Backups Over Time

  • Comments posted to this topic are about the item Backups Over Time

  • File formats is a huge issue. Not so much as publicly documented formats (whether they are open source or licence based) but those that are not shared at all. A perfect restore of a file you cannot access is little better than not being able to restore it at all. In fact, I have found this to be an issue when a tool does not provide a data export feature (e.g. save as other format) then no longer gets supported or upgrades. If there is no equivalent product that imports that file then you are stuffed.

    Gaz

    -- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!

  • I have a number of files from 20+ years ago that I'd like to recover that were written in a long-gone word processor, Borland's Sprint. But they just aren't important enough to put any real effort in to extracting anything from them. My old databases were either converted to Access or not particularly worth bothering with. My personal systems (one desktop, two laptops) are backed up to external USB drives, of which I have two sets, and they alternate monthly (or thereabouts) with the second set in my desk at work.

    For my system at work, since it's hosted In The Cloud, I'm going to configure it for encrypted backups and have them emailed to me: it's a pretty small DB. Once that's working, I'm going to configure the system backup to only keep 5 days. I think that'll give me a more than adequate recovery window. I'm not concerned about older since I have an audit system that catches any change to student data, so that's covered.

    The other databases that are here? No clue, I've never been given access to them. I hope they're running clean and backing up reliably because I have no idea if they're restorable. And since I'm the first person with a DBA background that they've had and I haven't had access in a year and a half, I'm not holding my breath.

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    [font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]

  • I found some old files on a CD-ROM last month. Files I'd somehow deleted or lost from my computer (or left on an old computer when I transitioned).

    That was when I discovered that Word 2016 doesn't open Word 2.0 files by default. You have to go in and change a setting in the options to allow it.

    Leonard
    Madison, WI

  • One problem with backups is what you have to do if you get a requirement to expunge a person's records.

    The risk is that you accidentally restore expunged records from an old backup

  • Wayne West (4/22/2016)


    I have a number of files from 20+ years ago that I'd like to recover that were written in a long-gone word processor, Borland's Sprint. But they just aren't important enough to put any real effort in to extracting anything from them. My old databases were either converted to Access or not particularly worth bothering with. My personal systems (one desktop, two laptops) are backed up to external USB drives, of which I have two sets, and they alternate monthly (or thereabouts) with the second set in my desk at work.

    For my system at work, since it's hosted In The Cloud, I'm going to configure it for encrypted backups and have them emailed to me: it's a pretty small DB. Once that's working, I'm going to configure the system backup to only keep 5 days. I think that'll give me a more than adequate recovery window. I'm not concerned about older since I have an audit system that catches any change to student data, so that's covered.

    The other databases that are here? No clue, I've never been given access to them. I hope they're running clean and backing up reliably because I have no idea if they're restorable. And since I'm the first person with a DBA background that they've had and I haven't had access in a year and a half, I'm not holding my breath.

    There were TWO of us using Borland's Sprint. WOW!

  • This is probably more than 20 years ago, but I realized that I had all my high school creative writing backed up on 5 1/4 floppy disks in AppleWorks format, but no longer had a 5 1/4 floppy drive nor an Apple II. I found someone who still had an Apple IIc (along with a dot matrix printer) and printed out all the items I wanted. The print-outs are just memorabilia, and they are stuffed into a box. But "file format" will never be a problem.

  • I went to an interesting talk given by a guy from NASA. One of the problems NASA face is that they may have a scientist whose lifes work is an algorithm. That algorithm has been built up using software that has become so obsolete that the number of people in paid employment who have even heard of it are a rare and dwindling bunch.

    For this sort of stuff you can't just pick up a contractor to recode the algorithm in the latest and greatest software because the algorithm is a candidate for the Nobel prize in the field in which the scientist works! One of the projects open-sourced by NASA was a utility to translate obscure and ancient file formats into the more modern equivalents.

    It's a fascinating challenge.

    NASA also made the point that the problem they have with their immense energy requirements is not the bill at US$ x million a month. It is where they can source that energy. As our reliance on technology increases we have to find a way to generate the energy to power it. Sorry guys, windmills just won't cut it.

  • David.Poole (4/23/2016)


    I went to an interesting talk given by a guy from NASA. One of the problems NASA face is that they may have a scientist whose lifes work is an algorithm. That algorithm has been built up using software that has become so obsolete that the number of people in paid employment who have even heard of it are a rare and dwindling bunch.

    For this sort of stuff you can't just pick up a contractor to recode the algorithm in the latest and greatest software because the algorithm is a candidate for the Nobel prize in the field in which the scientist works! One of the projects open-sourced by NASA was a utility to translate obscure and ancient file formats into the more modern equivalents.

    It's a fascinating challenge.

    NASA also made the point that the problem they have with their immense energy requirements is not the bill at US$ x million a month. It is where they can source that energy. As our reliance on technology increases we have to find a way to generate the energy to power it. Sorry guys, windmills just won't cut it.

    Nuclear Energy, using Thorium. More cost effective, safer, less harmful by products, systems designed to fail safe rather than fail catastrophic (Chernobyl, Three Mile Island).

  • We have various regulations for maintaining data/docs/actions from 5 to 10 years. But we have viewed that as readily available, not as backups. We don't store old backups going back that far.

  • Lynn Pettis (4/22/2016)


    Wayne West (4/22/2016)


    I have a number of files from 20+ years ago that I'd like to recover that were written in a long-gone word processor, Borland's Sprint. But they just aren't important enough to put any real effort in to extracting anything from them. ...

    There were TWO of us using Borland's Sprint. WOW!

    Yep! In fact, I used Quattro before it became Quattro Pro. Quite liked that spreadsheet. The main reason why I bought them was I couldn't afford Word Perfect, MS Word, or 1-2-3! I did cough up the bucks for FoxPro: that was definitely a worthwhile investment.

    It broke my heart when Borland went 'enterprise' and pretty much disappeared from the face of the earth. Quattro Pro and Paradox are still around, but both have incredibly small market share.

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    [font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]

  • Wayne West (4/25/2016)


    Lynn Pettis (4/22/2016)


    Wayne West (4/22/2016)


    I have a number of files from 20+ years ago that I'd like to recover that were written in a long-gone word processor, Borland's Sprint. But they just aren't important enough to put any real effort in to extracting anything from them. ...

    There were TWO of us using Borland's Sprint. WOW!

    Yep! In fact, I used Quattro before it became Quattro Pro. Quite liked that spreadsheet. The main reason why I bought them was I couldn't afford Word Perfect, MS Word, or 1-2-3! I did cough up the bucks for FoxPro: that was definitely a worthwhile investment.

    It broke my heart when Borland went 'enterprise' and pretty much disappeared from the face of the earth. Quattro Pro and Paradox are still around, but both have incredibly small market share.

    I used Quattro and Quattro Pro as well. One company I worked for used 123 in the office, particularly Accounting, but I installed my copy of Quattro Pro on my PC used it as an interface between Accounting and the minicomputer application that basically ran the company. There were numerous GL entries that were generated outside the system that needed to be entered and the Accounting department got tired of the manual entries.

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