2/20/2023 0 Comments Recover a file from zipcloudOne bug or misstep, and everything could be gone. Storage services don’t just sync files, they sync changes to files, including inadvertent deletions. What if the provider experiences a major system failure? What if its facilities are broken into? What if it goes out of business? Even if the service maintains a copy of the files on your computer, you cannot count on them being there when you need them. If a storage and syncing service is your only backup, your files are susceptible to any number of vulnerabilities, from cyber attacks to provider oversight to software bugs to rogue insiders. Who among us doesn’t have something of value we don’t want to lose or can’t afford to lose? A significant loss can lead to frustration and wasted resources and a whole lot of heartache. Unlike a cloud storage service, a backup solution is not about quick access and frequent updates and rapid sharing, but rather the steady, methodical archiving of data over the long haul to prepare for possible disaster.Īnd that disaster can strike both individuals and businesses alike, hitting the hardest when we least expect it. Just like a virus.Ī backup solution archives your data and keeps it safe in the event the unthinkable occurs-flood, fire, theft, malware, system meltdown, someone doing something really dumb. Files are too easy to delete from such a service, and those deletions can be easily propagated across all your devices. Your storage service might save those files ad infinitum, and hang on to as many versions of each file as you create, but versioning does not equal a backup strategy, nor does the promise of a file existing for all time. What’s important is being able to recover what you expect when you expect it. Whether they still actually exist is another question altogether. One little glitch and your files cease to exist, or at least are no longer accessible. A backup solution also ensures that snapshots exist at regular intervals and that files can be restored to a specific point of time from those snapshots.Ĭloud storage services cannot deliver on such promises. It ensures durability so that no matter what files are deleted or corrupted, at least some version of the file can be recovered (assuming the file wasn’t corrupted from day one). It ensures redundancy so multiple copies of each file exist at all times. They are magicians, pulling out one rabbit after the next.īut that doesn’t make them full-fledged backup solutions, no matter how much we want to pretend otherwise. They make files available wherever we are, whenever we need them, on whatever devices we’re using. They’ve become an integral part of our personal lives and the way we conduct business. They sync files across multiple devices and make it super easy to share those files with other users.Ĭloud storage services have, in fact, gotten so damn good at what they do that more of us are flocking to them every day. They hang on to deleted files for 30 days or longer. They store your files and maintain version histories. Dropbox is not a backup service, nor is Box or One Drive or Google Drive or any of the other cloud storage services out there. Curn is also not the first person to assume that Dropbox or other cloud storage services can be trusted as backups. The folders were still in place, but most of files had been deleted.Ĭurn’s story is, of course, not the only such tale of woe, nor is Dropbox the only service to have files go missing. The folders no longer existed on his laptop, but showed up on the Dropbox servers, just as he had hoped. This time around, he removed the folders one-by-one. He waited a couple minutes, then restarted the client. In an effort to make room on his laptop’s hard drive, Curn enabled the Selective Sync feature, deselected a number of folders, and then clicked the Update button. This past summer, Jan Curn posted a story to Medium about how Dropbox had permanently deleted 8000 of his photos because of a bug in the syncing process. But then, like a lot of folks, you assumed all that Dropbox syncing and replicating had you covered.Īt least you can take comfort in knowing you’re not alone. Even another computer would have been better than nothing. Too bad you didn’t back them up to a DVD or flash drive or external hard disk or something. User error? Software glitch? Undetected virus? It doesn’t matter. Those files you thought you had safely uploaded to Dropbox have magically disappeared. Stop Relying on Cloud File Stores as a Backup Strategy - Simple Talk Skip to content
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