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fheld

"Is image.canon free to use? Yes, it is free to use."

from: image.canon/st/en/faq.html

so as of now there is no recurring revenue added as of now

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And there won't be at this rate. Besides, it is now a net negative for their users.

'The cloud is not a backup' should be a mantra that everybody that uses the cloud for their work and personal data be familiar with.

> The cloud is not a backup

Of course the cloud is a backup. Why do you think it isn’t? Because it may break? All storage may break.

The cloud is a backup. Like all backups, you need multiple independent backups.

Ok, let me spell that out more clearly. Having something stored in the cloud does not mean that you no longer need backups.

And you need to check that you can actually restore from backups - which is a step a remarkable number of people forget to do.

I was a Unix administrator responsible for backup many years ago. When I asked the manager of the IT department for funds to do a disaster recovery exercise I was turned down flat and told that no amount of discussion would change his mind.

We knew that we could restore individual files because users asked for them when they had accidentally deleted them but we had no idea whether or not our procedures for restoring the systems themselves would work.

Luckily we never had to find out.

321 rule for backups: 3 copies, 2 different media, at least 1 off site

Something is not a backup if you haven't tested that you can restore from it.

All backups not in your direct physical possession should be encrypted before being written.

Exactly this. I have onsite, and I have a cloud backup. They mitigate different risks, even for personal data.

The cloud is a backup. Just like any other backup you should test restore or at least verify the data regularly.

I trust Google more than a random hard drive (to not lose random bits) in this respect.

And unless your admin configured it away, GSuite allows takeout just like GMail afaik?

> GSuite allows takeout just like GMail afaik

Hm, interesting ok, I will look into that. I didn't think of using takeout. Thank you.

The only option I found before was to allow some random third party application access to all my files which was not an option.

It's a bit annoying for restore since it can take hours to be ready for download. Still better than Amazon Glacier though :D

Better something than nothing. They must have changed this recently, even a few months ago attempts to bulk download Gsuite data led to error messages.

It's Gmail, not GMail. :)

Also, I believe all Google products have to support takeout, just like they have to support deletion within whatever the legally mandated time frame is (months?).

I use the Cloud to store all my work and it's my way of backup. I trust Google's capacity to save my files. But, this being said, you SHOULD have other ways of backing up your data, like another HDD, storing locally in your PC too.

Being too careful is never enough.

Sure, Google can save your files. But will it? and will you never lose access to Google?

The problem with these big cloud providers is there are employees and robots with a big "disable account button", but there's no one you can call to talk about reenabling your account. I don't know what the odds are that Google is going to hit that "disable account" button on your account, it's probably incredible small, but if it would ever happen they might have permanently deleted all your stuff before you get far enough in their customer support system to have them reinstate your account.

If my livelihood depended on Google storing my files, I'd store a backup of my data somewhere that I can access in person if push comes to shove. As a matter of fact it does, and I do.

Well I always sync my files between two PCs so I always have them stored on these. If anything goes wrong with any of these PCs (both) I always have Google. I also do some backups on both my externals HDDs so yeah I don't see all this failing anytime soon.

> Sure, X can save your files. But will it? and will you never lose access to X?

Google, DropBox, a storage server in your house, external hard drives, tapes, burnt DVDs... you can swap in any backup system there and it's exactly the same. Google's cloud is just as valid as a backup as any other.

True, the problem is people thinking their files being stored at Google means they don't need another location for backing them up.

>> I trust Google's capacity to save my files

Sure but do you Trust Google's AI not pick up something from you, or a network you happen to be connected to then determine your account is in violation of their ToS at which time all of your accounts are suspended.

Which if that happens you better hope you can get enough social media attention to have your issue attract and actual person with authority in google to do something...

If not your SOL as is your data that google "reliably saved" for you

One of the advantages of having another independent backup is that, if you need it, you not only have a backup somewhere other than a specific cloud provider but you also have a backup that's being made via a completely different mechanism.

But I know that, careful as I am, I still feel vulnerable if, for example, I lose my main data disk.

3 copies, 2 different media, 1 offsite

No single repository of data is ever a backup

A Backup requires

* 3 Copies of the data

* 2 Copies on Different Media / Services (i.e Amazon Photos + Cannon Images)

* At least 1 copy in a Geographic diverse location...

aka the 3-2-1 Rule

If you do not have those 3 items at a MINIMUM then your data is not backed up

I guess thousands of companies and startups on hn would have a problem if amazon lost files on s3. Its easy to say the cloud is no backup, but its hard sometimes to have all data in multiple locations synced.

well it is a backup. if you loose the backup but have the original, there is no problem. if you loose the original but have the backup on a cloud, there is no problem.

of course if you loose both at the same time, that's bad. actually the best thing is of course to use multiple backup locations

It seems like there’s two types of backups people think about: Archival and Current. In the case of the former the “original” may very well be the cloud hosted backup. But I suppose the solution is the same regardless: backup time multiple providers and or locations.

As an aside, how the hell does Canon have their trademark as a TLD? Google, at least, I understand, because they control a sizeable portion of DNS; but Canon?

Any eligible organization can apply and go through the process with the somewhat new gTLD Program: https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/global-support/faqs...

Yeah no... I might be wrong but the last time I checked it cost around $200K to register a TLD. If you pay $200K, you get a TLD.

Selling customer data is a recurring stream. There’s likely also something in there about selling access to photo sets for training purposes.

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