I keep Take the First Step under version control. This keeps things in sync across multiple computers so that I can post from any of them. It also lets me use “git checkout -f .” rather than “hexo clean” to reset my hexo state (clean removes the existing article id’s, causing a refresh of all content pages).
It also gives me another layer of protection against the problem with archiving. At any point in time, I have:
- Full source and rendering of my weblog on one computer (which ever I posted from last).
- Full rendering of my weblog on S3.
- Full source and partial rendering of my weblog on Bitbucket.
- Almost complete source and rendering of my weblog on my other computers.
In addition, my markdown source and rendered html are simple files on the file system - I can view and edit either in any text editor.
I didn’t worry about this back in 2011. Then my “lifetime” hosting imploded and I recovered my content thanks to Jacques Marneweck at Kaizen Garden and the Wayback Machine. I’m more careful about things after my reboot last year.