As part of an experiment on the colonization of new habitats by marine, sessile species, photos of settlement plates were taken regularly over several months. These photos were used for species identification and the analysis of settlement patterns. However, the settlement plates were installed on artificial islands in the Wadden Sea, which made sampling particularly challenging. Each sampling session, and therefore each opportunity for photo documentation, was only possible on a few days each month and required a full day of effort due to the time-intensive journey.
One day, however, the doctoral student made a critical mistake: he forgot to clear the cameras memory card and back up the data before heading out. He only realized the problem when he was already out at sea—far from any internet connection and without any way to secure the files elsewhere. Deleting some redundant photos provided only limited additional storage, calling for an extra sampling day. Aside from the time loss, the altered schedule also made subsequent analysis more complex.
The lesson from this incident was clear: regular back-ups are essential! 3...2...1 – Backup: at least three copies of the data, on at least two different storage media, with at least one stored at an external location. If the doctoral student had followed this rule, he could have avoided an additional day of work – and a lot of frustration.
Source: Personal communication
