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I was not surprised to see this article:
Google Drive users angry over losing months of stored data[^]
I have non-critical and non-personal (no financial data, etc.) in cloud services including OneDrive, but periodically save backups. I've been told I'm paranoid ... my response is that hardware failure is a "when" not an "if" ... and let's not get into human error ...
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I've seen some articles suggesting there's no "error" or "failure" here, and it's all by design, as Google has apparently been sending emails for months warning they'd be doing a massive cleanup of unused accounts. On December 1st, to be exact.
Coincidence? I wouldn't be surprised if the two events were related. Maybe they've started doing it on a small scale before pulling the trigger, and everybody's now finding out it's including stuff that should NOT be deleted (eg, data that is NOT inactive).
IMO: Cloud services claim to sell a solution for the lazy. The reality is that you shouldn't give up on the good old tried and true methods.
As per the subject line - make your own backups, because their EULAs sure don't say they're responsible for anything that happens to your data.
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I doubt that this situation is exactly by design, as the accounts affected are not ones that have been dormant for 2+ years -- it's accounts with recent activity where data was lost. I read an update on Google's plans to terminate dormant accounts just before I read the article I referenced.
Which doesn't mean the two things are not connected -- but if they are, I suspect someone screwed up very badly and did the wrong accounts.
Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
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BryanFazekas wrote: Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
Surely there's some of that here.
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I do.
An external CD drive on a usb cable to boot Acronis 2014 and a 2tb usb spinner disk to backup images to. I do it while were sleeping, It will be done in the morning. Yes it takes effort, but thinking BIG data has you back is just complacent and lazy.
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I have an external Sabrent drive that reads SDD and SATA drives, treating them like really big flash drives. Since I replace my primary HD every 2 years, I have a stack of old drives that are great for backups.
Critical files are backed up onto DVD and finalized. As I've stated in the past, a finalized CD or DVD is ransomware proof, and they're dirt cheap so making multiple copies is cost effective.
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Do you have offsite copies?
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Never trust someone else with your stuff.
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Plus one for that.
Truenas is my cloud. Turn on, do stuff, turn off.
>64
Some days the dragon wins. Suck it up.
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I hardly trust myself with my stuff.
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Although fire/flood can spoil that.
Even theft. Some guys (plural) stole cases a talcum powder off a truck so who knows they might run off with something critical which would not otherwise seem to have value.
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IMHO, it's important to also back up the top three or five things in the mind, so that whatever's lost can be recovered with just self effort, even if it takes time. Am just talking of code backups here.
modified 2hrs ago.
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If anyone actually expects ANY cloud service to respect their stuff then they deserve the rude awakening.
The Cloud is nothing but another tool/option. Treat it as the be-all-end-all thing the Cloud Sales people market it as then you're just waiting for a rude awakening. Treat for what it really is and you'll avoid these headaches.
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Keep in mind of course that one should consider carefully what 'backup' actually means.
Specifically even though it is seems to be working, is it being verified on a regular basis? So can one actually get to that old data?
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jschell wrote: Specifically even though it is seems to be working, is it being verified on a regular basis? So can one actually get to that old data?
Even though that's common knowledge, I have little reason to believe even someone as big as Google actually does verify its backups.
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jschell wrote: Specifically even though it is seems to be working, is it being verified on a regular basis? So can one actually get to that old data?
A former employer had a rigorous backup schedule for the office file server. Incremental backup Monday through Thursday, Friday was a complete backup that was saved for 12 weeks (tape cartridges were recycled every 12 weeks) and the last full backup of the month was saved for 12 months. We had a collection of 30-40 tapes that were all well-labeled and cycled through the process consistently.
This system had been in place for 5 years and ran flawlessly.
Then my team had to recover a file from a backup. We spent 8 hours trying to pull that file. Then any file. Then from other backups.
We had a box of tapes and not one of 'em was readable. Completely worthless. We reported this to management.
They replaced the system a year later ...
It gets better ... this was in the time when 386 was the main PC architecture. The backup system was a board that only ran in a 286, so the office used an ancient (well, ancient in computer years) PC that we could not update because the software that came with the board didn't run on newer OS. The office was on Win 3.11, can't remember what the 286 box required.
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We ran a computer and network service company in a resort town and had various customers with a variety of backup software from Windows Server backup to Acronis and while we showed them how to daily check the backup logs they all opted for up to do it remotely for 25.00 a week. It's incredible but I have always contended after babysitting "normals" who have computers is that they shouldn't have em. Primarily because if they don't make image backups they could loose everything when the drive goes kaput. Todays SSD give no warning but just leave town with your deftly arranged bytes that look like what you care about.
Now not only is Microsoft taking your libraries and putting it on there "One Drive" computers re-pointing paths to that so it;s "transparent to the user", Now they are bitlocking it too. Try to have a conversation with your Dad about how MS encrypted your data, they have it and without the 48 bit key to unlock it...... They look at you like you are from another planet.
I'm done.
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"How did one idiot find another before social media?"
...asked the lady in a face-to-face conversation.
I think there's the answer right there.
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We had the Lounge long before that!
"If we don't change direction, we'll end up where we're going"
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Well, to be fair, social media is a major factor in the recent idiotizing of the masses.
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It's become contagious.
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
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Wordle 892 4/6*
⬛⬛🟩⬛🟩
🟩⬛🟩⬛🟩
🟩🟨🟩⬛🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
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Wordle 892 5/6
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
🟨🟨🟩🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
More yellows 🟡 than greens 💚.
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