Sci/Tech Why Mirroring Is Not a Backup Solution

[enouwee]

Journalspace.com has fallen and can't get up.

The post on their site describes how their entire database was overwritten through either some inconceivable OS or application bug, or more likely a malicious act. Regardless of how the data was lost, their undoing appears to have been that they treated drive mirroring as a backup and have now paid the ultimate price for not having point-in-time backups of the data that was their business.

Read on.

 

[AceHart]

" And for that we are very sorry. "

Well... seems a bit simple for losing everything. There's people that spent some time and energy there, regardless of value.
And all they find there is "Oh, soooo sorry...."???

Fortunately, quality sites always use quality solutions, right?

 

[Prometheus]

I really can't believe they actually didn't bother to make backups at intervals. It just leaves me dumbfounded.

 

[Varine]

They could pay some people a lot of money to recover it, I guess.

 

[Chris B]

They could pay some people a lot of money to recover it, I guess.

Don't think so, data can only be recovered if it exists on the drive. If you delete data, yes, you can restore it. Once you overwrite it, that's another story. That's why programs which completely destroy data will overwrite that specific area with random 0s or 1s. When you delete it, btw, it's still there until it's overwritten by some data. In this case, he actually overwrote everything, and the idiots who owned the company never backed anything up.

Is it just me, or does this sound like an easy way out? They don't sound very mad :/ If they had just said "We're leaving," I don't think people would take it as easily :/ Or am I the only one who thinks this is a possibility?

-Chris

 

[Rapmaster]

Article mentions that a recovery lab already tried but couldn't get anything. Also hints that they are wondering about sabotage.

Even when data has been overwritten, it can theoretically still be recovered because of stuff I don't understand that relates to magnets. It's not a sure thing but it's possible. That's why government agencies have hard drive disposal rules about overwriting each sector multiple times, or they will sometimes just destroy the hard drive and maybe even store the remaining scraps in a vault.

 

[Samuraid]

There are warnings everywhere, advice and stories just about everywhere you look on the 'net, describing what has happened to sites without back-ups. If people still don't get it, with all the warnings out there, it's difficult to empathize with people who lose things after not backing data up regularly.

• A single server drive is never sufficient.
• A RAID array (while better), is never sufficient.
• An extra back-up drive in the same server is also not sufficient.

Nevertheless, I do feel sorry for the journalspace.com team. Even good and diligent people occasionally have to deal with terrible mishaps.