What would be the possibility of having Amazon S3 integration into DTP and DTP Office? Our databases are so critical that a service like Amazon’s S3 as a secure offline backup solution would be a nice addition.
Backups are good, and off-site backups further protect against things that could go bad.
Online storage is improving in size and bandwidth capacity and is likely to become highly competitive.
There are a number of comments about the pros and cons of online storage at http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/007624.html. Personally, I still want full control of my data.
I’ll take this as another opportunity to recommend Scripts > Export > Backup Archive for DT Pro and DT Pro Office users. I don’t trust my backups to any pre-set frequency. Whenever I’ve made significant changes to a database, meaning that I’ve invested time and effort in adding or editing content, at break time I’ll invoke Scripts > Export > Backup Archive – it takes just a few seconds. When I return from break the database has been verified and optimized and has current internal and external backups. Those are Very Good Things.
The external archive is the smallest possible compressed and dated archive of the database. Periodically I copy the archive file to an external device, such as an external hard drive, another computer or a CD or DVD disc. For extra safety, keep a copy offsite.
I haven’t had to resort to a backup in almost three years. But there’s no guarantee that my hard drive won’t fail, my laptop won’t be stolen, or any of a number of other catastrophes won’t befall my data. My databases are worth a great deal more to me than the computers that host them. It’s just common sense to back up those databases.
I agree wholeheartedly that my databases are more valuable than any of my computers. Though online storage isn’t a new idea, the Amazon S3 service is worth a look as it’s not just simple offsite online storage, but a distributed storage solution. Presently I am making backups as you suggest and putting them offsite as well. Thanks for the thorough reply.