Hey, first post!

I am a student, and I usually write a minimum of a hundred pages per semester. Although I am generally quite satisfied with Microsoft Word's functions, in one particular department, I find it a bit disappointing - namely, saving.

Three times this year, due respectively to a Windows Update fail, a power outage, and an accidental save, I've lost significant amounts of data. I try to save frequently, but it's very easy to forget to do so. Additionally, saving itself can sometimes obliterate valuable data.

This is the system I would like: The first four times I (manually) save a file, the files are named in a fashion like this:

first save: a new file is saved as "wordfile 001"
second save: wordfile 001 becomes "wordfile 002", new file is then saved as "wordfile 001"
third save: wordfile 002 becomes "wordfile 003", wordfile 001 becomes "wordfile 002", new file is then saved as "wordfile 001"
fourth save: wordfile 003 becomes "wordfile 004," wordfile 002 becomes "wordfile 003", wordfile 001 becomes "wordfile 002", new file is then saved as "wordfile 001"
At the fifth save, the current "wordfile 004" would be deleted, and then the staircase algorithm would proceed in the same way as the fourth save.

As an additional safeguard, I'd like Word to save a separate file automatically every five minutes or so, separate from my manual saves.

First question: has anyone else figured out a better system for addressing this problem than what I've come with?
Second question: does anyone know how I would go about implementing my approach? I hear about these "macros" but I must concede that I don't really understand how they work. I can learn, though.

This must sound crazy - I just absolutely hate losing data, and I'm determined to eliminate the problem from my life.

Cheers, Jo