Some advice

Greg Elmassian said:
I have not lost a file since 1975.
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But the whole history of the world is caused by lost files
PhilP said:
And preferably have a copy of your data 'somewhere else'..

I had a Client who kept the backup tapes in a box on top of the Server..
Convenient, maybe? But no good when they flooded and the Server was under three feet of water!
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Mind you, the amount of water coming from the clouds here, everything is going to be damp
 
JimmyB said:
The cloud is storage over the internet, on somebody’s server, e.g. one drive Microsoft, iCloud Apple, and lots of other clouds.
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So if I use the cloud then the owners of the servers are tell me "trust me I will keep your data safe".
This is not instilling any confidence in my using it; considering that the US just got hit with a massive cyber attack that is reportedly going to take months to years to rectify.
I think I will pass and stick with the 2 HDDs and memory sticks in 3 different locations (2 computers in different buildings and USB in fire safes) at my place.
Maybe its the paranoia that was instilled when I worked in a military environment, on what was then sensitive material, that is driving me.
 
GAP said:
So if I use the cloud then the owners of the servers are tell me "trust me I will keep your data safe".
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Basically yes, which is why I have HDD as well.
Greg Elmassian said:
What Jimmy said, the Internet is also referred to as the cloud. Cloud storage means some storage server somewhere on the internet.

For my regular backups, I have small portable USB hard drives, where I do my backups with a free software called Macrium Reflect (from the UK), and I do "image" backups, meaning I have a complete image of the disk, such that if the hard drive fails, I can completely recover from a backup to a brand new hard drive in a couple of hours.

Greg
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I use Macrium Reflect, and the small charge for the upgrade is well worth the money.
 
My iMac is on 24/7 and at about 01.00am every morning it is automatically backed up as a complete clone to an external HD. I have another external HD that has all my photos, videos and music and at about 02.00 that is also backed up to another external HD. If I suddenly lose the internal HD of the iMac I can boot from the clone and that will be no more than 24 hours out of date. Every so often the external HDs get swapped with almost identical ones that are kept away from the home so if the the house burns down I've not lost everything. The backup program I use is Carbon Copy Cloner. Might sound complicated but was easy to set up and once running it does most things automatically and gives peace of mind.

Paul
 
This works for me.
The important files are on the laptop, if i lose them i have my usb stick and i must go to my company email adres up to max 1 month back to retrieve the important pdf's
The files i must keep are just pdf's not heavy computer stuff or heavy engineering stuff, just some documents.
Contracts, bills, book keeping, some km registration, client details, not much.
32gb stick is more than enough to get me the year round.

Vids and photo's (for warranty work and covering my self) are made with my phone and they go weekly from my phone to a not internet connected NUC
One tb is not even 50% full after 5 years.
For me this is more than enough and it works.

For my hobby's i think working from a usb stick to store some stls, gcodes, templot files, diagrams, pictures, drawings ect a 128gb will be more than enough for the next 10 years.
Stupid as it sounds i made a backup around 4-5 months ago (by accident, was gathering family photo's), totally forgot that one.

So you can give up on me but i dont need that heavy computer stuff.... i was very happy with that old laptop (8 or 9 years old)
I give up programming in 1985, lost all interested.
I still have my 286 running with my robotics programs written in basic(-:(-:(-: 16 mb hard drive...

Merry Christmas and a healthy 2021 for all
 
Amazon's data storage business will shortly, or already has, exceeded the value of its retail business.

In fact much of the 'cloud' data storage is under water - natural cooling that doesn't have to be paid for ;);)
 
I carry my most important files on a USB stick in my pocket. I also back up my files on 3 YES 3 hard drives. I have never permanently lost any data. And I do not trust the 'cloud' as I do not know where the data really went and who owns that 'cloud' and can that dissappear!! Companies do go out of business and they can be hacked!!

Worse case of backup I saw was my dentist was using the same tape for a year every day. When you save to a tape the data is over writing data and if the computer crashes you have nothing. I told them to use at least 2 tapes alternating daily and to store a tape every month at home.
ALso note that when your system crashes, your data is saved, but you have no access to it until you have another running computer with all the software you use up ad running. You can clone your boot drive to prevent this.
 
Greg Elmassian said:
What Jimmy said, the Internet is also referred to as the cloud. Cloud storage means some storage server somewhere on the internet.

There are many options, there are automated systems that will backup certain files to the cloud on a regular basis, or when the file is changed, or just generic "storage in the cloud".

I use DropBox myself, you get a limited amount free (and more if you refer friends) and you can determine how to use it, have files only in the cloud, or on your hard drive and the cloud as backup, there are TONS of options out there. I use dropbox for important files that change often, like emails, documents, work stuff.

You can get services that encrypt your "cloud files" to protect them from raging governments, etc.

For my regular backups, I have small portable USB hard drives, where I do my backups with a free software called Macrium Reflect (from the UK), and I do "image" backups, meaning I have a complete image of the disk, such that if the hard drive fails, I can completely recover from a backup to a brand new hard drive in a couple of hours. I back up my 13 computers at varying intervals, based on how often their files are used. My main computers get a weekly backup, and some computers that program sound cards only get backed up every 4 months.

The time to re-install all of your programs, and re-install the operating system on a computer can be days.

There are all kinds of ways to back up, but the message is DO IT, don't wait until you lose a bunch of important files, which may be irreplaceable.

Greg
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I have had problems with iCloud, whilst it is easy to upload I found it impossible to bulk download back to a PC, or any other device plus, if I delete a file on one device it is deleted on the cloud!
Following the instructions for download which creates a zip file, pointless for JPEG files, all images come out corrupted. :-(
 
KeithT said:
I have had problems with iCloud, whilst it is easy to upload I found it impossible to bulk download back to a PC, or any other device plus, if I delete a file on one device it is deleted on the cloud!
Following the instructions for download which creates a zip file, pointless for JPEG files, all images come out corrupted. :-(
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This really depends on the service you use, the one I use does not delete anything, so every time a file changes, a new "copy" is produced, and on occasion I need to clean my cloud back up.
 
Data stored in the cloud is probably more secure than keeping it on your home PC or in a filing cabinet! A scammer could trick you into giving them access to your laptop and if someone broke into your house, anything physical is at risk.

Communication over the internet to such sites is encrypted and your data is stored encrypted as well. With some services you can define where your data is stored - we use an IBM data centre in East London and a Microsoft centre in North London and both have very high levels of physical as well as software security.

If your machine was to be hacked, you might be handing over the keys to your cloud storage as well, but things like Onedrive actually have some pretty clever checks and balances - like spotting logins from strange countries or machines not used before, while using multi-factor authentication requiring you to use a 2nd device such as phone text message to complete login will provide an additional level of security.

Unless you are engaged in nefarious activities, there's really very little to worry about in terms of government agencies taking an interest. In the UK, they are not permitted to eavesdrop on people without very good reason - anti-terror and serious organised crime are about the only reasons, and even then, they would not be able to walk into a data centre and read your data. It is held across multiple drives and servers and your credentials would be required to unpick the data. Put simply, they don't have the resources to "spy" on large groups of individuals and couldn't do so without their activities coming to light.
 
Rhinochugger said:
Amazon's data storage business will shortly, or already has, exceeded the value of its retail business.

In fact much of the 'cloud' data storage is under water - natural cooling that doesn't have to be paid for ;);)
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AWS - Amazon's cloud business makes significantly more money than their retail business and has done for years. It's much more than just storage however. The average commercial website will probably use database tools, continuous integration tools, authorisation tools, style sheets, payment portals, you name it, and all these services can be procured through the cloud provider. As an example, we built a marketplace for a specific industry sector. This cost about £250K to develop and about £1900 per month to host. That's for a site with about 10 million parts and 50 000 visits per week, so imagine the costs for hosting a larger auction or retail site!
 
justme igor said:
View attachment 277839
hmmm 1975 you say?
I thought this one was 16 or 26 kb
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We used to use the individual discs as presentation gifts to people who left where I worked a local company would screen print a photo onto the disc and an engraved small metal plaque gave the persons name and length of time served at the facility.

One of the complete units was taken to an electronics museum for display, it was taken out on a forklift.
 
3 minutes of fame said:
Data stored in the cloud is probably more secure than keeping it on your home PC or in a filing cabinet! A scammer could trick you into giving them access to your laptop and if someone broke into your house, anything physical is at risk.

Communication over the internet to such sites is encrypted and your data is stored encrypted as well. With some services you can define where your data is stored - we use an IBM data centre in East London and a Microsoft centre in North London and both have very high levels of physical as well as software security.

If your machine was to be hacked, you might be handing over the keys to your cloud storage as well, but things like Onedrive actually have some pretty clever checks and balances - like spotting logins from strange countries or machines not used before, while using multi-factor authentication requiring you to use a 2nd device such as phone text message to complete login will provide an additional level of security.

Unless you are engaged in nefarious activities, there's really very little to worry about in terms of government agencies taking an interest. In the UK, they are not permitted to eavesdrop on people without very good reason - anti-terror and serious organised crime are about the only reasons, and even then, they would not be able to walk into a data centre and read your data. It is held across multiple drives and servers and your credentials would be required to unpick the data. Put simply, they don't have the resources to "spy" on large groups of individuals and couldn't do so without their activities coming to light.
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What I keep on iCloud etc is only of concern for me if I lose it. There is nothing sensitive. It appears that because they share Bluetooth a deletion on one means the same happens on all devices etc. I tried deleting on one device whilst Bluetooth was off but when I switched back on the file was deleted on the others! Odd that it should do that instead of updating and reloading the image.
Grrr.
I use a constantly varying VPN which can be a bit of a bind as I am repeatedly warned about access from strange places but, it is a small price to pay for keeping the ne’er do wells at bay.
 
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