How do you backup your wiki and keep it safe?

#1

It has occurred to me that my wiki is probably the most precious piece of data that I have on my drive. Since it would be fairly devastating if I lost it, I thought it might be worth spending a bit of time ensuring that my backup system is as robust as possible.

So I’m just wondering if anyone here has any suggestions on how to all but guarantee that a valuable wiki is never lost?

Currently I use a standard 3-2-1 backup system for all my data anyway, but in addition I’m thinking of periodically using FreeFileSync to save my wiki to a different type of storage as extra insurance (I happen to have a couple of m-discs, but I must admit I don’t really know what they are or if they are suitable for this purpose).

I’m aware that this is probably a little off-topic, but seeing as how TiddlyWiki is a tool that requires users to be responsible for their own data it seems like a worthwhile thing to discuss here.

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"Universal plugin for tiddlywiki backup service" [concept, discussions]
#2

I use an extra layer on the front end by storing my wikis on a network-attached storage unit which uses ZFS. Three redundant copies on different drives, with snapshots taken every 15 minutes and saved for two weeks, daily snapshots saved for six months. (Snapshots are copy-on-write for each file, so they take up almost no space unless you’re changing huge amounts of data on a regular basis.) You can restore a file from a snapshot just by opening a special folder on the drive and finding a version you like, then copying it back.

No good if there’s a firmware bug or the house burns down, but that almost eliminates the possibility of a hard drive failure or user error causing any significant amount of lost data – in TiddlyWiki or anywhere else.

If you only want to give this level of scrutiny to TiddlyWiki though, this is probably overkill – IIRC the TrueNAS unit I’m using starts at $999 USD without disks.

#3

I have mine saved in my local Documents folder which is auto-backed up by MS OneDrive, and I added the Documents folder to my Google Drive backup software too so it backs it up automatically to both each time I save.

#4

So I’m just wondering if anyone here has any suggestions on how to all but guarantee that a valuable wiki is never lost?

As a really cheap and quick “off site” backup, I will sometimes just create a draft email in GMail, and then attach my TiddlyWiki file to that draft. I can even use the email body to enter notes about the backup. Then I just leave it in my GMail drafts folder… and, because I can access my GMail from almost any where I happen to be, I can always retrieve a copy of the saved file just by opening the draft message online and clicking on the attachment link displayed there.

-e

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#5

I use https://syncthing.net/ on most of my devices around the house - once set up it just keeps the selected folders in sync. Similar to a cloud backup service but in my case local.

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#6

Recently switched to running node on a MS OneDrive folder which gives me near infinite tiddler-level version history - loving it so far.

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#7

I will add that syncthing is not a “backup” in the sense that if you make a mistake in your sync’d wiki the mistake will be propagated fairly quickly to your other devices. That included file deletions although deletions can be prevented through configuration.

For archival backups, I use a batch script and robocopy to copy files to an external drive.

#8

I have all my document folderers syned with MS one drive like others here and also make use of each saver or server tiddlywiki backup on top of the document folders.

I occasionally clear old backup copies.

#9

Love the diversity of solutions here!

Here’s mine: my Node folder is backed up daily to a folder synced with Dropbox via a restic-powered cron job. (Another cron job enforces a 10-day max snapshot policy). That way I benefit from the archiving capabilities of a major cloud storage operator all the while only trusting it with locally-encrypted files.

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#10

That’s a pretty sharp solution. Few of my TiddlyWikis have anything I’m too worried about encrypting, but something like that might make me keep (slightly) more sensitive data on hand in them.

I use the built-in download saver in conjunction with my file-management program, Directory Opus. Whenever I work on TWs, I have Opus open in “commander” mode, with two side-by-side directories — one pointed to my Downloads folder, one to the OneDrive folder where my TWs live. As I’m working, I save/download my changes and overwrite the copy in the download folder, periodically dragging it over to my TiddlyWiki folder and letting it overwrite the existing copy.

Some conditional formatting in Opus turns the filenames of files with a 0KB file size red. That serves as an extra alert on the rare occasions when I get a botched download and end up with a 0-byte (empty) TiddlyWiki not to copy it over to my main store.

But even if I do copy it over, OneDrive’s version history can usually save my bacon.

I also try to move any wikis I’m working on out of the downloads folder and into their forever home before I close them, which gives me one last chance to save changes in case I do have a botched download.

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#11

My setup is not complete from a backup POV, but suits me and has worked well for years. Offsite backup has only meant a drive in someone else’s house.

Locally, I use a two-bay Synology NAS with Synology Drive running. In theory, that means there should be three copies in the house (two computers that use that directory, plus the NAS) of my active directories, plus the occasional USB backup.

For version backups, the Synology software is set to keep the last several versions of a file, so that if I wipe out a tiddler with a bad macro, I can go get its .tid file from there. This has happened several times. For some wikis, and all my personal plugin folders, I also make snapshots with git.

Every few years, I make new copies of everything on new drives, keeping the latest-but-one in the desktop computer alongside a new copy. I have replaced the NAS drives once in the past nine years, just because it seemed like time.

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#12

I have access to a Synology NAS my self. If we needed a higher level of security, I may buy a second one and put it in a waterproof / fireproof space like under the front stairs and use its replication process. Or in other businesses run fibre to another building.

The NAS can also sync cloud drive back to itself.

Eventually I want to install two Bob instances (or equivalent multi-access/multi-user server), perhaps in docker packages, one only for the LAN another with external access and proxy server. Then I can go wild publishing multi-user tiddlywikis on the internet (and single file ones with the single file saver in Bob.

#13

Mine’s in GitHub. I keep meaning to script an auto pull on various machines at home and abroad: VPS or two and friend’s computer.