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The capricious killing of Google Reader led me to Google Takeout, a package of data export tools that is part of the wider Google Data Liberation Project, supported by a team of Google engineers. These companies ask us to entrust our data to their cloud services with no guarantee that they will stick around, this case is making me even more vigilant about protecting and backing up my data.
Google Takeout includes:
- +1’d sites
- Blogger
- Buzz
- Contacts and Circles
- Docs
- Google+ Profile
- Google+ Pages
- Google+ Stream
- Picasa Web Albums
- Reader
- Voice
- YouTube
Further services can be individually exported.
I immediately exported everything in 2 zip files totaling 2.4 GB, size almost entirely due to my Picasa Web Albums. Services can be exported in a bundle or one by one.
Nice to have a backup though this is only a point-in time-snapshot. Future backups require whole new downloads.
I use several other ongoing backup services for my data and online accounts that I will cover in a separate post.
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Leo LaPorte (“The Tech Guy”) recommends (someone else’s concept of) “3-2-1: three copies, on two different media (DVD, hard drive, thumb drive, etc.) and one off-site!”
You need to keep your backups at another location. A GOOD friend, family member or in a bank safe deposit box.
When it comes to photos I have multiple back up copies at home. I only use Picasaweb to share pictures. I think I have everything on about 3 different hard drives. Hopefully my condo never burns down. 🙂
It’s good to have a reminder that you get what you pay for.
I’m sure you’ll cover this in your online backup services (because the data is so critical), but relying on a free service is a dubious proposition. Seen enough come and go over the years to avoid them like the plague.