Back-up Regularly
February 20th, 2009 by Leo WurschmidtBefore continuing, I will give you fair warning: this story is not for the faint of heart. This story is full of anguish, tears, and loss… loss of data that is.
A couple of prominent web services have completely lost their data over the past few months and I mean everything!
Ma.gnolia
According to SitePoint’s podcast, Ma.gnolia, a social bookmarking site similar to Delicious lost their entire database. Every single person who kept their bookmarks on this website lost everything and will now have to rebuild their store of website bookmarks.
Journalspace
I also heard on SitePoint’s podcast that Journalspace, a blogging platform similar to WordPress(.com), lost all of their data. This means that every single member of Journalspace lost every single blog post. As any blog author knows, that is devastating!
Why & What You Can Do
Why did this happen? These websites did not back up their data properly. As a result, if the information was deleted on one (or two servers) then everything was erased. This is exactly what occurred in both of the aforementioned examples.
When it comes to your data (i.e. blog posts, personal photos, important documents, videos of the children) do not trust anything. Regularly back it up in multiple places.
Here is an example of how I back up this blog. I schedule automatic backups using an easy WordPress plugin called wp-db-backup. I save that back-up file to the computer in my office and then also back-up the entire drive to another location. With your data always err on the side of caution.
Do Not Be the Chalkboard
Essentially, if you do not back up your information, your data is no more than words on a chalkboard. All it takes is for someone (or something) to come by and wipe it clean and you have lost everything.
The chalkboard photo is courtesy of House Of Sims at Flickr.
Tags: back up, blogging, Blogs, bookmarks, data, journalspace, ma.gnolia
February 20th, 2009 at 15:14
Thanks for the tip. What do you think of using an external hard drive for back-ups? If your system crashes, will the back-up be deleted as well since they are connected?
February 20th, 2009 at 15:35
It depends. In Ma.gnolia's case, the backup program they used accidentally wiped out their back-up drive and the regular drive leaving them with nothing.
It is probably better to have an extra external hard drive to back up data and swap between the two. It is also a good idea to have one back-up system off-site in case anything tragic were to happen to your office/servers.
Thanks for the question!
March 7th, 2009 at 02:15
where you been dog?
March 18th, 2009 at 13:40
Jim, thanks for asking. We have been doing some introspective thinking about our company, its mission, and its goals and whether what we are offering is inline with those. During that time I took a short break from writing.
I pray that I will now be able to smoothly get back in to writing.
Take care bud
March 18th, 2009 at 17:53
hurry, i'm almost 10pts ahead on Intense Debate ranking…It's on!
March 18th, 2009 at 20:38
Haha. Well, I will have to defer to you on that one. I have been commenting on some blogs that do not have ID so that affects my numbers and I think you are kicking some major butt with staying involved in the online communities. You are they man!
April 10th, 2009 at 10:43
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