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How I store my files

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Re: How I store my files

#131

Post by mosselman »

crazygringo wrote: post #74
TchoBeer wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively, "sure all my sensitive data was stolen and leaked, but at least I made it to Italy" said no one ever.

I trust major cloud providers like Google or Microsoft to protect my data far more than I'd ever trust a bunch of retail hardware I plugged together and configured myself. They have entire gigantic teams of employees dedicated to security and privacy and protection from threats. I couldn't replicate that even if I wanted to. If someone wants to steal and leak your sensitive data, they'll have a much easier time getti…

They don't give a shit about your data though. There are lots of horror stories of people losing all of their photo's of the past decade(s) because Google decided to block their account with place to get in touch with them and now way to restore anything.

Tech companies aren't your friend, they are faceless corporations with nice services. When they fail you though, they fail you big time, unless you have solid back-ups.

Re: How I store my files

#132

Post by bhk »

helmholtz wrote: post #73
TchoBeer wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively, "sure all my sensitive data was stolen and leaked, but at least I made it to Italy" said no one ever.

How common an occurence is that? How often is an unimportant, middle class person's data at risk, really? Enough that you'd want to spin up your ZFS storage? Hypothetically, let's say I had my entire life on Google. I have a unique password for it, backed up by 2FA, without the SMS/Authenticator fallback. What's the long term consequence? Google knows everything about me? They already do anyway. Someone can steal my…

Google can simply decide to revoke your account and delete your data. I've seen a number of first-person accounts online of people who rubbed some tech giant the wrong way (or were just suspected of doing so, or were characterized as such by some ML model) and only afterward realized how much they stood to lose.

Re: How I store my files

#133

Post by baobabKoodaa »

theandrewbailey wrote: post #130

> While you might consider doing a full encryption for both your personal laptop and/or desktop, in case one of these gets stolen, you should avoid encryption on backup and storage when it really isn't needed because encryption adds yet another layer of complexity. Wrong. Not encrypting your backups when your daily use systems are encrypted makes no sense. Seriously. Why go through the hassle of figuring out a passwo…

I agree with your general sentiment, but I'll provide one redeeming counterpoint anyway: your laptop (that you carry around to places) is at higher risk of theft than an external hard drive that you keep in a storage locker.

Re: How I store my files

#134

Post by quacked »

visviva wrote: post #11

Darn, I was hoping this would be an article about organizing one's files. I was really in the mood for reading about that, then spending the rest of the morning reworking my own system.

This one is great too: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2019/02/seeking-the-prod...

Re: How I store my files

#135

Post by simonblack »

Back up everything of yours at least once daily. Use a cronjob so that it won't matter if you can remember or not. I don't trust the 'Cloud' after several disasters involving DropBox when travelling out of the country.

I treat my data like I treat my gold: "If it isn't under your own personal control, you don't own it at all".

Store your files such that you are not backing up unnecessary stuff - such as the system itself because that's what system re-installs are for.(Apart from your various config files which are included in the daily backups)

I divide my stuff into four main categories: config files and installed-package lists, databases, personal stuff, and "write once, keep forever" archives.

The config-files and installed-package lists allow you to reinstall your system itself from scratch in less than an hour, in most cases.

Databases are self explanatory. Dump the databases at least once daily, reload it when your system crashes.

Personal /home directory stuff is restricted to personal documents and stuff that I am currently programming. That is it. Nothing else. What else would you need? That small amount is generally held down to less than 10 gigs.

For all else, (ebooks, videos, photos, music, etc, etc, etc) there is the archive directory. That is stuff that needs to be kept, but isn't actually private and personal.

The first three categories are included in my main daily backup as a full snapshot.

The last category, the archive directory, is backed up as rsync changes. This goes to several separate backup media. On many days, there will be no changes at all and the rsync backup takes less than a couple of minutes.

Re: How I store my files

#136

Post by olivertaylor »

quacked wrote: post #134
visviva wrote: post #11

Darn, I was hoping this would be an article about organizing one's files. I was really in the mood for reading about that, then spending the rest of the morning reworking my own system.

This one is great too: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2019/02/seeking-the-prod...

One of my favorites.

Re: How I store my files

#137

Post by ranguna »

kureikain wrote: post #120
bachmeier wrote: post #66

> Everything can look really nice "on paper" but you don't know what goes on behind the scenes. I have worked with a lot of different people and I have seen too much crazy shit to fully trust anyone with my important data. A cloud provider may have the best of intentions, but sometimes all it takes is a single grumpy employee or even a minor mistake to do a lot of damage. OneDrive and Google Drive are both pretty che…

Time to time I read about people who are randomly banned/locked account by google. I had 1.5TB of my precious memory of my daughter all the way back when she was born, But I keep a local backup on my old mac, basically a bunch of external hard-drive but it's a pain in the ass to manage thse.

1.5TB on "a bunch" of drives? You can get a 5TB drive for 100$ on amazon.

Re: How I store my files

#138

Post by benhurmarcel »

codetrotter wrote: post #38
anjuan wrote: post #35

For the past few years, I've created a photo book of the best family pictures from the past year. I store these photobooks in a fireproof safe. I think that's the easiest way to pass down pictures since it's paper doesn't require decryption or passwords.

This summer I forgot the PIN of my iPad, because I didn’t use it during all summer. And it’s only 6 digits. I had, however, made note of the PIN elsewhere so I was able to unlock it. I have similarly forgotten PINs and passwords in the past that I didn’t use for a while. I recommend unlocking your safe at a regular interval, so that you remember the combination, if it uses a code lock. And even if it’s a key lock it’…

This was the reason I started using a password manager in the beginning, I didn’t trust my memory to remember them.

Re: How I store my files

#139

Post by fouric »

TchoBeer wrote: post #71
bachmeier wrote: post #66

> Everything can look really nice "on paper" but you don't know what goes on behind the scenes. I have worked with a lot of different people and I have seen too much crazy shit to fully trust anyone with my important data. A cloud provider may have the best of intentions, but sometimes all it takes is a single grumpy employee or even a minor mistake to do a lot of damage. OneDrive and Google Drive are both pretty che…

Alternatively, "sure all my sensitive data was stolen and leaked, but at least I made it to Italy" said no one ever.

How does encryption not completely thwart this attack vector?

Re: How I store my files

#140

Post by fouric »

kureikain wrote: post #120
bachmeier wrote: post #66

> Everything can look really nice "on paper" but you don't know what goes on behind the scenes. I have worked with a lot of different people and I have seen too much crazy shit to fully trust anyone with my important data. A cloud provider may have the best of intentions, but sometimes all it takes is a single grumpy employee or even a minor mistake to do a lot of damage. OneDrive and Google Drive are both pretty che…

Time to time I read about people who are randomly banned/locked account by google. I had 1.5TB of my precious memory of my daughter all the way back when she was born, But I keep a local backup on my old mac, basically a bunch of external hard-drive but it's a pain in the ass to manage thse.

The odds of you losing the master data at the same time as being locked out of your account are astronomically low, and if they don't coincide, then you're not in any trouble (e.g. if you get locked out of your account, then you immediately make another backup e.g. on a USB, and if your main copy has something happen to it, you immediately restore).

I definitely agree that getting locked out of your Google account is a massive risk in general (as well as morally bankrupt on their part), but I don't think it's a problem for the specific case of backups).

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