I started using version control a few years ago for personal projects because I have multiple laptops, and sometimes I like to use one machine for a while, then another for a while. Keeping tracking of which machine, or which thumb drive, has the latest version of each project got to be a chore.... I decided to try subversion with tortoise, and set up a repository for myself. Then I went through my various machines, and found as many projects as I could, and started checking them in. For some projects I was able to easily find several different versions scattered among machines, and I went through the trouble to try and check them in over the top of each other in chronological sequence.... As I went further through the process, and knew of some projects that I just can't find anymore, I really wished I had started the process 25 years ago. I dabbled here and there with sourcesafe, and perforce, but never really got hooked. But now, I find it indispensible... Sometimes the svn checkins fail and give almost incomprehensible errors, but I struggle through the lost time, and in the end dont regret becoming dependent on svn.
Posted to online book about Mercurial