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## Q&A

  Q Should I use a single backup or numbered backups?

  A That is a strictly personal matter, but unless your hard drive space is very limited, I suggest that you use numbered backups, because this gives you more security.

  Q I have backup files lying all around my hard drive, which is very old. How should I clean them up?

  A First of all, keeping all your backup files in one directory can help you a lot. If you are using UNIX, you might consider using crontab to remove backup files older than a given number of days with a command such as the following:

>     "find -name \*~ -mtime +10 | xargs rm"

  Please read the manual pages for crontab, find, and xargs before you actually do anything. (If you forget the tiny little tilde character in the preceding command, all your files older than ten days will be removed, so watch out!)

  Q What is the difference between autosave and backup files?

  A Autosave files are files written in short intervals to help you recover if Emacs or your computer crashes. Backup files on the other hand are written the first time Emacs saves to the files to help you recover if your changes were irreversible and fatal.

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