The post I did not want to make

[WoodPirate]

Sam,

This hosting company is supposed to be staffed by IT professionals. They had the training, they make the money. They charge you, as I've heard, hansomely for their service. The data loss was inexcusable on their part and they should offer between 3 - 6 months. How much business could it cost them if word of this got out? Hammer 'em for the extra time. I think you'll get it. One month free and some backups??? Man, please!!! That's the kind of conciliatory offer that AOL ***** slaps their customers with.

Get what ya can, Sam. We're with ya!

[Holbren]

I see a lot of money flowing in but if you fall short Sam, let me know. The BT3 group has been good to me.

Here is a little FYI on the technology side.

1. If you are going to backup remotely, keep in mind that FTP or any other mean os bringing the files down eats into your monthly allotment of bandwidth.

2. I turned an old computer into a raid setup for my important files. It's not likely that 2 hard drives will die at the same time. Put a UPS on it if you are worried about brownouts or other potential damaging situations.

3. If you decide to backup yourself, just FTP into the drive and bring down every file, easy to do. WSFTP is a nice program. If you buy backup software, make sure you can map an internet directory or IP address.

Hope all works out.

Brian

[Russianwolf]

Sam, I wish my brother were still doing his ISP business, I'd of sent you his way as he knows how to get and KEEP customers happy. But that's neither here nor there. You do what's right for you, you have my support.

I'm still temping, but I just got my first paycheck from a new assignment. I will actually be able to catch up on my mortgage now. You let me know when you need some funds and they are on the way.

This group of people came to my aid without being asked when I really needed it the most. I will NEVER be able to repay them in kind for what they prevented. BT3er's stick together. Period.

[ChrisD]

Sam, sorry for the late response but you do have my support.

[lofty900]

As has been said in all the posts, this is a gtreat site very helpful to me and I will support however I can. I made a donation through Paypal and will help whenever I can.
Thom

[tpratt]

I was just doing some recon on how your images are stored. It looks like they are indexed in the DB and the download.asp script sends the referenced image. Are the jpg files made publicly accessible via HTTP? If a virtual directory is created pointing to the image files, it can certainly be scripted to download the images nightly or weekly--no backup software necessary.

There is an open source tool called wget which can download entire websites recursively (static content assumed). I just need http access to the image files and access to list the contents of the image directory.

My cable modem is 4Mb downstream and 384Kb up. I can backup the images and give you HTTP access to my server to get to them if/when necessary.

Of course, none of this solves the issue of your database/ASP files being restored when the hosting company slams your db files.

I am assuming that all of these posts are stored in a SQL backend? That being the case, are your tables exported periodically?

[tflynn]

You might be able to recover the images from one of the web archives. For example - http://web.archive.org/web/200503282...?TOPIC_ID=6800 (this URL should be combined as one) - this particular archive is current up until 2/04 so you could recover images up until that date. There are web archive tools out there that can automatically follow all of the links and download all of the *.htm, *.jpg, *.gif, etc. Once all of the images are downloaded, they can be copied over to the /inetpub/wwwroot/<your virtual directory>/images or similar directory on your server. For example, if I right click on the first image in this post I notice it has the same filename as the original post: "fa21eab4.jpg" (from: http://www.bt3central.com/forum/topi...wers,-,rebuild).

This particular internet archive may not be the complete solution since the content is older than what you've chosen to archive here. Although I found this on their FAQ (http://www.archive.org/about/faqs.php) - "Sites are usually crawled within 24 hours and no more then 48. Right now there is a 6-12 month lag between the date a site is crawled and the date it appears in the Wayback Machine." So more recent posts may show up later on.

Or, there might be other public or private archives out there...

- Tom

[cobob]

Your note gave me chest pain. First, I'm going to get a formal stress test (having flunked your preliminary test). Assuming I don't need a bypass and assuming I survive it if I do,
I'll kick into to the fund gladly...that backup charge does seem a tad steep, but spead out amongst the members shouldn't be significant. Bottom line, make it easy on yourself. You're way to appreciated to risk losing.

[r.palmer]

Only on the site two months but, it helped me finish my shop right, sort of, maybe if its ever finished. I donated after that no nonsense psentation. Your review of the BT3 was worth some real money when I was looking for a saw.

Thanks.

[silverfox]

You're the man, Sam...no problem with whatever decision you make. I would, however, try to pressure them to give more than they are giving for their absolute blunder. I think they should ante up considerably more than they are offering. But...in the end...I'm with you whatever happens. You started a great site and it continues to get better all the time. And I thank you for that.
Mike

[Sam Conder]

Wow, this is an old one. Mike, check the date of my original post.

[TB Roye]

Sam

Count me in for my share. This forum has be a lot of help in my new found hobby. I have cried, laughed, learned on this site. I would be lost with it. Keep it and count me in.

Tom

[silverfox]

doh!!
Mike

[JeffW]

What ever yo want just let me know.