5 ms·

What do you make of comparable services from other providers, say, Amazon Glacier?

amiga_500 6y ago
I've used glacier. For stuff you don't need to restore in a rush, it's cheap. I did however have a recent health scare and it made me wonder how my non tech wife could possibly have restored the files as the interfaces are all heavy. Not a factor I'd previously considered when assessing my backup/restore.
- MaxBarraclough 6y ago
  > For stuff you don't need to restore in a rush, it's cheap That was my thinking. It seems a good fit as a last-resort backup. Low month-on-month storage costs, high retrieval costs. So we're essentially betting that we'll never retrieve the data. Which seems fine. Also, it apparently has strong assurances against data-loss. Lots of nines. [0] > how my non tech wife could possibly have restored the files as the interfaces are all heavy It's all web-API-based, right? Is there a a decent FOSS GUI to navigate it? [0] https://aws.amazon.com/glacier/features/ https://aws.amazon.com/glacier/features/
  - amiga_500 6y ago
    If you retrieve the data slowly it's cheap. It's expensive if say you are a retailer who needs their database restored asap. I use a Linux perl client!
    - MaxBarraclough 6y ago
      I suppose the biggest risk is failure-to-pay, as with all cloud backups/storage. If I allow my payment card to expire, Amazon aren't obligated to continue to store my data. If I drop off the grid for an extended holiday, that could be a real risk. To my knowledge, Amazon offer no means of prepaying.
      - amiga_500 6y ago
        You get emails. Imho it's not a big risk.
        fomine3 6y ago
        Possibly you miss the mail, the mail into spam, forget to fix it.
      - DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
        > Amazon aren't obligated to continue to store my data. If I drop off the grid for an extended holiday, that could be a real risk. To my knowledge, Amazon offer no means of prepaying. Another option I've been meaning to set-up is two-way Synology sync between sites. My parents have a Synology box and now that they have a decent internet connection (DOCSIS, not ADSL's 768kbps upstream) we could backup each others' data on each other's Synology boxes. I just need to figure it out...
      - DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
        > If I allow my payment card to expire, Amazon aren't obligated to continue to store my data. Business idea: cloud archive storage where you pay when you upload data and optionally pay a modest monthly fee for real-time access to stored data, but they'll guarantee to keep your data for you if you stop paying: you'll just need to pay to retrieve that data. As the long-term archival data wouldn't need to be stored in a data-center: just a commodity tape-library box in a basement in a farm somewhere near a freeway I imagine it would be kinda cheap to run as a business. You could set-up a Foundation or other entity to ensure long-term continuity of operations and have it self-sufficient through an endowment. E.g. a $1m endowment would easily pay for something like this into perpetuity.
        ValentineC 6y ago
        There was Permanent.org, three months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22943620 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22943620

I've used glacier. For stuff you don't need to restore in a rush, it's cheap. I did however have a recent health scare and it made me wonder how my non tech wife could possibly have restored the files as the interfaces are all heavy. Not a factor I'd previously considered when assessing my backup/restore.

MaxBarraclough 6y ago
> For stuff you don't need to restore in a rush, it's cheap That was my thinking. It seems a good fit as a last-resort backup. Low month-on-month storage costs, high retrieval costs. So we're essentially betting that we'll never retrieve the data. Which seems fine. Also, it apparently has strong assurances against data-loss. Lots of nines. [0] > how my non tech wife could possibly have restored the files as the interfaces are all heavy It's all web-API-based, right? Is there a a decent FOSS GUI to navigate it? [0] https://aws.amazon.com/glacier/features/ https://aws.amazon.com/glacier/features/
- amiga_500 6y ago
  If you retrieve the data slowly it's cheap. It's expensive if say you are a retailer who needs their database restored asap. I use a Linux perl client!
  - MaxBarraclough 6y ago
    I suppose the biggest risk is failure-to-pay, as with all cloud backups/storage. If I allow my payment card to expire, Amazon aren't obligated to continue to store my data. If I drop off the grid for an extended holiday, that could be a real risk. To my knowledge, Amazon offer no means of prepaying.
    - amiga_500 6y ago
      You get emails. Imho it's not a big risk.
      - fomine3 6y ago
        Possibly you miss the mail, the mail into spam, forget to fix it.
    - DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
      > Amazon aren't obligated to continue to store my data. If I drop off the grid for an extended holiday, that could be a real risk. To my knowledge, Amazon offer no means of prepaying. Another option I've been meaning to set-up is two-way Synology sync between sites. My parents have a Synology box and now that they have a decent internet connection (DOCSIS, not ADSL's 768kbps upstream) we could backup each others' data on each other's Synology boxes. I just need to figure it out...
    - DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
      > If I allow my payment card to expire, Amazon aren't obligated to continue to store my data. Business idea: cloud archive storage where you pay when you upload data and optionally pay a modest monthly fee for real-time access to stored data, but they'll guarantee to keep your data for you if you stop paying: you'll just need to pay to retrieve that data. As the long-term archival data wouldn't need to be stored in a data-center: just a commodity tape-library box in a basement in a farm somewhere near a freeway I imagine it would be kinda cheap to run as a business. You could set-up a Foundation or other entity to ensure long-term continuity of operations and have it self-sufficient through an endowment. E.g. a $1m endowment would easily pay for something like this into perpetuity.
      - ValentineC 6y ago
        There was Permanent.org, three months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22943620 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22943620