On 2/2/23 05:54, emanuel stiebler via cctalk wrote: I do many backups on blu-ray DVD's, the theory is if they start to go bad, maybe partial recovery of important files will be possible due to having many copies on DVD. This is getting a bit difficult as the amount of stuff to be backed up is just a bit too big for a single blu-ray disc. I also do much more frequent backups to a large hard drive. Jon

On 2/2/2023 3:54 AM, emanuel stiebler via cctalk wrote: I maintain a large SVN repository, which also serves as the backing store for my website. I rely on the backup policies at DreamHost, but I also keep at least two local copies of the complete workspace up to date, as well as an (admittedly usually rather stale) backup of the repository. I like that the repository allows me to share stuff, and also the tools to work with the repository can trivially tell me if my local data is being corrupted. I've also seen a work style where everything is pushed to github when "finished", but github storage limits are small and the interface is awkward to me. Vince

On Thu, Feb 2, 2023 at 11:26 AM Vincent Slyngstad via cctalk < cctalk(a)classiccmp.org&gt; wrote: I've tried a few times to make sense of how GitHub works but I gave up. It's a mess. Sellam

On Thu, Feb 2, 2023 at 3:28 PM Jim Brain via cctalk &lt;cctalk(a)classiccmp.org&gt; wrote: Hi Jim. I'd be down for that. It would also be an opportunity to socialize a little bit. I don't believe we've ever had an opportunity to meet in person. Sellam

On Thu, Feb 2, 2023 at 3:53 PM Bill Gunshannon via cctalk < cctalk(a)classiccmp.org&gt; wrote: Considering the physical distance separating us, it's a reasonable facsimile ;) Sellam

On Thu, Feb 2, 2023 at 5:54 AM emanuel stiebler via cctalk < cctalk(a)classiccmp.org&gt; wrote: I wanted to note a story about AWS: I used to be heavy into astronomy imaging (I still am, just less so at the moment since building a new house and other projects is taking much of my attention for now). There is a site Astrobin.com specifically for astronomers to share their images, with a sort of database to store equipment metrics used for each image. It's an interesting service, since with decades of image data, you can now compare your image processing results with similar equipment and gauge how efficiently you're using a tracking mount, focuser, or imaging camera (or judge if quality issues are equipment related or post-processing related). Another interesting aspect of this database is users provide "versions" of their images -- that's been an annoying thing about YouTube for me: you can't revise a video, like you can't have editions. If you've learned new information or want to correct or clarify things, you can try to do cc comments, but basically have to start over with a new video link. That's a pain for content creators who have to "start over" back to 0 views on a video with a new edition, and also annoying for us users who now have to sort through dozens of variants of how-to's or guides, etc. Anyway... What I'm getting to is, the Astrobin database crashed a few years back. Was wiped out and (I think) they were using AWS. The site administration completely confessed it was his mistake -- I forget the details, his letter may be still up somewhere at the site. But basically he clicked something wrong on AWS, and ended up deleting files by accident. Being Amazon, you'd think it was just an easy recovery - no big deal. But nope, the nature of what the admin had done ended up being not easy to undo. Astrobin is a pay service and many people were bitterly angry for losing years of archives. Yes, most users should have their own backup -- but it was the database also of equipment, and decades of revision info (to see the progress of terrestial imaging capability over the years). A good 80+% of my own were wiped. I wasn't bitter - I appreciated that the admin immediately took blame, didn't try to hide it, and "to err is human." But it was a mess for that community. Well - to Amazon's credit, they didn't give up either. Months and months later, gradually some files did end up getting recovered. Again, I don't know the specifics of what Amazon did -- I just know about a year later, I logged in and noticed a great many of my image records had been recovered, and the admin had a note to expect more to get recovered since they were still actively working on the problem. I'm just relaying the story as a real-world example of a recent "data disaster recovery" - sorry I'm not more specific on the details, but astrobin.com still exists and the admin is approachable and may be willing to share lessons learned for those interested.