# What backup approach for uploaded files stored in file system? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [January 1, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-backup-approach-for-uploaded-files-stored-in-file-system/180953 "2010-01-01T23:35:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![greghauptmann](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@greghauptmann](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greghauptmann)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-backup-approach-for-uploaded-files-stored-in-file-system/180953/1 "2010-01-01T23:35:18Z")
Hi, I’m wondering what backup/recovery approach do people use/recommend when they have an application that has not only a database (mysql in my case), but uploaded files that are stored in a file system (using paperclip in my case)? Also part of the question I guess is how much one should trust the hosting provider re how it does or doesn’t make backups of filesystem/ database, and if you had to how quickly they would be able to do a restore for you. Note I’m on [http://dreamhost.com/](http://dreamhost.com/) at the moment by the way, on shared hosting. Thanks – You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups “Ruby on Rails: Talk” group. To post to this group, send email to removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid. For more options, visit this group at [http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en](http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en). ---
**Author:** ![greghauptmann](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@greghauptmann](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greghauptmann)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-backup-approach-for-uploaded-files-stored-in-file-system/180953/2 "2010-01-02T00:23:53Z")
PS - Checked with dreamhost & they do make filesystem (domain) backups, but they quite clearly say they do not guarentee things here, and recommended/offer an approach for you to do a complete domain download every 30 days. The only issue here then is the amount of downloading you’d have to do…which would then make one wonder whether it might be more cost effective storing the uploaded files directly on something like S3 to start with perhaps? any comments On Jan 2, 8:33 am, greghauptmann [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > restore for you. > > Note I’m onhttp://dreamhost.com/at the moment by the way, on shared > hosting. > > Thanks – You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups “Ruby on Rails: Talk” group. To post to this group, send email to removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid. For more options, visit this group at [http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en](http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en). ---
**Author:** ![greghauptmann](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@greghauptmann](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greghauptmann)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 1:20am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-backup-approach-for-uploaded-files-stored-in-file-system/180953/3 "2010-01-02T01:20:04Z")
My advice would be to either setup a script to download the files (and a dump of your database!) to your local machine/server or automate the process and dump it on S3. Or both. If your ISP has a problem, you are _one_ of thousands (or tens of thousands) of clients. In other words, you’re not important – or just as important as everyone else. The relevant questions when talking about backups are… - Can we afford to lose the data? - How long can we afford to not have the site up and available? The more critical the site/data the more important backups – and a (tested) restore plan is. Good luck! -philip On Jan 1, 2010, at 3:22 PM, greghauptmann wrote: > > > > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > . > For more options, visit this group at [http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en](http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en) > . – You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups “Ruby on Rails: Talk” group. To post to this group, send email to removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid. For more options, visit this group at [http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en](http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en). ---
**Author:** ![greghauptmann](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@greghauptmann](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greghauptmann)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-backup-approach-for-uploaded-files-stored-in-file-system/180953/4 "2010-01-04T21:00:20Z")
I have a set of Capistrano recipes that dumps the database and shared assets to another server/machine for each application. You can download them from: [http://github.com/firsthand/application-backup](http://github.com/firsthand/application-backup) What I like about this approach is that all the backup configuration is centralized along with the archives themselves.Need to backup a new application, just add another config. There are some other alternatives here as well: > **[Category: Backups - The Ruby Toolbox](https://www.ruby-toolbox.com/categories/backups.html)** > > Explore and compare open source Ruby libraries HTH, Nicholas * * * Nicholas H. Ruby on Rails Developer removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid Firsthand Web Design and Development Website > **[Firsthand Web Development, Ruby on Rails, Montréal](http://blog.firsthand.ca)** > > All things Ruby on Rails, Content Management Systems and Web Development Twitter [http://twitter.com/firsthand](http://twitter.com/firsthand) Blog > **[Firsthand Web Development, Ruby on Rails, Montréal](http://blog.firsthand.ca/)** > > All things Ruby on Rails, Content Management Systems and Web Development On Jan 1, 5:33 pm, greghauptmann [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > restore for you. > > Note I’m onhttp://dreamhost.com/at the moment by the way, on shared > hosting. > > Thanks – You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups “Ruby on Rails: Talk” group. To post to this group, send email to removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid. For more options, visit this group at [http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en](http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en). ---
**Author:** ![greghauptmann](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@greghauptmann](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greghauptmann)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-backup-approach-for-uploaded-files-stored-in-file-system/180953/5 "2010-07-07T17:42:39Z")
greghauptmann wrote: > Hi, > > I’m wondering what backup/recovery approach do people use/recommend > when they have an application that has not only a database (mysql in > my case), but uploaded files that are stored in a file system (using > paperclip in my case)? Hi, So what did you end up using? Incremental backups? ---
**Author:** ![greghauptmann](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@greghauptmann](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greghauptmann)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-backup-approach-for-uploaded-files-stored-in-file-system/180953/6 "2010-07-07T18:03:47Z")
On 07 Jul 2010, at 17:42, Fernando P. wrote: > > I’m wondering what backup/recovery approach do people use/recommend > > when they have an application that has not only a database (mysql in > > my case), but uploaded files that are stored in a file system (using > > paperclip in my case)? > > Hi, > > So what did you end up using? Incremental backups? We use rsync to synchronize folders between two servers, it’s always possible to do some kind of archiving or revision management on the remote server (which is what we do too). Best regards Peter De Berdt