[Tutor] Corrupt file(s) likelihood and prevention?

[Alan Gauld]

On 01/02/2020 22:16, boB Stepp wrote:

> some sort of defensive programming.  Should every file in a program,
> both data files and source code files have an associated checksum?  

Source code should be backed up and in a version control system.
That way even if a file gets corrupted you can get back to a
very recent ancestor.

But for non-executing files multiple backups are the correct solution.

> ends in a checksum value.  The other mentioned solution for data is to
> use a robust database application to store the data which presumably
> manages, as best as these possibilities can be managed, prevention of
> data corruption.  

Databases should also have a backup strategy but RDBMS systems
have built in redundancy and recovery mechanisms plus they usually
run on servers with RAID storage so even a corrupt disk won't lose anything.

> But even if corruption is detected, unless actually retrievable
> backups exist, per Alan, one is stuck in one's tracks!

Yes. Absolutely. Backups are not an optional activity if you
care about your data. And ideally stored off site and to at
least 3 generations.


-- 
Alan G
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