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What I Would Do If I Ran Tarsnap

(www.kalzumeus.com)
801 points tnorthcutt | 2 comments | 03 Apr 14 16:33 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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rsync ◴[03 Apr 14 16:58 UTC] No.7524164[source]▶
As someone who knows a little something about this business, and who has been excited and enthusiastic about tarsnap from day one, I hope Colin pays no attention to what you have written and continues to provide his service (note, I didn't say "run his business") just as he has.

I want to live in a world where tarsnap is sold for picodollars.

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phillmv ◴[03 Apr 14 17:01 UTC] No.7524205[source]▶
Well, I hope he changes the "auto deleted if you don't check your email for 14 days" and just charges my credit card accordingly. Operating on pre-payment is kind of nutty.
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dalke ◴[03 Apr 14 17:17 UTC] No.7524363[source]▶
The "truly paranoid" would check backup status email more than once every fortnight. ;)
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kybernetyk ◴[03 Apr 14 18:33 UTC] No.7524987[source]▶
What happens if I get in an accident and get in a coma for longer than 14 days? What if I get arrested? What if I go on my honeymoon and simply forget about the backup? What if ... truly paranoid people are paranoid about that possibility, too.

I know I am and that this 14 days clause is the only reason why I am not using tarsnap.

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1. dalke ◴[03 Apr 14 19:45 UTC] No.7525780[source]▶
"What-if"s are fun! (Still operating under the ";)" from earlier.)

What if auto-renew were added, but you're robbed and knocked into a coma for 2 months. In the meanwhile, the credit card company notices the suspicious transactions, can't get a hold of you, and cancels the card. Auto-renew occurs 3 days later, but the card number on file doesn't work. Colin Percival calls your phone number, and gets no answer for a month. Then what?

If you're truly paranoid, you might have to consider that possibility as well.

With every scenario and solution you can come up with which require intervention, I can double down on and think of a worse-case scenario where your solution won't work and you'll lose your data. A possible non-intervention solution could work, which is to front-load the account to the limits of your paranoia.

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2. freebs ◴[03 Apr 14 21:12 UTC] No.7526738[source]▶
What if the payments were taken out of an account automatically and you could load up a reserve with money. This would allow for calculations on your usage:money without it being a major factor on immediate loss of service.