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Which would also explain why he wouldn't have local back-ups, to avoid prosecution. Though this may be something of a case of, "Innocent until algorithms say o

Which would also explain why he wouldn't have local back-ups, to avoid prosecution. Though this may be something of a case of, "Innocent until algorithms say otherwise."

sliverstorm 10y ago
Considering how few people actually take backups, I'm willing to assume laziness. You wouldn't believe how many people I know who say things like, "Yeah I'd lose my entire PhD project if this laptop died, because I haven't taken a backup in X years" (and proceed to continue not backing up their work)
- frou_dh 10y ago
  This seems a step before that sense of the word "backup". The guy's PC did not die. He apparently created "GIF novels", which presumably involved using some application to work on a file on his local hard drive. What did he do after uploading the finished GIF to his blog? Manually delete it from his hard drive? Why?
  - khedoros 10y ago
    Or maybe it was always just saved as a draft on his blog (or on Google Docs/Drive/whatever). It's perfectly possible that he did all his work in a web browser and that it never touched his drive (aside from browser cache). Maybe he wasn't even creating his own images, instead building the story through a meme generator, or something.
- FeepingCreature 10y ago
  Maybe we should take a day of the year and declare it "Official Set Up Automated Backups". Oh hang on, it already exists. March 31st. http://www.worldbackupday.com/en/ http://www.worldbackupday.com/en/ Man we really need to publicize that one more. [edit] The lesson here is: Before you start "Official Thing", actually google "Official Thing".
  - dredmorbius 10y ago
    You could be the backup-backup day. Or restore day.
- tripzilch 10y ago
  When is their birthday. Gift them one of those 64GB USB-sticks. Write "BACKUPS" on it with a nice marker or something. Tell them to copy their important stuff into a folder YYYY-MM-DD. If the laptop is there, make them do it now :) Depending on how big that crucial data is (given it's a few years old laptop, can't be too big, right?), after you've shown them it takes just 15 minutes or so, tell them to do this every so often so it's full for their next birthday :) [again, depending how large the data is, and/or how much you're willing to spend on a life-saving birthday gift ;)] Sure it's not a bullet-proof system, but maybe as they experience the feeling of security, they'll get a taste for implementing something more comprehensive. Lots of low-hanging fruit, too :) But this is already a hundred times better than what they (don't) have now.

Which would also explain why he wouldn't have local back-ups, to avoid prosecution. Though this may be something of a case of, "Innocent until algorithms say otherwise."

sliverstorm 10y ago

Considering how few people actually take backups, I'm willing to assume laziness. You wouldn't believe how many people I know who say things like, "Yeah I'd lose my entire PhD project if this laptop died, because I haven't taken a backup in X years" (and proceed to continue not backing up their work)

frou_dh 10y ago
This seems a step before that sense of the word "backup". The guy's PC did not die. He apparently created "GIF novels", which presumably involved using some application to work on a file on his local hard drive. What did he do after uploading the finished GIF to his blog? Manually delete it from his hard drive? Why?
- khedoros 10y ago
  Or maybe it was always just saved as a draft on his blog (or on Google Docs/Drive/whatever). It's perfectly possible that he did all his work in a web browser and that it never touched his drive (aside from browser cache). Maybe he wasn't even creating his own images, instead building the story through a meme generator, or something.
FeepingCreature 10y ago
Maybe we should take a day of the year and declare it "Official Set Up Automated Backups". Oh hang on, it already exists. March 31st. http://www.worldbackupday.com/en/ http://www.worldbackupday.com/en/ Man we really need to publicize that one more. [edit] The lesson here is: Before you start "Official Thing", actually google "Official Thing".
- dredmorbius 10y ago
  You could be the backup-backup day. Or restore day.
tripzilch 10y ago
When is their birthday. Gift them one of those 64GB USB-sticks. Write "BACKUPS" on it with a nice marker or something. Tell them to copy their important stuff into a folder YYYY-MM-DD. If the laptop is there, make them do it now :) Depending on how big that crucial data is (given it's a few years old laptop, can't be too big, right?), after you've shown them it takes just 15 minutes or so, tell them to do this every so often so it's full for their next birthday :) [again, depending how large the data is, and/or how much you're willing to spend on a life-saving birthday gift ;)] Sure it's not a bullet-proof system, but maybe as they experience the feeling of security, they'll get a taste for implementing something more comprehensive. Lots of low-hanging fruit, too :) But this is already a hundred times better than what they (don't) have now.