Quote:
Originally Posted by Quoth
This applies always since computer backups existed about 70+ years ago.
A disaster recovery plan (backups are part of it) is useless unless tested. You do need a spare computer, or at least a second one (not identical, but compatible, like ARM, 32 bit Intel, 64 bit AMD etc and enough space to restore and enough RAM to run). You can get even an old 64bit desktop with enough RAM (2G Linux, 4G Windows) for free if you ask around. It will do to test restore of your Calibre, or MS Word/LO Writer docs, or spreadsheets, or accounts or whatever.
Some files on a cloud service is more suited to sharing than any serious backup / disaster recovery plan.
Order of likely disasters: - User accidental deletion
- Theft at internet cafe, conference or travelling.
- SSD or HDD fail (no advance warning on SSD, can be on HDD). Seen a PSU fail destroy all PCBs (HDD was recovered by swapping its PCB, less likely now).
- Ransomware or similar
- Theft at home
- Fire / flood etc at home
- Law enforcement seize it. They'd get cloud too, but might miss a friend or safe deposit box. You could be innocent.
Also any cloud service can be closed, hacked or whatever. It's only someone else's computer and they may not be honest about security or backups (or tell you there is no backup). Hosting is often more secure than separate "cloud storage" offerings. |
I'm not sure what order it'd fall under, but there's been at least one Windows update that deleted user files (albeit under
very specific circumstances: when the user folders were manually relocated, but user was also keeping files in the original folder
)