This LJ Backup Issue ...

[chomiji]

If the servers go under tomorrow, I guess I'll just kiss my LJs goodbye. I've just spent a headachey 45 minutes attempting to find and/or download things that purport to do backups on Mac OS X (including the "platform independent" things), and have done several downloads, all of which are now in my trashcan because none of them looked anything like anything I've ever tried to make run on a Mac. And I *have* downloaded and used Mac shareware, thankyouverymuch. I think LJArchive download is just the Windows versions of that product, even though they are labeled platform-independent - heck, one of 'em is a blessed DLL file.

> sigh <

I do have backups of my stories and reviews, because I write them out ahead of time in a text editor. That includes a complete HTML-formatted version of the big new story.

ETA: I wonder if the action of thousands of backup clients crawling through LJ entries will bring the servers down tonight ... .

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Likely a silly question, but have you tried the links telophase posted earlier? I've had troubles archiving before, but that worked just fine for me this morning.

I really doubt we'll lose our LJs, though. (Though I do have mild fears regarding icons and flists.)

[chomiji]

Are you running a Mac, meganb? Because I tried those very same links - those are the ones that I said look like Windows stuff.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

*and of course, being a genius, I checked the work computer*

No, Dell. Good point. (Told you I was likely being silly...)

I can't access DL-sites on the work computer, but weren't there also other options?

[chomiji]

I tried looking at some others that purported to be for Mac ... like the one where you had to download Python (a programming language thingie) first. If I didn't have a splitting headache and weren't trying to get dinner at the same time (very late, because of the time I've already spent on this already, after arriving home late ... the fun never stops at chez nous ... ), it might be interesting to try. It's not something I want to try under such a tight deadline. My own fault ... they did mention this awhile ago (I think).

[badtzphoto.livejournal.com]

"I wonder if the action of thousands of backup clients crawling through LJ entries will bring the servers down tonight ... ."
That's what I've been thinking, too ...

[oyceter]

Urgh! I vaguely remember when I first switched to Mac, I found some Python script that exported my entire LJ to XML format, and I've been trying to find it again, but no such luck. I'll let you know if I do though!

[chomiji]

Oooh, thanks for stopping by!

Umm ... is this it, maybe?

[oyceter]

Found it!
http://hewgill.com/ljdump/

So what you do is you change the config file to match your LJ name and password, and then you run the script via Terminal (cd your way to the directory the script is stored in, then type "python ljdump.py"). It should then start dumping all your LJ entries into XML files. Rinse and repeat.

... still not quite sure how this works for communities, but I will hopefully figure that out eventually.

[chomiji]

It's not impossible ... a script would hit the server more rapidly that the typical user, after all ... .

The thought occurred to me when I was linking one of my scrapbook pix to a post on one of my message boards, and things got very slow all of the sudden.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think LJ tends to bury important info among other things and passingly mention important things, instead of going "Hey! Important info!" so we're only barely aware of these things until they happen.

[chomiji]

Bless you!!!

I'll go try that now.

[chomiji]

That is so cool! I just backed up my fic account! I can look at the XML in my browser and see that it's OK! Now I'll set up my main LJ to go while I wash some dishes!

Thank you so much!

[kispexi2.livejournal.com]

Ack! I hadn't even thought of backing up. Jeez. I'm so blithely trusting of All Things Electronic.

[hikari-mibu.livejournal.com]

What's going on? *sorry, I have no idea ^^*

[chomiji]

You should have a notice in your LJ's inbox that starts as follows:

Moving Day and What It Means for You

Moving What Where?

The long-awaited server move takes place this Tuesday, November 18, at 8:00 a.m. PST. We're moving the site from servers based in San Francisco to the servers in our new data center in Montana. A massive data move like this takes a lot of heavy lifting, and to haul all that data from San Francisco to Montana, we have to take the site down, starting at 8:00 a.m. PST on Tuesday morning. We don't think the move will take more than four hours, but there's always the possibility that it could take longer (the best laid plans and all).

What Does This Mean for You?

During the downtime, nothing on LJ will be available—no posting, no Friends page, no LJ mail, nada. When we bring the site back up, we're going to ease into it rather than open up a floodgate of traffic. Posting might not be immediately available or the site could be slow to load for a while.

New servers mean new IP addresses, so it's possible that LJ mail might not reach your email inbox because your email provider or client doesn't recognize the new IP addresses. ...

They don't say anything about backups; however, those of us with experience in these situations - especially with larger multiuser systems - figure it's better to be safe than sorry, and have been backing up our LJs.

telophase had a post with a link to the most commonly used Windows backup utility for LJ. My problem was that I use a Mac, so I couldn't use it.

[chomiji]

It's probably all overkill ... one assumes they have tape or external hard-drive backups of all the content. But who knows for certain ... .

[hikari-mibu.livejournal.com]

Uh huh. I just got it ^^ I'll see what I can do.