Amstrad repository.

[1024MAK]

It's down again and word on the street is that it is so broken and the workload so great it's doubtful it will ever be fully working again. Apparently a different team are working on a new Speccy resource using the same Infoseek database.

WoS is back online

Mark

[SRS]

I have downloaded it as well  . At least, the contents of those two places should be safe now 

So did I with ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/

[Gryzor]

I'm listening...


The CPCWiki takes, IIRC, ca 100GBs.


But the major problem is, I think, deciding what "everything" is. Sure, a copy of all the disk images or the GamebaseCPC for instance is easy enough to define (though not to update, mind you - it would take a few people watching out for stuff, and keep in mind that even here on the Wiki we miss lots of stuff!), but with sites etc it becomes more difficult. Say you mirror the CPCWiki - what are you going to do without the database?


I have a big archive containing most of the CPCZone stuff (courtesy of an anonymous donor) but what can I do with it since I don't have the db?

[Executioner]

I have a big archive containing most of the CPCZone stuff (courtesy of an anonymous donor) but what can I do with it since I don't have the db?

What does the archive contain? Everything except the forum posts?

[Gryzor]

What does the archive contain? Everything except the forum posts?

I'll have to check, really, but I think so.

[ronaldo]

This thread is really interesting. Thinking on what you all have said, I imagine something like a distributed-mirrorred-hosting. The idea would be to have a central "entity" like WOS, CPCWiki or whatever, but replicated among many individual supporters. Similar to bittorrent, but for keeping data and access safe. With a solution like this, the number of complete copies would be a measure for how safely data is guarded.


I'm digressing. Maybe we should start with something simple as any kind of automatic mirroring software and some servers. I can try to start a software preservation project at my university to get space for mirroring. It will also be nice to contact other entities, like archive.org, as suggested.


Count on me for any help on preservating software

[Gryzor]

By the way, who does everybody the safekeeper will be? The new wiki server has tons of space left, so, I don't know, maybe we could set up something here, too...

[Munchausen]

@Gryzor while we're on he topic, do you have arrangements or a second in command for the worst case scenario where something happens to you? Like if the C64 scene kidnap you and hold the site to ransom for example?!

TBH I think the easiest thing if the whole site needed to be backed up would be for Gryzor to keep an off site backup taken once every month or so (or less if the incremental differences are small enough) and arrange someone to be in place in case anything happened to him.

A bit off topic. At my last job our off site backups meant a tape drive backup started every night around the time work finished, that was physically removed from site at the end of the following day (we had to remember to remove the old tape and put the new one in every night). In this case we were unable to connect the relevant machine to any outside network for security reasons though. We reused a lot of tapes, but we would at any time have one tape for each of the last 7 days, one from each of the last 4 weeks, one from every single month going back a couple of years, and beyond that one for every 6 months.

[Gryzor]

That's a very valid question, @Munchausen , and the answer is yes: there's a second admin who works mostly on the server side and has full access, so it is expected that in the event where I'm suddenly recalled to my home planet there will be someone who can take care of things.


Backups are taken every day and stored, indeed, off-site. If anyone can think of a better scheme, let me know!

[Grim]

So we do have a BOFH in the server room! :)

[Gryzor]

Well, he's a really nice guy actually, but I had forgotten all about BOFH... geez I got some catching up to do!

[Zoe Robinson]

Oh man, BOFH. Thank you so much for reminding me of this.

[ukmarkh]

You could just use two different storage locations, linked over IP and use 'RoboCopy' to sync changes in data. There's lots of other options, but this is free... As mentioned in a previous post of mine, offsite tape backups are s good option, but there's investment needed for such things.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Gryzor]

We do that by syncing the server to a remote one already. As for tapes... Yeah, well, if people can pool together some money to get me a tape backup solution, I can do that on a weekly basis

[Munchausen]

We do that by syncing the server to a remote one already. As for tapes... Yeah, well, if people can pool together some money to get me a tape backup solution, I can do that on a weekly basis

If you have local and remote backups and a second person to take over in your place I think everything is covered. I don't feel any concern that the site will disappear.

[Gryzor]

Pity, I was really hoping people would buy me a tape backup system

[Munchausen]

Pity, I was really hoping people would buy me a tape backup system

Well it really is a pain changing the disks all the time! But having more redundancy is never a bad thing when it comes to data preservation!

[seanb]

Pity, I was really hoping people would buy me a tape backup system

I have a sealed C90 tape if that'll help  :

[Gryzor]

I have a sealed C90 tape if that'll help  :

A good start! Like, what, six games worth of tape? Let's go!