76
linuxxx
7y

Although this is gonna sound like bullshit, this happened to me for real. Since that moment I use even more backup services AND I regularly check EVERYTHING.

Had a backup of my important data (still used mainstream services back then) on:

- Hotmail email attachments
- Google Drive
(Both link to another email account).
- A few data backup services
- DVD
- USB
- External HDD.

I wanted to copy some backup data over again:

1. Walk to my staple of HDD's, tried to grab it, somehow missed and knocked the whole fucking pile over. HDD broken.

2. Well fuck, let's go put some of my clothes in the washing machine for clean clothes at study/monday. After this shit being in the washing machine for just a few minutes, I realized my backup USB stick was in one of my pockets, in the washing machine. FUCK. Couldn't stop it so I waited till the end, tried it and well, it wasn't working at all anymore.
Fuck my fucking life slightly right now.

3. *remembers about the backup disc*. I forgot to keep it in its case, very deep scratches and so on, unreadable. FUCKING FUCK.

4. Right, I still have those online services! *tries to login to all of them (including hotmail/gdrive) but forgot the password. Well, let's login to my backup account then (hadn't used that one in years). Account was suspended for some reason.
Started to get really anxious because every online backup service was linked to that email address.
Contacted customer support. They really couldn't restore it because of some issues they weren't allow to tell me. Sorry but I couldn't retain access.

5. Well this is fucked up. Couldn't get into any of the backup/hotmail/gdrive accounts anymore.
I tried contacting their support but never got any replies.

This was the moment I realized I fucked up big fucking time because damn, this stuff at this level hardly happens to anyone.

FUCK.

Comments
  • 22
    I was waiting for this to happen to someone..
  • 4
  • 12
    @linuxxx anybody. It turns out that you were the unlucky guy tho.
  • 3
  • 4
    KeePass, better organization

    There's a reason I upload all my photos to Google Photos... Privacy be damned

    Beauty of the cloud is some big company backs it up for you for free and won't fail unless they go bust... But yes everything is a trade off.

    Also, I have certain keys I don't throw away...password reuse be damned...
  • 5
    @billgates I use MEGA, TransIP's Stack and own servers for backup now. If they don't end to end encrypt themselves I do it offline first. And yeah I use password managers now haha
  • 1
    @linuxxx wasnt MEGA's owner jailed?
  • 3
    @billgates That process is actually still ongoing but he's building a megaupload 2.0 :)
  • 1
    @linuxxx actually for your email password u could just make it the same as your PC login. That's actually why I will never forget my Hotmail account password even though I rarely use it...

    Windows 10 makes it so hard to separate them... basically I need to login using the account...
  • 2
    @trubesv he used to use Google.
  • 1
    Btw Crash plan home was recently discontinued! For any body use it?
  • 3
    @linuxxx, something similar happened to me recently ( 3-4months ago), I used to have LastPass( password manager ) to store my passwords and I added to it 2step authentication on my phone, and then I added 2step authentication to everything ( steam, google, Facebook,gog etc..).

    Without knowing I did a factory reset on my phone and BAM I realized I was locked up. I tried to contact the support of LastPass but they never responded. Tried to find an email account for google support but none was found, even their password recovery system didn't allowed me to get my password back.

    And so on, I contacted every support I could find, things were getting nicer, gog support gave me the password, steam support gave me the password( well those were the accounts that interested me the most )
  • 2
    @billgates I never use the same passwords, compromise of multiple accounts is harder that way :)
  • 1
    @andr3w000 I had a similar problem once. Tried this two step authentication method with Google Authenticator on Guildwars 2. Then one day without thinking about it, I reset my phone and suddenly there was no possible way to access my gw2 accout anymore. Luckily the support restored the account when I gave them my serial. Although I like the authenticator system, I had never used it again.
  • 3
    @andr3w000 Yeah with 2FA it's REALLY important to check what recovery method is offered. It's usually either a text to a backup phone number, or a backup code you're supposed to write down. Really, do not skip that.
  • 1
    @MissDirection @trubesv Used to, yes. I was a fool myself but I've learned :)
  • 1
    I think I'll get a dedicated phone for 2fa
    A crappy one I forgot somewhere in my house, offline 24/7, no sim card
    I won't reset it (why would I do that?) And it will offer minimum surface of attack
    The problem would be carrying an other device but it's handleable
  • 0
    @linuxxx unable to login to backup accounts when needed is easier that way 😁

    Besides when quantum computers are usable, we're all screwed anyway
  • 0
    @billgates Nope not screwed nu default. Although its going to be harder, we will get other solutions.
    Saying it like you're saying is (imo) giving up by default and I'd we do that, we're already fucked. :)
  • 0
    @bittersweet Google has backup codes... I have those stored on my backup HD.
  • 0
    @linuxxx but first we'll be screwed, then after losing a lot of money maybe we'll think of something... Maybe...
  • 0
    @billgates There's already being worked on open source solutions :) (no source but read it on tech sites etc)
  • 0
    @linuxxx but the quantum computer will be able to read the source code and find a tiny bug at like the sub-compiler level going thru a loophole that exists in another dimension
  • 0
    @billgates Then we fix that :)
  • 0
    @linuxxx and apparently you can already time travel 😱
  • 1
  • 0
    @linuxxx how to fix a bug we don't even know exists?
  • 0
    @billgates Well, providing it's open source, we'd just unit test our asses off xD
  • 0
    @linuxxx but wouldn't that be like asking a crook how to catch himself? 😂

    **Bug is in another dimension that we can't see except through a quantum computer**
  • 0
    I'm a bit curious as to why you don't have your own little offline backup box..

    So far regular cron jobs using rsync through borg to back my stuff onto zfs mirrored disks has served me well. :)
  • 0
    The USB drive should work eventually
  • 1
    @lotd I'm kinda curious what kind of ultra sensitive contents needs an online backup and 10+ copies
  • 2
    @billgates the "homework" folder :D ;)
  • 2
    @billgates doesn't necessarily need to be ultra sensitive, just takes a bit of paranoia.. :)
  • 2
    @billgates Mostly financial docs. And finding 10+ copies over the top is subjective :)
  • 0
    @trubesv Too badly I've used them a lot :/
  • 0
    @matsaki95 Yeah, I usually just wait a few days before using it
  • 0
    @matsaki95 cool story bro!
  • 0
    This is why I have time machine to NAS to external service plus a few HDDs with my precious data. Losing your data once is one too many times, lesson learned.
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