The Doggy Diaries... gone to the dogs!

First I'd like to say I'm sorry that this happened. As you know I moderate for TCH and think they are the best budget hosting company around. Having said that, the key word here is budget host. They backup the servers weekly in case of catistrophic failure. More to protect themselves if a server crashes. The Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policies mention in them that your web site and contents are your responsibility. Which translates into having your own backup policy.

Now how to backup. What I do is anytime I make a static change is do a cpanel full site backup and then download it to my home computer. If the site crashes and they have to restore they can restore from any backup they have and then I upload my backup and open a ticket with the help desk and and ask them to restore that.

For SQL databases like my blog I backup the database using a script called dbsender and have it email me a copy every night. It runs through a cron job. Once they restore my full site backup I have them restore my last database backup. I may lose a comment or two but that would be all that was lost.

The one thing to remember if you are using cron jobs to backup you must copy them either to another server or to your own computer. Leaving them on the same server as your data is not going to help if the server goes down.

This problem that popped up was very difficult to diagnose and then figure out a recovery plan. But they did the best they could.

I feel for your loss of data but it couldn't be prevented. I am still working with the techs to see if they can find a more recent backup for you but it doesn't seem like they are having any luck in that department.

If you have question you have my email address.

First, let me say publicly that I am not mad at TCH at all. I realize, rather sheepishly, that had I been on the ball and taken more time to learn about cron jobs and how to properly back up my website, much of my data loss could have been prevented. And as you've so nicely reminded me, TCH is a budget host. It's hard to remember that fact when I've had my website hosted with them for about 3.5 years now with nary a problem. Problems are usually transparent to the user and restoration is seamless.

So if it came across that I was upset with TCH, I really must apologize because that was not the intent. I was frustrated, especially at myself. As an engineer and as a result of work practices that I must adhere to each day, I should have known better.

I did realize that if something happened to my web space, the backups would be destroyed. However, that wasn't why I started the backups in the first place. Way back when I first put my blog together, I knew absolutely nothing about what I was doing when I was changing this and that. I was hacking away at my blog and afraid that I'd screw something up. So one of the TCH forum moderators explained that I could do a cron job to backup my blog's db at the same time each day, and if I did some serious damage to my blog, they could easily restore it. So I just saved the cron backups to my own webspace, not even thinking that one day I might actually need them when my website crashed.

Now I know better, and I'm going to implement the procedures you've put in place for yourself. They seem simple enough (once I get the hang of it) and, as you say, will help me lose no more than maybe a comment or two.

By the way, is dbsender something I can find on Sourceforge? Having the cron backups emailed to me would be a handy way of getting the backups to a remote location where they won't be affected by server problems.

I understand your frustration and know that you weren't mad at TCH. If I came off sounding condescending I apologize. I would host nowhere else than TCH. They bend over backwards to help customers even if you only have a $4/mo account with them.

You can find information in the TCH forums on dbsender including links to where to download it. There are also several posts explaining how to configure it to work. Just search for dbsender, if you can't find the posts send me an email and I will send you links to the posts.

Sorry the other backup didn't work.

Dang, sorry Kasey. :( I noticed your posts were gone a couple of days ago. Sure seems like TCH has been plagued with problems this week. I can't believe some of the people who have been with them for years and then one little thing goes wrong and they post nasty reviews on the boards. Did they ever post nice things during the time everything was going well? Of course not. Hardware failures suck, but what can you do? :-/

*hugs* to you!! :)

I hear ya, Kristi. At the first sign of trouble, the nervous nellies start moaning and groaning (on the forums). I didn't want to go that route. I issued a couple of help desk tickets and waited a couple of days to give the techs time to work their magic. That's when I contacted Bruce and asked his advice.

I've done my share of griping about the whiners, and I sure as heck wasn't going to become one! After all, everyone who lives in the real world should expect something to foul up once in a while. It's our job, as reasonable, thinking adults, to plan for the "fouling" and do what we can to get our situation back to normal as quickly and easily as possible when something goes awry.

BTW Bruce, you weren't condescending at all. I just tend to become overly concerned about appearing to sound one way when really I meant to sound another. It's my personal psychology that says "One explanation isn't enough. Better to cover your bases and give them two." I am so concerned about being on the up and up with folks and not being two-faced that I'll often overrun at the mouth in an attempt to make sure I've adequately explained something.

"BTW Bruce, you weren't condescending at all. "

Thanks, it's been a rough week and I know I can come off harsh sometimes. My boss tells me I do all the time.

I hadn't checked your blog in awhile. Sorry this happened to you!!

I too am sorry this happened to you. Were it not for my husband's unending work at keeping things backed up for our blogs I'd be in a real mess. I am responsible for regular full-site backups but even then I often realize it's been 5 or 6 weeks since the last one. I really need to do better.

I'm sure Hubby can/will get you set up with a proper backup system and if he dallies let me know. I'll light a wee fire under his cute little tail.

It's been a hard lesson, dear friend, but I think we've all learned from it, one way or t'other. Now pick up and carry on, ok? I've enjoyed seeing your more regular blog posts this past couple months. :)

Take care, Kasey. I came by the other day but couldn't comment so I saved my comment in a Notepad txt file on my desktop. I guess I can "throw it away" now.