Backing up your backup on Amazon Glacier

You would know the value of their digital assets. More so, you would also know the value of backing up your digital assets.

There are various threats to your digital assets, each with different risks* and impacts.Hardware failure is the most imminent, followed by accidental software actions.

The way most people do backup is to make multiple copies of their data on external hard drives and or DVDs, or perhaps tape drives, in this order of possibility since this is the order of ease of use. Which would work good against hardware failures and accidents, These however would not save the data in case of physical crisis: fire, flood, theft etc. Physical threats (fire, flood and theft etc), however lower their risk may be, still have a risk.

Some people do backup on the cloud, making zips and uploading it to their free email accounts. And now there is a plethora of cloud storage. Though cloud storage may work, but given the ever increasing amount of data, this can be prohibitively expensive (or perceived as prohibitively expensive) for most of the people.

Amazon has come up with Glacier, a cold storage. A storage which is inexpensive to maintain. However, it is both time and cost prohibitive to retrieve large amount of backup from Amazon within a very short time. So it is not intended for primary backup.

A strategy I would suggest would be to keep using your primary backup the way it is, perhaps on site, and then use Amazon Glacier for offsite backup. Just to safeguard against any physical risk*.




* Note: I am a little confused in the use the word "risk" in this article. There seem to be a disagreement on the definition of risk in general use. I am not sure if "risk" is the threat, probability, or the undesirable situation. Google says, "A situation involving exposure to danger", Wikipedia states "Risk is the potential that a chosen action or activity (including the choice of inaction) will lead to a loss (an undesirable outcome)", while also pointing to the ISO 31000 (2009) /ISO Guide 73:2002 definition of risk as the "effect of uncertainty on objectives". So please bear with me.

Progress of knowledge and belief

I didn't know

then

I didn't believe if I knew

then

I believed that I always knew

then

I believed that I knew but not always knew

and now

I don't believe if I know.


Perhaps I don't know

I think too much therefore I am too much.

Putting Ideas in the public

I have a gift (or a curse); I can think on many different fronts at the same time, often too many.

One of those fronts is technical / business ideas. There is a ever growing list of ideas that come to my mind. And I want to make use of each of those.

However realizing that I have been not so productive with these ideas. I spend too much time in generating and enhancing these Ideas and contemplating on them and do not focus enough to get through with them to convert them into value. And I know Ideas do not have any value unless they get used.

Lately I have been thinking about this and I thought instead of keeping the ideas to myself in hope that I will get time and focus to implement them why don't I put those Ideas on the web to the public.

This got me thinking....

However, some part of me does not want to let go of the ideas, I see business potentials in many of the these ideas and being a normal person, I wish I could get some benefit out of it. However, I know that stinginess or greed are valuable only if they are productive. Part of me is altruistic and part of me is selfish (later on my interpretation of this). So I want to have a balance in this too.

I have been wondering if it would make any sense that I put my ideas up on the web and if someone gets some inspiration from it, I claim something out of it for myself. The only thing I definitely want is acknowledgement. However, if someone uses  my idea for commercial purposes I think it would only be fair if I ask for some monetary rewards as well.

Having said that and not being sure if this is supported by laws and would be enforceable or not. There are a few other caveats. I know that business don't like competition too mcuh. In my opinion that an assurance that someone will also not take this idea and use it while a business is being developed is quite cruicial for a business. And I want to help businesses since I believe that businesses, even if their incentive is making money, do a lot good for the society.

And I would want to do this on as informal basis as possible.

So, I am willing put the ideas on line and would allow any one to claim the idea for themselves exclusively to make it a better business sense. However I would not appreciate if someone acquires the exclusive rights to the idea and don't use it. So I would put a time cap on the exclusivity of claim of the idea. The time in which an idea should be turned into value, otherwise rights would be deemed returned.

Another dimension would be not for profit use of the ideas, I would definitely be glad if someone picks up my ideas and make a not-for-profit-use of it.

This, however, creates a contention between for-profit and not-for-profit uses of the idea. The solution for this I have in mind is allow people to acquire the rights to the idea either exclusive or non-exlusive with a time cap of value conversion. If they create value within the allocated time the rights become permanant, otherwise the rights are returned. So at a time there can be only one exlusive rights claim or one of more non-exlcusive rights claims. An exlusive right can only be claimed if no other right claim exists at the time.


I am no IP expert, so I need advice from those who know.

Also please comment if this makes any sense whatsover.