Great advice for all of us from Ernie:

  Paul

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ernie Kent 
To: Paul Drake 
Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2006 11:00 AM
Subject: Re: [OHPICKAW] Re: CD's


Paul,

As a professional webmaster I would also add the following
considerations:

1. Anything on a web server is stored on a hard disk and those
blow out every few years of operation.

2. If hosted on a professional hosting service there are
(hopefully) tape backups, but those too are subject to problems
and may be missing, not made, or damaged in writing. Further, if
there is a fire, probably both the disk drives and the backup
tapes are lost. I've too often lost a client's web site to a disk
failure only to find the host's backups were bad or non-existant.

3. If the domain name expires (usually renewed annually) you can
only access the site through the IP number. If the host changes
the machine ( a frequent occurance) the IP number changes. You
could wind up with your data intact but no way to access it.

My own personal solution is to put everything on CDs, along with
copies of the programs and operating systems required to read
that data. (The programs and operating systems we used ten years
ago are generally no longer available.) If the technology moves
beyond CDs I will move my data to the new technology. I should
(but am as yet too lazy) keep copies of the CDs in my bank vault
against the possibility of fire.

Best,

Ernie Kent



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