4 ms·

Dropbox synced with an empty folder, i.e. deleted everything. I didn't notice for over 30 days which was the cutoff for their historical files. Thus my easy off

Dropbox synced with an empty folder, i.e. deleted everything. I didn't notice for over 30 days which was the cutoff for their historical files. Thus my easy off-site copy which I was previously very attached to effectively deleted everything. I did not go back.

black_puppydog 2y ago
Pfff... I think you can easily replicate that UX with an ftp server and CVS. :D
- karamanolev 2y ago
  Reading about his experience, you can replicate the Dropbox behavior with an rm -rf :D ftp and CVS would be actually functional...
  - HappMacDonald 2y ago
    Hey now, no need to cast shade at rm -Rf. It's way more functional than Dropbox :)
max-m 2y ago
Something similar happened to me once. I still don't know what exactly happened, but in Dropbox some files were deleted, I still had my local copy, but then Dropbox synced the file deletions and I didn't notice. Only when it was too late did I notice that files were gone and their support was unable to help. I think I managed to recover some files with one of the NTFS "undelete" tools, but that was probably the day I started to treat "the cloud" differently. Nowadays I don't even know what's still in my Dropbox ...
- dunham 2y ago
  I was clearing out Dropbox when I moved away from it, and it _wouldn't_ let me delete my copy of `tex.web`, because it thought it was some sort of special dropbox file. (It was the source to TeX.)
  - tomjakubowski 2y ago
    That's too good. Did you have to rename the file to get Dropbox to delete it?
    - dunham 2y ago
      It's been a few years, but I think I managed to delete it in the web UI. (This was on macos, and they had a kernel extension keeping an eye on things by that point.)
renewiltord 2y ago
This is a classic lesson that everyone learns called Sync Is Not Backup. Everyone learns it eventually and then writes a blog post on it. It used to be a classic HN meme: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4704086 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4704086 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27157427 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27157427 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33008837 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33008837 And every storage company tells a tale of backup vs sync: https://www.backblaze.com/blog/cloud-backup-vs-cloud-sync/ https://www.backblaze.com/blog/cloud-backup-vs-cloud-sync/
- j45 2y ago
  Definitely, It's not a backup if it's not at least 3 backups in different places. https://www.backblaze.com/blog/the-3-2-1-backup-strategy/ https://www.backblaze.com/blog/the-3-2-1-backup-strategy/
  - solardev 2y ago
    Well, and that a sync can destroy existing files while a proper backup flow can't. If you had 3 syncs in 3 different providers but deleting your local folder causes all 3 copies to be deleted, that's still no good. You need another place where files can only be added to and never (automatically) removed.
    - j45 2y ago
      I wasn't referring to syncs at all, but actual point in time backups, so I agree. There are syncs that can also be configured to not to delete. It's how syncs can do version control. If you use an off the shell backup or NAS like a Synology or QNAP it will take care of all of that for you. You can plug in external drives to it for copies, an then also have the NAS ship off backup copies to multiple places. Since the cloud is someone else's computer, it's good to have your own copy of it too on your own hardware. Hope that helps. Data is valuable, worth learning to protect :).
      - solardev 2y ago
robmsmt 2y ago
I also had exactly the same experience. I ended up losing lots of documents.

black_puppydog 2y ago

Pfff... I think you can easily replicate that UX with an ftp server and CVS. :D

karamanolev 2y ago
Reading about his experience, you can replicate the Dropbox behavior with an rm -rf :D ftp and CVS would be actually functional...
- HappMacDonald 2y ago
  Hey now, no need to cast shade at rm -Rf. It's way more functional than Dropbox :)

max-m 2y ago

Something similar happened to me once. I still don't know what exactly happened, but in Dropbox some files were deleted, I still had my local copy, but then Dropbox synced the file deletions and I didn't notice. Only when it was too late did I notice that files were gone and their support was unable to help. I think I managed to recover some files with one of the NTFS "undelete" tools, but that was probably the day I started to treat "the cloud" differently. Nowadays I don't even know what's still in my Dropbox ...

dunham 2y ago
I was clearing out Dropbox when I moved away from it, and it _wouldn't_ let me delete my copy of `tex.web`, because it thought it was some sort of special dropbox file. (It was the source to TeX.)
- tomjakubowski 2y ago
  That's too good. Did you have to rename the file to get Dropbox to delete it?
  - dunham 2y ago
    It's been a few years, but I think I managed to delete it in the web UI. (This was on macos, and they had a kernel extension keeping an eye on things by that point.)

renewiltord 2y ago

This is a classic lesson that everyone learns called Sync Is Not Backup. Everyone learns it eventually and then writes a blog post on it. It used to be a classic HN meme: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4704086 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4704086 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27157427 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27157427 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33008837 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33008837 And every storage company tells a tale of backup vs sync: https://www.backblaze.com/blog/cloud-backup-vs-cloud-sync/ https://www.backblaze.com/blog/cloud-backup-vs-cloud-sync/

j45 2y ago
Definitely, It's not a backup if it's not at least 3 backups in different places. https://www.backblaze.com/blog/the-3-2-1-backup-strategy/ https://www.backblaze.com/blog/the-3-2-1-backup-strategy/
- solardev 2y ago
  Well, and that a sync can destroy existing files while a proper backup flow can't. If you had 3 syncs in 3 different providers but deleting your local folder causes all 3 copies to be deleted, that's still no good. You need another place where files can only be added to and never (automatically) removed.
  - j45 2y ago
    I wasn't referring to syncs at all, but actual point in time backups, so I agree. There are syncs that can also be configured to not to delete. It's how syncs can do version control. If you use an off the shell backup or NAS like a Synology or QNAP it will take care of all of that for you. You can plug in external drives to it for copies, an then also have the NAS ship off backup copies to multiple places. Since the cloud is someone else's computer, it's good to have your own copy of it too on your own hardware. Hope that helps. Data is valuable, worth learning to protect :).
    - solardev 2y ago

robmsmt 2y ago

I also had exactly the same experience. I ended up losing lots of documents.