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Google confirms it deleted Maps Timeline data for some
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- cratermoon 2y agoI was one of the lucky ones: I had backups turned on. When I discovered my data missing, I found the forum posts discussing the problem and the possibility that the data might be recoverable. No proactive notice from Google about a problem, though. After three weeks of anxiety I got my data back, restoring from the backup according to the instructions Google finally emailed. How much data did I almost lose for ever? Roughly 12 years of travel, most of which I use to document my photographic work, as a notebook recording when and where I was. It's no exaggeration to say a loss would have been devastating. What I'm looking into now is how I can make backups under my control, to a location of my choice.
- ChrisArchitect 2y agoRelated: Tell HN: An update on your Google Maps Timeline https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43441107 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43441107
- gausswho 2y agoFor a particular enthusiast this must be devastating. Professional photographers, heavy travelers, family archivists. A couple months ago, they would have decided it was worth having Google hang onto this and now it's gone. Hopefully this fuels more complete self-managed backup solutions. We already have good options for system-level backups (i.e. Time Machine) and although we have the low-level tools (such as restic), the turnkey experience is missing for things we don't keep at hand on a local device, but still treasure. Perhaps I'm wrong? I guess it slots in with a larger desire to streamline the takeout process from all the tech giants. A trustworthy (must be open source) app you can feed your credentials to and have it automatically run a Takeout-like on each of these accounts. Then provide an encrypted local backup.