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PLEASE BACKUP YOUR STUFF NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO! I lost 50GB of options data going back 4 months yesterday + 2.5TB of currency data going back 20 years because

PLEASE BACKUP YOUR STUFF NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO! I lost 50GB of options data going back 4 months yesterday + 2.5TB of currency data going back 20 years because I never checked that my backups were running. Please don't let this happen to you. EDIT: Literally just write a script that backs up flat files or binaries to S3 every N intervals.

icedchai 6y ago
I recommending setting up "restic" to S3 or one of its many clones: https://restic.net/ https://restic.net/
j45 6y ago
It's only a backup if you have more than 1 copy of it. Storing it in one cloud doesn't count. Losing data sucks, but seems to be a right of passage.
glynnforrest 6y ago
That's terrible. There's nothing worse than losing data. I'm working on this exact problem at the moment: a dashboard to keep track of your backups to check they never fail. https://backupshq.com https://backupshq.com * Get notified when backups fail or take too long via email, slack, webhook, etc. * Run your backup scripts and tools with an open source agent, which takes cares of reporting backup results to the dashboard. * Alternatively, write your own integration with our API to report backup results and send logs yourself. I'm hoping to launch privately soon, I'd love to hear what you think. We haven't made any pricing decisions yet, but definitely want to give free credit to homelabbers!
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
dclusin 6y ago
Commit and push to GitHub more frequently for me. Don’t wait until the pr is perfect before committing.
- lmilcin 6y ago
  So you don't value your PC and you are completely ok loosing the configuration and have to redo it from scratch? For me personally redoing my PC is worth couple of years of backup subscription plus HDD docking station plus two 4TB hard drives dedicated to backups.
  - scubbo 6y ago
    I don't understand why "pushing to GitHub more often" implies "do not value PC and are OK losing configuration"?
    - dclusin 6y ago
      I think OP was referring to things like vim configs, shell customizations, nginx configs, etc. There's lots of computer customizations I could think of that aren't always thought about in context of storing in a git repo. Also you could have large files such as market data, movies, or music collection that aren't a good fit for a git repo.
      - lmilcin 6y ago
        I noticed the usage of computers changed drastically over years. When I started last millennium it was normal for people to have large amount of installed tools with large amount of customizations. I have a bunch of custom-compiled software with options for my specific needs, and my two main computers (PC and a laptop) have both huge history of various workaround that I don't even remember any longer and would have to research all of them again. I also have a bunch of Virtualbox VMs. These are a Windows VM configured for remote work, couple Linux VMS with configurations for embedded development (I do ARM development). I have one dedicated to Matlab, Simulink and LabView and host of plugins and customizations. While keeping dotfiles and scripts is easy (I just have a repository on bitbucket) I would still have to spend a day or two just getting everything in order and probably much more to get these VMS for embedded development which is just full of workarounds for various problems. As a contractor paid by the hour I am aware of my hourly rate and this helps me put things in perspective. Once you calculate the value of services and tools what seemed expensive frequently becomes dirt cheap when you factor time saved or risk averted. For backup I keep USB docking station and two 4TB HDDs. I try to keep one of them at a different site. I also keep a copy on an online service mostly for convenience but also as another layer of protection.
VHRanger 6y ago
I think backblaze will come cheaper than writing to S3 and avoids you maintaining the cronjob for the script
syshum 6y ago
>>Literally just write a script that backs up flat files or binaries to S3 every N intervals. Sorry you lost your data, data loss is terrible while doing a simple copy to S3 is better than nothing, Everyone wanting to backup their data should follow a 3-2-1 Policy [1][2][3] 3 Copies of the data 2 different storage media's / devices 1 offsite location. backing up only to S3 can still leave you vulnerable, for example I remember one person that was doing cloud backups and their card was declined and they missed the emails for awhile so their data was deleted... [1] https://medium.com/@nakivo/the-3-2-1-backup-rule-an-efficient-data-protection-strategy-3fcbe2220cc9 https://medium.com/@nakivo/the-3-2-1-backup-rule-an-efficien... [2] https://www.backblaze.com/blog/the-3-2-1-backup-strategy/ https://www.backblaze.com/blog/the-3-2-1-backup-strategy/ [3] https://www.veeam.com/blog/how-to-follow-the-3-2-1-backup-rule-with-veeam-backup-replication.html https://www.veeam.com/blog/how-to-follow-the-3-2-1-backup-ru...
- mceachen 6y ago
  The "2 different media" heuristic became irrelevant as optical media capacity stagnated, tape drives didn't really drop in price, and spinning rust dropped below $20/TB. I wrote more about it here: https://photostructure.com/faq/how-do-i-safely-store-files/ https://photostructure.com/faq/how-do-i-safely-store-files/
  - syshum 6y ago
    Your write up is pretty good To me the "2 media" It is not strictly 2 media, ie hdd and dvd. Or hdd and tape. It is primarily to ensure you are on 2 devices/systems/ etc For individuals the could be their local system and a home nas On reason this was created is that in enterprise most systems are backed by a SAN. Having your prod data AND backup data on the same physical storage device or cluster would violate the rule. Often times admins miss this because the storage layer is cluster and partitioned in away that could give the appearance of it being separate even if physically it is the same device Further cloud storage can count has separate media as well So if you have the prod copy of data + a backup on a local nas + copy on backblaze or another cloud storage provider you have followed the 3-2-1 rule
CarbyAu 6y ago
I am working on using Syncthing. Not a cloud backup solution though.
bsder 6y ago
Backups--very boring. Restore--very exciting. Restore your data once in a while to check that it's really getting backed up.
dang 6y ago
Please don't use uppercase for emphasis. If you want to emphasize a word or phrase, put asterisks around it and it will get italicized. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. (Sorry about your stuff.)
- arthurcolle 6y ago
  Whats the markup format? I've tried the common MD shortcuts but they never work, maybe I'm just a trog
  - dang 6y ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

icedchai 6y ago

I recommending setting up "restic" to S3 or one of its many clones: https://restic.net/ https://restic.net/

j45 6y ago

It's only a backup if you have more than 1 copy of it. Storing it in one cloud doesn't count. Losing data sucks, but seems to be a right of passage.

glynnforrest 6y ago

That's terrible. There's nothing worse than losing data. I'm working on this exact problem at the moment: a dashboard to keep track of your backups to check they never fail. https://backupshq.com https://backupshq.com * Get notified when backups fail or take too long via email, slack, webhook, etc. * Run your backup scripts and tools with an open source agent, which takes cares of reporting backup results to the dashboard. * Alternatively, write your own integration with our API to report backup results and send logs yourself. I'm hoping to launch privately soon, I'd love to hear what you think. We haven't made any pricing decisions yet, but definitely want to give free credit to homelabbers!

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

dclusin 6y ago

Commit and push to GitHub more frequently for me. Don’t wait until the pr is perfect before committing.

lmilcin 6y ago
So you don't value your PC and you are completely ok loosing the configuration and have to redo it from scratch? For me personally redoing my PC is worth couple of years of backup subscription plus HDD docking station plus two 4TB hard drives dedicated to backups.
- scubbo 6y ago
  I don't understand why "pushing to GitHub more often" implies "do not value PC and are OK losing configuration"?
  - dclusin 6y ago
    I think OP was referring to things like vim configs, shell customizations, nginx configs, etc. There's lots of computer customizations I could think of that aren't always thought about in context of storing in a git repo. Also you could have large files such as market data, movies, or music collection that aren't a good fit for a git repo.
    - lmilcin 6y ago
      I noticed the usage of computers changed drastically over years. When I started last millennium it was normal for people to have large amount of installed tools with large amount of customizations. I have a bunch of custom-compiled software with options for my specific needs, and my two main computers (PC and a laptop) have both huge history of various workaround that I don't even remember any longer and would have to research all of them again. I also have a bunch of Virtualbox VMs. These are a Windows VM configured for remote work, couple Linux VMS with configurations for embedded development (I do ARM development). I have one dedicated to Matlab, Simulink and LabView and host of plugins and customizations. While keeping dotfiles and scripts is easy (I just have a repository on bitbucket) I would still have to spend a day or two just getting everything in order and probably much more to get these VMS for embedded development which is just full of workarounds for various problems. As a contractor paid by the hour I am aware of my hourly rate and this helps me put things in perspective. Once you calculate the value of services and tools what seemed expensive frequently becomes dirt cheap when you factor time saved or risk averted. For backup I keep USB docking station and two 4TB HDDs. I try to keep one of them at a different site. I also keep a copy on an online service mostly for convenience but also as another layer of protection.

VHRanger 6y ago

I think backblaze will come cheaper than writing to S3 and avoids you maintaining the cronjob for the script

syshum 6y ago

>>Literally just write a script that backs up flat files or binaries to S3 every N intervals. Sorry you lost your data, data loss is terrible while doing a simple copy to S3 is better than nothing, Everyone wanting to backup their data should follow a 3-2-1 Policy [1][2][3] 3 Copies of the data 2 different storage media's / devices 1 offsite location. backing up only to S3 can still leave you vulnerable, for example I remember one person that was doing cloud backups and their card was declined and they missed the emails for awhile so their data was deleted... [1] https://medium.com/@nakivo/the-3-2-1-backup-rule-an-efficient-data-protection-strategy-3fcbe2220cc9 https://medium.com/@nakivo/the-3-2-1-backup-rule-an-efficien... [2] https://www.backblaze.com/blog/the-3-2-1-backup-strategy/ https://www.backblaze.com/blog/the-3-2-1-backup-strategy/ [3] https://www.veeam.com/blog/how-to-follow-the-3-2-1-backup-rule-with-veeam-backup-replication.html https://www.veeam.com/blog/how-to-follow-the-3-2-1-backup-ru...

mceachen 6y ago
The "2 different media" heuristic became irrelevant as optical media capacity stagnated, tape drives didn't really drop in price, and spinning rust dropped below $20/TB. I wrote more about it here: https://photostructure.com/faq/how-do-i-safely-store-files/ https://photostructure.com/faq/how-do-i-safely-store-files/
- syshum 6y ago
  Your write up is pretty good To me the "2 media" It is not strictly 2 media, ie hdd and dvd. Or hdd and tape. It is primarily to ensure you are on 2 devices/systems/ etc For individuals the could be their local system and a home nas On reason this was created is that in enterprise most systems are backed by a SAN. Having your prod data AND backup data on the same physical storage device or cluster would violate the rule. Often times admins miss this because the storage layer is cluster and partitioned in away that could give the appearance of it being separate even if physically it is the same device Further cloud storage can count has separate media as well So if you have the prod copy of data + a backup on a local nas + copy on backblaze or another cloud storage provider you have followed the 3-2-1 rule

CarbyAu 6y ago

I am working on using Syncthing. Not a cloud backup solution though.

bsder 6y ago

Backups--very boring. Restore--very exciting. Restore your data once in a while to check that it's really getting backed up.

dang 6y ago

Please don't use uppercase for emphasis. If you want to emphasize a word or phrase, put asterisks around it and it will get italicized. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. (Sorry about your stuff.)

arthurcolle 6y ago
Whats the markup format? I've tried the common MD shortcuts but they never work, maybe I'm just a trog
- dang 6y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]