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We/BigCloset are in NO WAY responsible for lost stories. If our servers die and data is lost, there is a chance that it will remain that. LOST.
We can not be expected to be your only repository for your information.
I urge you to create other online or offline backups. GoogleDocs is a GREAT resource for this, as is just emailing a copy of the story to yourself.
-HuGgLeS-
-P/KAF/PF -- BigCloset Administrator
(This was originally posted as a comment on a blog, but we decided it needed more attention)
I agree about backups
I have the original T D Aldoennetti files in three separate places, two of which are off premises.
Then, every chapter which is posted is downloaded from BCTS to yet another folder so that I have each chapter and it's comments (which I try to keep current).
Backup BACkup BACKUP
R A Dumas
BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP!
I keep all KimEM's stories, not only on my laptop, not only on my netbook, not only on GDocs, but also on a server in my house, that has HotSwap SCSI LVD RAID drives, and I have SPARES for all the drives :) I don't backup EVERYTHING I do, but I do backup the important things!
I use google docs
until the story is done, and then store it on my computer using Microsoft Office. I also print off a hard copy as well.
Sorry for the plug
But I use Carbonite as backup in addition to word on my computer. I lost several chapters of Twisted and went to Carbonite and there they were and lot neater than my computer is. The yearly dues is worth every penny, Arecee
Carbonite is Awesome
Carbonite is a GREAT service. For those that don't know, it's $59/year for basic unlimited backup of your primary drive of your computer for $59/year and if you use the PromoCode "TWIT" you get 2 extra months free when you purchase the full year.
They even have iOS (iPad/iPhone) and Android (droid) apps for your phone/tablet so that you can check on and manage your files from anywhere.
I'm tempted to see what they
I'm tempted to see what they do with my _four terabytes_ of information.
Actually, I'm suspicious of most offsite backups, because you lose control over your information. I do it for customers, but they're already my customers; my having their data means that I already have it in case of a problem.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Volume
The big problem with shifting such a large volume of data is the fact that you'll be doing it over the wire. Even if you have fiber it's going to take a long time and your ISP will probably think you are uploading porn or something.
I didn't ask, honest ^_^
You'll certainly break limits for the amount of data transferred, unless you have some kind of business contract with them.
Backing up that amount off-line (ie at home from one device to another) is going to take a heck of a long time as well. People always underestimate just how long it will take, even with Gigabit Ethernet.
I am using a strategy of only backing up the absolute minimum data to permit me to eventually re-establish in the event of a disaster. It still takes several hours to archive.
Penny
I set up offsite backups for
I set up offsite backups for customers. I seed the backup from their office, then take it off-site for the nightly synchronization.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
get back, loretta
Some of the places you can keep your stories can also bring you new readers. I have some things backed up at FM, a couple at Stardust, and a few at TGStorytime.
I'm also in the process of switching computers, so I have all my works in progress on two different hard drives and a memory stick, and I think I burned a DVD some time ago.
do we want a repeat
of what happened at Crystal Hall? No one individual's fault, but a small disaster all the same. Let's not tempt fate...
Diana
Okay, I'll ask
I don't think I've looked at Crystal Hall more then once. What happened? Everything was lost?
I used to save to my portable hard drive, had copies of my music there too, but now it insists that I need to format it and I can't retrieve anything from it. Time to buy CD's to save my work to
Failure with Age...
CD's, Tapes, and Floppies all naturally "degrade" over time. So doe HDD platters. Flash drives basically last forever for "reads" but will eventually "fail" for writing new data. None of this takes into account physical damange or catastrophic failure, as ANY device can fail.
The best advice is to not stick to only ONE backup, and definately not just one type of backup. Online services like Carbonite, mixed with DropBox, GoogleDocs/GoogleDrive and also local copies on external drives, CD's/DVD's and even flash drives are all excellent options. Just make sure you keep it mixed up and don't put all your chickens in one basket.
BackupS
Am I doing enough?
I have files on 2 USB sticks (which I replace annually) and also a weekly backup to MyDocs on the XP machine. I keep a USB stick in my safe.
S.
The primary fail-point...
...in your backup schema, then, would appear to be that all three backups are physically co-located (more or less). It would be well-advised of you to place a backup at another secure location (encrypted on a cloud service such as those mentioned above might be a good idea). Additionally, of the three backups you mention, two are fairly-to-very physically vulnerable, and two are vulnerable to misplacement. One of the misplaceable ones, while of less physical vulnerability, is dependent for that protection on the functionality of your safe. This raises some questions: Is your safe fire resistant? If so, to what temperature? Does this rating indicate that electronics stored within will be protected, or merely that paper documents will not ignite or char? (It's worth noting that most small safe manufacturers do not indicate good information on this last point.) If you cannot ensure the safety of this backup in the answers of this question, then you would be well-advised, again, to consider another, off-site backup.
-Liz
Successor to the LToC
Formerly known as "momonoimoto"
PLEASE Backup Your Stories!
I keep copies of mine at yahoo and google
May Your Light Forever Shine
Good advice.
Reminds me of a story my brother, who was the IT guy at a hospital, told me. This was the day of XT and floppies.
Secretary called him. "My computer doesn't work".
"What is the problem" says he.
"I don't know, could you look at it?"
So he goes to her office, where the problem was obvious. She had just gotten a load of refrigerator magnets for the hospital, and had casually tossed the bag onto her desk, where it ruptured.
There were magnets stuck on the side of her computer, sides of her floppies (box was open of course), anywhere a magnet could stick.
"Well, I hope you have backups." he comments.
A blank look followed by the comment "Backups?"
This is how we learn.
any smart company
*face palm*
These days, the smart companies have a system of backups in place. So thankfully stories of that sort are becoming less of a common thing.
Have delightfully devious day,
Keywords...
...there, sadly, are "becoming" and "less". ^^;
-Liz
Successor to the LToC
Formerly known as "momonoimoto"
backing things up...
I keep my story on a thumb drive. Any time I start writing, I pop my thumb drive in and my word processor automatically creates a backup of the story on whichever computer I happen to be using at the time (either my desktop or lappy). Then about once a month everything gets backed up to my external hdd. So I do have several redundancies in place. As of late I've been thinking that perhaps I should move to an online back up. I've been loath to pay for the yearly subscription, but it would save me some grief if my home ever caught fire or worse.
Then of course, all my stories get posted to bigcloset, fictionmania, and tgstorytime (with exception to my DRU story, Hunger Pangs, which is exclusive to BCTS). So if, god forbid, should any of those three sites ever go down. There's a bit of redundancy in that respect as well.
Have delightfully devious day,
Getting My Back Up
I keep copies of all my stories . . . in my heart.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Two words...
...Gary Cuozzo...
Love, Andrea Lena
Would it be relevant...
...to mention that I keep two copies of all the books I might have written in any possible past, might currently be writing in any possible present, or might ever write in any possible future on index cards in my pocket, another on a one-plus-inch rhombic triacontahedron that I keep with my gaming supplies, and have embedded them in the quantum foam of the universe?
cf "Akashic Records" and "Noösphere". ^__^
Okay, probably not. :-P
-Liz
Successor to the LToC
Formerly known as "momonoimoto"
Not worrying about servers
I don't worry about storage any more. I have both a Dropbox account and an Amazon S3 bucket (which is automated with Interarchy) so I've got everything stored locally and in two cloud services for safety's sake. Plus I run a time machine on my Macschnook. I might be overcooking the paranoia slightly.
But away from storage, on the subject of Amazon, for one of my hobbies, I run a couple of named instances on Amazon EC2. Elastic Beanstalk is a wonderful thing. It's just amazing how much you can get out of automated cloud systems, and how cheap they are now. For around $40.00 per month I get better performance than I used to get from a chunky dedicated server. Of course I don't have anything like the traffic BigCloset gets, but it still seems kind of magical to me all the same.
For what it's worth, Amazon now supports Drupal on EC2. There's a bit of a learning curve, but it seems to work well.
To be sure, the two outages recently made me reconsider my relationship with Amazon. But on the whole, I'm reasonably satisfied. I had a muchworse outage a few years back when my provider (Jumpline) screwed up for four days, so I'm prepared to cut Amazon a little slack. About the only thing that worries me is the potential they could change their terms of service one day and then where would I be?
not as think as i smart i am