I've read over the agreements several times, and I can't find anything that guarantees Amazon will not lose or corrupt your data. Do they make any such guarantees? Can I trust S3 as my long term backup storage?
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A:
According to wikipedia s3 does not make any guarantees about data loss, but that statement does not have a source, so take it with a grain of salt
Alex.Bullard
2009-07-15 17:34:08
how can an absence of guarantee have a source?
flybywire
2009-07-15 17:35:59
@Andy, its called a disclaimer. Something along the lines of "Amazon makes no guarantees of data loss or corruption".
Brandon
2009-07-15 17:37:16
@andy If the Amazon S3 TOS contained/contains a sentence like "We make no guarantees"
Sinan Ünür
2009-07-15 17:37:48
There - it's been added now :)
rwmnau
2009-07-15 18:26:31
+1
A:
No. S3 has no guarantee that customer data will not be lost. I would not trust S3 as your sole backup storage.
This is also the case with other online storage companies such as Mozy.
Your best bet is a comprehensive backup solution that includes physical backups, as well as online and offsite storage.
Alan
2009-07-15 17:35:04
+1
A:
As far as I know, they make absolutely no guarantees.
You could probably trust them, simply for the fact Amazon does try to have the best customer relations, and having a reputation for losing data probably would hurt their business.
I would still keep personal backups though. Solely trusting any online storage solution is a bad idea.
Brandon
2009-07-15 17:35:30
+1
A:
I could be wrong, but I believe Mozy has a guarantee of some sort, if you're interesting in an alternative.
Mike C.
2009-07-15 17:36:22
A:
I've seen posts from people saying s3 keeps 3 copies of every file, but haven't found a page on Amazon to confirm that yet.
David
2009-07-15 17:50:33
+11
A:
See Amazon's terms, specifically, section 11.5:
WE AND OUR LICENSORS DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE OFFERINGS WILL FUNCTION AS DESCRIBED, WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE, OR FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS, OR THAT THE DATA YOU STORE WITHIN THE SERVICE OFFERINGS WILL BE SECURE OR NOT OTHERWISE LOST OR DAMAGED.
Sinan Ünür
2009-07-15 17:54:05
A:
No. Plain and simple. Their SLA does have an uptime "guarantee," but that's the extent of it.
Jason
2009-07-15 18:00:12
+2
A:
The general consensus is no guarantees.
But if there was a guarantee and, despite their best efforts, your data was lost or corrupted the guarantee can't recreate your data. Many guarantees are limited to returning what you have paid for the failed service or giving you another (blank) disc; and most guarantees would disappear if the company no longer offers the service (most services will give you your data back today but cannot offer guarantees for next year or in ten years' time).
If this really concerns you, consult a suitably qualified lawyer.
Otherwise (or in addition), be diligent in taking backups and securing data you don't want (or can't afford) to lose. Don't trust any one method, whatever guarantees come with it. Test restore mechanisms regularly (especially if a restore would use different software, drive or machine than the one used for the backup). For on-line services also make sure you have a separate record of any authentication credentials needed to access the service!
mas
2009-07-15 18:01:49
A:
It is impossible to do any kind of guarantee that your data will not be lost. The best you can hope is to receive some kind of remedy which wont help you much if what you need is your data. This being said, S3 is probably much much better in keeping your data then you can do by yourself. Unless you do multiple copies of everything in separate data-centers that is.
Vitaly Kushner
2009-08-23 13:51:30