I know all about the importance of Backups.<p>Mirroring is not a backup.<p>Raid is not a backup.<p>Hard disks are not supposed to sit on a shelf unplugged for extended periods.<p>Fine. Now, how the hell do I backup my 5TB of photos? :-( :-(<p>Edit: Lots of fantastic information here
<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7371725" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7371725</a><p>Is there any service that can burn my terabytes of data onto multiple copies on "made in japan taiyo yuden" CDR? :-)
To underscore the importance of backups:<p>We've been aware that our data and backup policies were lacking, and have been discussing ways to improve that. We have more than 500gb of work and client data that is highly valuable, and thousands of dollars in stock photos to boot.<p>Then one of our systems got hit by cryptodefense (the latest variant of cryptolocker). It encrypted the NAS drives faster than we could notice, and destroyed some 99% of our data. If it had been able to propagate to just 1 other system, which we did a nightly mirror of the NAS to, we'd have lost <i>everything</i>. Since then, we've been trying to set up backups to Amazon Glacier.<p>Don't underestimate the ease with which data loss can affect you. It could be a malicious link in a phishing email, a malicious attachment, bit rot, a natural disaster, or simple hardware failure. The cost of maintaining offsite backups is cheaper than recovering from data loss.
This is like Tongue Awareness Month [<a href="http://xkcd.com/972/" rel="nofollow">http://xkcd.com/972/</a>] for me. Intellectually I always know the state of my backups is pitiful, but now it's in the front of my mind and I can't stop thinking about it. ;-)
While this is a cool project, I unfortunately doubt it will convince the 90% of people who don't back up their stuff.<p>I had an idea like that a few months ago after spending time with my family and my girlfriend's family. We need a simple page that explains in big images why:<p>1. chances are, you will lose your data
2. here's a one-click thing to make sure it doesn't happen<p>For 1, we can't use the word "data" because people won't connect emotionally with the concept. "Photos from your last summer vacation", "The video of your kid's first step" etc. would be more powerful.<p>For 2, I was looking for solutions that provide <i>automatic</i>, <i>continuous</i> and <i>off-site</i> backup that is <i>easy to recover</i>. Without any of these criteria, a backup strategy is effectively useless. (+ secure, affordable, etc. but these are extras).<p>I personally use and always recommend Backblaze for these reasons (one click install that just works and gets out of the way), but there might be other solutions.<p>Anyway, I'd love to see this project get somewhere, probably a GitHub page where people can contribute and provide 3-step tutorials for iCloud (so many people don't back up there iPhone when it's right there, baked in) and other platforms.<p>Interested? Get in touch: contact@kevinbongart.net
So this is what stemmed from "World Backup Day" guy grabbing a trademark, shutting everyone out and turning spontaneous reddit project into his personal little cash cow?<p>Pissed masses countered with "Backup Week", which still appears to be thinly veiled ad spread for backup companies.<p>What next? "Backup <i>Month</i>"? This is getting ridiculous.<p>[0] <a href="http://www.worldbackupday.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.worldbackupday.com</a>
Is there any good site out there where people showcase their backup setups, similar in spirit to <a href="http://macmenubars.com/" rel="nofollow">http://macmenubars.com/</a> or <a href="http://usesthis.com/" rel="nofollow">http://usesthis.com/</a> ?
As many have found first-hand for most people there is too much additional research/knowledge required for them to consider the effort worthwhile, although I like the idea of an awareness week for backups.<p>Having a video I could point people to, or even simple instructions for a specific way of backing up using Windows or OSX would be a more effective way of reminding people.<p>There are all kinds of local and cloud backup solutions out there that having a site which filtered through them would actually be great, but obviously outside the scope of the site which is more a friendly reminder to be aware and prepare.
What do you guys think of <a href="http://tarsnap.com" rel="nofollow">http://tarsnap.com</a> ? I need to backup some sensitive client data off-location and the concept seems pretty good.
What is your experience in educating non-tech people about the need and adequate methods for backups? I've found that they'll listen, but not act if it takes several steps and new routines.
Is this linked to Reddit's World Backup Day on 31st March? <a href="http://www.worldbackupday.com/en/" rel="nofollow">http://www.worldbackupday.com/en/</a>