get >48 MB on-board memory. I have much longer files for my notes in graduate >school, containing not just my notes in class for the five months of a >semester, but also researches from the net and solutions and proofs from four >different math books, that the files reach a size over 4 MB, with extensions >such as .kwb, .kwt, .rtf and .doc, but I have never lost data in any of these >large files. You know for a fact that the only files I've lost or got >corrupted are the databases, but if you can take my word for it, though I save >copies of all important files in my laptop since I got it, I have had no need >to load them back to my BN yet. >People can call my insistence on the link between data loss and the 16 MB >memory pure speculation, but they could never explain why I haven't had >problems with large files getting truncated or wiped out. A few say their >units have 48 MB memory and have lost data, but I think that's already due to >mishandling of files (e.g., not giving the BrailleNote enough time to finish >its "house-cleaning" tasks when saving, exiting, opening, copying and moving >files, by turning off the unit or pressing RESET or pulling out the cf/storage >card too soon), which would explain why only few of these 48 MB memory users >report losing data. >Speaking of house-cleaning matters, the word "disbelief" is written NOT with >the "letters" b e contracted as dots 2-3 (see your original subject line) >because using that lower sign in the middle of a word is to contract the >letters bb. This is true for grade 2 Braille, not just Duxbury on the >BrailleNote. But as for DBT on the BN, I think I've told you this already, >you cannot use one- and two-cell contractions before an ellipsis, and that you >must spell them out; otherwise, they are mistranslated as the letters >comprising the contraction (see your message below). >HTH, >Roselle
