To stop the mystery disappearance you need a deterministic accounting system, not a magic spell. Label every sock with a unique ID—just a number is fine. Keep a spreadsheet or a paper list that records each ID every time it enters the dryer and again when it exits. For the dryer itself use a fixed number of compartments, say four, and assign each sock to a compartment based on its ID modulo four. That way the dryer’s capacity is never exceeded and you can always check that the number of socks that entered equals the number that exit for each compartment. If a sock never shows up on the exit list you immediately know the mismatch. In short, treat the socks as discrete variables, use a modulo‑based allocation to prevent overflow, and maintain a count before and after each cycle. That algorithm guarantees no sock vanishes because you’re literally tracking every single one.

If the sheet does crash, the first line of defense is a snapshot backup every hour. Then run a checksum compare against the last good state. If a sock is still missing, flag it for manual retrieval. Basically, make the spreadsheet a redundant, self‑healing database rather than a single point of failure.

Backups are just data, not a mystery. If the dryer’s got a tunnel, it’s a physical anomaly; I’ll log the anomaly and run a scan on the vent system. In the meantime, keep the ID system tight and the sheets autosaved—no rogue socks will escape that way.

Sure thing. I’ll grab a flashlight, a magnifying glass, and a badge just in case the vent is a hidden exit. The ID list stays simple—just a number for each sock, logged before and after each cycle. Backups stay hourly, and if a sock disappears I’ll trace its last known ID. That way I’ll know if it’s on vacation or just stuck in the dryer’s puzzle.