How secure is my data if I don't make a local backup?

[Marceting]

Hello,

Yesterday I realized that I don't have a backup of my many bases.

Quite worried, I then looked for a solution. And found out: Almost all of them are quite expensive, and some of them seemed awkward to handle.

Now I would like to know how important it is to have a local data backup?
Is it really possible for my data to suddenly disappear one morning? Perhaps due to some error on the part of Airtable, San Francisco?

Or is all data backed up redundantly several times, as some providers claim? So secure that you don't have to be afraid?

Marceting

[GavinA]

Hey! 

I made CSVGetter as a low-cost solution.

Our app has a small price tag but can work with Google app script which is free. You can setup a scheduled trigger to backup Airtable into Google sheets: hourly, daily, weekly, monthly etc.

It works by letting you create an export URL which can be used in a google app script. See here. 

The export URL is very powerful - for example, you can put ?email_me=true at the end of the URL and use it in the scheduled script. This means the scheduled backup trigger in google sheets will achieve two things: 

1. Your latest Airtable data is safely stored to google drive.

2. You have a daily email reminder prompting you to save the latest data to your local machine, and a link to do so in one click.

Can now also add your own custom auth headers to lock the whole process down as well.

It's super versatile and modular and we add features all the time! Let me know if you have any questions 🙂 

[creminology]

You can retroactively make backups using the snapshot feature in the UNDO menu on any base. You'll notice that Airtable backs up your base about every 8 hours. Depending on your plan, they will keep these backups for upto three years. You can also initiate a snapshot (or backup) before doing any potentially destructive work.

Another possibility, if you're somewhat technical, is to install the open-source version of NocoDB on your own computer and have that backup all your data on Airtable periodically. I experimented with it a year ago, and it not only pulled down all my data but also all my attachments. Obviously they are different products with different features, but it might give peace of mind when the Amazon US East region is down.

[Marceting]

Hi creminology,

Thank you very much for your comments. That is very reassuring. 

Could you send me a link to the open source version of NocoDB?
I couldn't find it yet.

Thanks again and have a nice day -

Marceting

[creminology]

Have sent you a private message with the direct link to the source code. For anybody else reading this , just Google “nocodb” and “github” and it should be the first result.

The code was updated yesterday, so it is in active development.

[Marceting]

Thanks a lot, creminology.