IsMyWebsite Free Hosting Development Blog

Mike Is Very Sorry September 15, 2010

Why it took a week to find this out, I’m not sure. Why the data wasn’t backed up someplace else, I’m also not sure. Why one copy, uploaded to his website mikespears.me, was recalled without word, I can’t imagine. And why the server provider (undisclosed) doesn’t also have an additional copy to provide, I’m once again not sure.

But at the moment, Mike has informed me a HDD crash has destroyed what he believes to be the only copy of any client data, and unless any of the above facts change or prove incorrect, the only copy of the data is the one you’ve already requested and received from Mike, for those of you fortunate enough to get this done early. This need only be uploaded, and I need only be provided the web address (URL) of it, and I’ll do the rest.

In the future, this should serve as an important lesson that hosting providers and server providers may offer backup services, they may even guarantee daily backups like our new Node 4 provider WebLyte, but they can tell you absolutely anything they want to. The only copy of data which you should rely on is the one you take yourself.

And I keep mentioning this, but ultimately it seems I get ignored. People don’t listen to what I tell them until it’s too late – after they’ve already lost the efforts of weeks, months, sometimes even years. To back up takes 5 minutes. Schedule it into your daily routine, much like you do getting dressed or brushing your teeth. You wouldn’t forget either of those, so don’t forget your daily backup. Do this and your data will be safe forever.