FW: sad news - latest "Memorial" press release

[Paul B. Gallagher]

Boris Dagaev wrote:

> I am sympathetic with the cause and readily admit that I don't know
> enough details, but can't help thinking: this particular statement
> about government induced paralysis sounds a bit like a purposeful
> tearjerker. Didn't they make a copy of the database on a server
> abroad? Or am I being too simplistic?

Perhaps so, perhaps not. There are several factors that could have come 
into play (and I may have overlooked others besides these):

1) Employee laziness, lack of foresight, confusion, poor training or 
computer illiteracy, etc. Unless backups are easy (ideally, automated), 
they will not happen.

2) Bandwidth: A large file, even if compressed, takes a long time to 
transmit, and not all ISP's will be happy carrying hundreds of megabytes 
without imposing additional charges. For example, mine limits me to 
about 200 MB per day except between 2 AM and 7 AM, when I can go crazy 
and download about 150-200 MB/hr.

3) Security concerns: Do you want your most valuable property in someone 
else's hands? This includes the carrier; walls may have ears.

4) Databases are not static things. The backup will be a snapshot of the 
database as of the date and time it was made, so a week-old backup will 
not include this week's data. This means you must make regular backups, 
not just one. If you make incremental backups, there must be a way to 
assemble them into a usable whole.

5) Malfunction: Backup hardware and software can malfunction, and 
depending on the design, the user may be more or less aware of that fact.

Without understanding how each of these factors affected the situation, 
it's impossible to judge how much data was lost and how (ir)responsible 
the owners were.

-- 
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

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