Google Drive issues provide a reminder that file syncing services are not backup replacements

A lot of people use file syncing services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, or Box and assume that this is sufficient protection from data loss. Although they do protect against a certain amount of protection for things like a broken computer or stolen laptop they are in general not a replacement for a real backup solution.

This point has unfortunately recently been made evident to a group of Google Drive users where some users have lost access to their data stored in the cloud syncing service.

The problem with syncing software in general is that if a file is removed on one computer all local copies are also immediately removed. In the case of the problem with Google Drive mentioned above it seems like an issue in the cloud service causing files to disappear and also removing the local copies of the files.

You want to make sure that any backup strategy you have is not vulnerable to a single point of failure and the file syncing services do simply not provide that. Using Underscore Backup you can set it up to create both a local backup as well as a cloud backup to be sure that no matter what happens there will never be any data loss with no single point of failure neither with your computers nor there would be a catastrophic event with the backup service.

Photo by LARAM on Unsplash

New release with improved directory handling

A new release is available for download now supporting the restoration of directory permissions and also better handles recording deleted directories in restore operations. Previously only the files had their permissions restored.

This follows the previous release that includes moving most previously command line only functionality into the UI and optionally collecting backup statistics to the service.

Get it now from the downloads page.

Image by Ludmila Uleva from Pixabay

Alert emails for backup issues available now for all subscribers

As of today Underscore Backup users will now receive email alerts if any of their Underscore Backups are encountering issues as long as they have opted into receiving billing emails (Otherwise the service does not retain your email address, so no emails can be sent).

Alerts include either not performing a backup in the last 3 days or additionally if any serious error is encountered. The latter will only be included if the recently introduced backup usage reporting is enabled as the errors encountered are part of the usage being reported.

This email alert will allow you to easily ensure that all of your installed copies of Underscore Backup are running smoothly without constant supervision.

Account hijacking protection now enabled by default for all Underscore Backup users including the free tier

Any account on Underscore Backup now has account hijacking protection enabled by default. What this entails is that certain high-risk operations now require that all active backups need to be turned off for a default of 3 days (Configurable between 0 and 7). This means that if your online account was compromised you would also need to turn off all your running backups before an attacker will be able to assume control of your account.

The operations that are as of now deemed critical to your account and require a certain amount of backup inactivity are.

  • Deleting your account.
  • Changing the email tied to the account.
  • Loosening of the hijacking protection settings.
  • Deleting a source (Only requires the specific source to be deleted to be paused).

You can also optionally limit the private key recovery feature in the same way however this feature is not enabled by default since it would increase the Restore Time Object in the case where the private key password is lost.

You can change the account inactivity settings by going to the Danger tab in your account settings as illustrated in the screenshot below.

Image by Kris from Pixabay

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