I just lost 10k+ lines of z80 source to a dead ssd. Not nice :-(
:(
This is why I've started using a subversion repository on my server. A reasonably up to date copy checked out on at least two machines, plus everything stored on the server (which gets backed up periodically too).
Also protects against doing stupid things like deleting everything then clicking "save" :oops:
What type of SSD is it? Unlike hard drives SSDs never really lose data if they fail. They just don't "work". (unless you had the drive encrypted or something of course)
This is why I've started using a subversion repository on my server. A reasonably up to date copy checked out on at least two machines, plus everything stored on the server (which gets backed up periodically too).
Also protects against doing stupid things like deleting everything then clicking "save" :oops:
These are things I know I should be doing but didn't. You get really complacent after years of no issues. I suppose it is time to set up a proper repository server at home so this can never happen again.
Thankfully I only lost about two days of work related files because, you see, there is a repository at work. But the loss of all that code is not pleasant. I have some of it in z88dk but that stuff is two years old and I am losing all the changes made in that time, some of which was significant.
What type of SSD is it? Unlike hard drives SSDs never really lose data if they fail. They just don't "work". (unless you had the drive encrypted or something of course)
A 16GB ssd out of a dell mini. The machine no longer boots off it and the ssd registers as 0 capacity in the bios. I think that means it's unrecoverable (the access circuitry is shot) but I won't entirely give up until I've tried to at least access it somehow. Maybe I'll try to boot the machine off a flash drive and see if the ssd can be read and I may buy a usb enclosure for it (the kind that make the ssd appear as a usb drive).
The thought has even occurred to me to remove the controller chip and solder a good one on but the thing is surface mount and probably wouldn't go over well :D
I feel for you :(
I once lost a years worth of work on a musical project, due to a hard drive failure (and also due to complaceny/stupidity in not having it regularly backed up).
That project ended up being abandoned because I couldn't find it in me to start over.. part of me died.
Thankfully I only lost about two days of work related files because, you see, there is a repository at work. But the loss of all that code is not pleasant. I have some of it in z88dk but that stuff is two years old and I am losing all the changes made in that time, some of which was significant.
The thought has even occurred to me to remove the controller chip and solder a good one on but the thing is surface mount and probably wouldn't go over well :D
Even if the controller is dead so putting it in a caddy etc doesn't help as you have suggested it should still be possible to get the data off the actual flash. Okay that may well mean finding someone/a company with the skills to do that but it can be done - much easier than from a rotating rust drive too! It depends how much the data is worth I suppose.
By the way, should I be using an encrypted disk for backup?
bad idea, unless there's a reason to encrypt the data of course but I can't imagine anything's so important that someone would break into your house and dig through your cupboards to find the hard disk would they? :-o
If your disk with encrypted data on it goes wrong the chances of recovering anything are more or less nil.
One good way for backing up source code is to email it to yourself. Create a specific gmail/yahoo/etc account just for that, like if you have a specific spam account you give out on forms and such. Gmail doesn't expire if it lies dormant (for years on end, I still have access to one I've check three times in the last five years) while yahoo is deleted after a few months iIrc.
*Although subversion is probably better mainly because of its version control features. Dropbox is a great way to backup though as it's on the cloud and therefore, arguably, safe from any local disaster.
Yes along with rewritten strings & stdlib for C99, a selection of fast/medium/small integer math libs and various other random smatterings.
Stdio I was rewriting in the past week so at least it's fresh in my mind. Rewriting without code that only needs tweaking for reference is a lot harder though :(
Is dropbox still free and if so, do you believe it will continue to be free?
The first time I saw a cloud service was the X-drive. Does anyone remember that? They started as a free service, then changed to paid (once they grew) and then disappeared. A percentage of the people I help trusts Carbonite. It's not free but the customer doesn't mind paying the yearly fee because they get tech support anytime they need, and it's all based in the U.S. Another percentage of my customers is very happy with Windows 7's automatic backup to external usb hard drives, which takes care of the entire system image, not just personal data. The smallest percentage of my customers doesn't really use their computer a lot so they just backup things manually to a usb pen (flash drive, as we call them here), external hard drive or even DVDs.
I've heard Apple's iCloud service is free but couldn't be bothered to confirm this. There's also Microsoft's Sky Drive, blah, blah. Too many choices!
Do we know if all cloud services will eventually become free no matter how much data storage we need? Can we expect backups to become completely automatic in the future so that it becomes transparent to the user and it's done without the user having to think about it?
The only reason why I'm not putting all my eggs in one cloud basket is because it looks like we still don't know which way this is going. For now I'm perfectly happy with having my data on my PC and my external hard drives, and backups getting automatically updated when the computer is idle.
*Although subversion is probably better mainly because of its version control features. Dropbox is a great way to backup though as it's on the cloud and therefore, arguably, safe from any local disaster.
Dropbox does version history of your files (to within your GB limit) although this is by no means a Source Code version control system - just simply file based version histories.
Is dropbox still free and if so, do you believe it will continue to be free?
It is (for 2Gb + 250Mb for each referral) and I highly recommend it because it is very easy to set up and install and appears pretty lightweight. I could also recommend it for your Mum and your Gran, 'cos there is no manual intervention required!!!
If you do fancy trying it. I would love you to use my referral (maybe Arjun should add his referral as he broght it up first!).
Slightly off topic but since subversion repositories have been mentioned I shall repeat here what I've said recently on irc.
If anyone wants a subversion server for a low-ish traffic[1] speccy related project[2] I'm already running everything needed on my home server and am hosting Dunny's specbas repository for him as well as my own projects :)
I can't guarantee five nines uptime and backups to survive WWIII but it at least gives you an off-site copy of your project and puts you online without having to set up your own server :) I also back everything up fairly frequently (if not regularly. I really need to sort out a more formal backup schedule now I have other people's data on there :oops:)
[1] When I say low-ish traffic I mean in the sense of a few commits now and again of small source files - my server is only on a rubbishy ADSL[3] connection... if you want thousands of contributors working on the project moving big binary files about it's probably worth signing up on sourceforge[4] :p
[2] Or anything else that I deem a worthy cause for that matter :)
[3] Slow but pretty reliable.
[4] Or any of the other similar project hosting places. Perhaps it's better to do that anyway than rely on a random bloke on a forum I dunno... I've never signed up to one since I don't have a need for third party hosting so I don't know anything about them.
bad idea, unless there's a reason to encrypt the data of course but I can't imagine anything's so important that someone would break into your house and dig through your cupboards to find the hard disk would they? :-o
If your disk with encrypted data on it goes wrong the chances of recovering anything are more or less nil.
Is dropbox still free and if so, do you believe it will continue to be free?
Do we know if all cloud services will eventually become free no matter how much data storage we need? Can we expect backups to become completely automatic in the future so that it becomes transparent to the user and it's done without the user having to think about it?
The cheapest product from Dropbox will no doubt continue to be free, as they need to attract customers in that way (it's commercially suicide to do otherwise).
As for cloud services, they will become free if they can somehow make more money to sustain your storage, in any possible way, and it will cost you one way or another. If you want the insurance that they behave, then pay them yourself (obviously).
And for your last question, automatic backup systems exist for years, even for consumers. For example, Apple has a whole range of them.
Yes along with rewritten strings & stdlib for C99, a selection of fast/medium/small integer math libs and various other random smatterings.
Stdio I was rewriting in the past week so at least it's fresh in my mind. Rewriting without code that only needs tweaking for reference is a lot harder though :(
I hope you can get back to speed soon. I wish I could help but I'm not good in assembler at all...
Professionals use Infrared welding technology. I myself use hot air welding because I have no space left for a infrared welder, but they are not that expensive esp. from China (do not believe the horror storys about China stuff burning themself. That is paid propaganda to buy more expensive European or American stuff). I have a lot of equipment from China and it works excellent, never saw one burning. My Chinese (Foxxcon) Nettop with AMD Zacate E-350 CPU is working 24/7 without problems.
For years I have been lazy about backups always relying on the "quality" of modern hardware to save the day. The funny thing is that it took a mistake of mine a week ago to finally make realise how useful backups can be.
Whilst configuring my new AceKard 2i for use on the DSi XL and ZXDS I was also updating my TomTom sat nav. Now the Micro SD card that I was using with the AceKard needed formatting and I bet you can guess what I did... :cry:
Yep, I formatted the TomTom by mistake. Luckily a very helpful chap on the TomTom forum showed me how to recreate my TomTom but a valubale lesson learned.
Yeah, I read that but your "normal run-of-the-mill" staff at Drop Box won't have access to your content, only the metadata (filename, filesize, etc.). My stuff is not worth much to worry about it.
Comments
:(
This is why I've started using a subversion repository on my server. A reasonably up to date copy checked out on at least two machines, plus everything stored on the server (which gets backed up periodically too).
Also protects against doing stupid things like deleting everything then clicking "save" :oops:
What type of SSD is it? Unlike hard drives SSDs never really lose data if they fail. They just don't "work". (unless you had the drive encrypted or something of course)
These are things I know I should be doing but didn't. You get really complacent after years of no issues. I suppose it is time to set up a proper repository server at home so this can never happen again.
Thankfully I only lost about two days of work related files because, you see, there is a repository at work. But the loss of all that code is not pleasant. I have some of it in z88dk but that stuff is two years old and I am losing all the changes made in that time, some of which was significant.
A 16GB ssd out of a dell mini. The machine no longer boots off it and the ssd registers as 0 capacity in the bios. I think that means it's unrecoverable (the access circuitry is shot) but I won't entirely give up until I've tried to at least access it somehow. Maybe I'll try to boot the machine off a flash drive and see if the ssd can be read and I may buy a usb enclosure for it (the kind that make the ssd appear as a usb drive).
The thought has even occurred to me to remove the controller chip and solder a good one on but the thing is surface mount and probably wouldn't go over well :D
Write games in C using Z88DK and SP1
I once lost a years worth of work on a musical project, due to a hard drive failure (and also due to complaceny/stupidity in not having it regularly backed up).
That project ended up being abandoned because I couldn't find it in me to start over.. part of me died.
So yeah, backups- make them.
Even if the controller is dead so putting it in a caddy etc doesn't help as you have suggested it should still be possible to get the data off the actual flash. Okay that may well mean finding someone/a company with the skills to do that but it can be done - much easier than from a rotating rust drive too! It depends how much the data is worth I suppose.
I hope there's nothing really important missing, because you are the brain behind z88dk and sp1.
I haven't have made backups for a while, but I think I am going to use the external harddrive I've bought really soon (hopefully).
I'd probably not use a "source repository" though, but in any case I've just backed my sources just in case :)
By the way, should I be using an encrypted disk for backup?
Games List 2016 - Games List 2015 - Games List 2014
bad idea, unless there's a reason to encrypt the data of course but I can't imagine anything's so important that someone would break into your house and dig through your cupboards to find the hard disk would they? :-o
If your disk with encrypted data on it goes wrong the chances of recovering anything are more or less nil.
One good way for backing up source code is to email it to yourself. Create a specific gmail/yahoo/etc account just for that, like if you have a specific spam account you give out on forms and such. Gmail doesn't expire if it lies dormant (for years on end, I still have access to one I've check three times in the last five years) while yahoo is deleted after a few months iIrc.
Ooops. stdio?
*Although subversion is probably better mainly because of its version control features. Dropbox is a great way to backup though as it's on the cloud and therefore, arguably, safe from any local disaster.
Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
Yes along with rewritten strings & stdlib for C99, a selection of fast/medium/small integer math libs and various other random smatterings.
Stdio I was rewriting in the past week so at least it's fresh in my mind. Rewriting without code that only needs tweaking for reference is a lot harder though :(
Write games in C using Z88DK and SP1
The first time I saw a cloud service was the X-drive. Does anyone remember that? They started as a free service, then changed to paid (once they grew) and then disappeared. A percentage of the people I help trusts Carbonite. It's not free but the customer doesn't mind paying the yearly fee because they get tech support anytime they need, and it's all based in the U.S. Another percentage of my customers is very happy with Windows 7's automatic backup to external usb hard drives, which takes care of the entire system image, not just personal data. The smallest percentage of my customers doesn't really use their computer a lot so they just backup things manually to a usb pen (flash drive, as we call them here), external hard drive or even DVDs.
I've heard Apple's iCloud service is free but couldn't be bothered to confirm this. There's also Microsoft's Sky Drive, blah, blah. Too many choices!
Do we know if all cloud services will eventually become free no matter how much data storage we need? Can we expect backups to become completely automatic in the future so that it becomes transparent to the user and it's done without the user having to think about it?
The only reason why I'm not putting all my eggs in one cloud basket is because it looks like we still don't know which way this is going. For now I'm perfectly happy with having my data on my PC and my external hard drives, and backups getting automatically updated when the computer is idle.
Dropbox does version history of your files (to within your GB limit) although this is by no means a Source Code version control system - just simply file based version histories.
It is (for 2Gb + 250Mb for each referral) and I highly recommend it because it is very easy to set up and install and appears pretty lightweight. I could also recommend it for your Mum and your Gran, 'cos there is no manual intervention required!!!
If you do fancy trying it. I would love you to use my referral (maybe Arjun should add his referral as he broght it up first!).
Dropbox Referral: http://db.tt/QKFwxjp
If anyone wants a subversion server for a low-ish traffic[1] speccy related project[2] I'm already running everything needed on my home server and am hosting Dunny's specbas repository for him as well as my own projects :)
I can't guarantee five nines uptime and backups to survive WWIII but it at least gives you an off-site copy of your project and puts you online without having to set up your own server :) I also back everything up fairly frequently (if not regularly. I really need to sort out a more formal backup schedule now I have other people's data on there :oops:)
[1] When I say low-ish traffic I mean in the sense of a few commits now and again of small source files - my server is only on a rubbishy ADSL[3] connection... if you want thousands of contributors working on the project moving big binary files about it's probably worth signing up on sourceforge[4] :p
[2] Or anything else that I deem a worthy cause for that matter :)
[3] Slow but pretty reliable.
[4] Or any of the other similar project hosting places. Perhaps it's better to do that anyway than rely on a random bloke on a forum I dunno... I've never signed up to one since I don't have a need for third party hosting so I don't know anything about them.
The cheapest product from Dropbox will no doubt continue to be free, as they need to attract customers in that way (it's commercially suicide to do otherwise).
As for cloud services, they will become free if they can somehow make more money to sustain your storage, in any possible way, and it will cost you one way or another. If you want the insurance that they behave, then pay them yourself (obviously).
And for your last question, automatic backup systems exist for years, even for consumers. For example, Apple has a whole range of them.
I hope you can get back to speed soon. I wish I could help but I'm not good in assembler at all...
Games List 2016 - Games List 2015 - Games List 2014
Professionals use Infrared welding technology. I myself use hot air welding because I have no space left for a infrared welder, but they are not that expensive esp. from China (do not believe the horror storys about China stuff burning themself. That is paid propaganda to buy more expensive European or American stuff). I have a lot of equipment from China and it works excellent, never saw one burning. My Chinese (Foxxcon) Nettop with AMD Zacate E-350 CPU is working 24/7 without problems.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20072755-281/dropbox-confirms-security-glitch-no-password-required/
:-P
..well.. at least they FOUND the error!!!!... God only knows what other bugs there are out there on the net that HAVEN'T BEEN REPORTED UPON...
For years I have been lazy about backups always relying on the "quality" of modern hardware to save the day. The funny thing is that it took a mistake of mine a week ago to finally make realise how useful backups can be.
Whilst configuring my new AceKard 2i for use on the DSi XL and ZXDS I was also updating my TomTom sat nav. Now the Micro SD card that I was using with the AceKard needed formatting and I bet you can guess what I did... :cry:
Yep, I formatted the TomTom by mistake. Luckily a very helpful chap on the TomTom forum showed me how to recreate my TomTom but a valubale lesson learned.
Paddy
Thanks neil for the signup - you earned me another free 250Mb!
Now introduce your mates to how easy it is and expand your own storage. :-)
Cheers.
Yeah, I read that but your "normal run-of-the-mill" staff at Drop Box won't have access to your content, only the metadata (filename, filesize, etc.). My stuff is not worth much to worry about it.