[Box Backup] Mailbox backup is dangerous.

[Chris Wilson]

Hi Achim,

On Fri, 28 Aug 2009, Achim wrote:

> You seem to confirm my understanding that in the following use case, all 
> versions of the file with the same name are still accessible:
>
> A > backup > B > backup > [..] > N > backup
>
> and I can go back to any version between A and N? And the only requirement
> is that I do not run out of storage space on the soft limit so that house
> keeping does not "get a chance" to delete older versions? Or will
> housekeeing delete even if storate is available?

Housekeeping should only delete enough files to take the account below the 
softlimit. As long as it is below the limit, nothing should be deleted 
(except files marked for immediate deletion, but no client does that).

> What about the "Redundant locations" message that I have seen at times, 
> does that work the same, i.e. no old locations or old files (deleted on 
> the host, available in the BB store) are ever removed from the storage, 
> as long as soft limit is not reached?

They are marked as deleted by the client after a fixed time interval. 
However the server should not remove them as long as the account is under 
the softlimit.

> And when the hard limit is reached, backing up and housekeeping stops 
> alltogether?

New files and changes are not uploaded, but locally deleted and 
excluded files should be marked as deleted on the store, and redundant 
locations should be deleted on time. Housekeeping will keep trying to 
bring the account under the softlimit by removing deleted files.

> BTW, did you have time to look at my proposal to add the existing 
> versions of a file to the Boxi UI, similar to the "-ot" flag in BB? This 
> would make it so much simpler for people to see what version they want 
> to restore. Rather than having to remember the date and time, they can 
> simply pick a file from a list!

I did look at it, but it's quite a bit of work so I haven't done anything 
about it yet.

Cheers, Chris.
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