Backups and Archiving
100 episodes · Page 3 of 5
#2694: When AI Agents Write Your Backup Scripts
Borg, Restic, and Kopia compared for whole-server incremental backups on Ubuntu Docker hosts.
#2673: The Embedding Coupling Problem: Editing Vector Stores
Can you edit or delete individual chunks in Pinecone? And can you actually back up a vector index? Yes—but with critical caveats.
#2667: Lost Phone, Found Tension: Security vs. Returnability
Can you secure your Android without killing the chance a good Samaritan returns it? We break down the tradeoffs.
#2604: Self-Hosted Screen Recording: Tools Beyond Loom
Practical tools and trade-offs for async video documentation with real data control across platforms including Linux.
#2550: Idempotent Pipelines: Checkpoints, Manifests & Safe Re-Runs
How to design scripts and pipelines so re-running them is safe, even after a crash mid-execution.
#2476: Database Backups Without the Bloat
pg_dump, WAL archiving, and the free tools that beat expensive commercial backup software.
#2475: Docker Volumes: Why They Can't Move and What To Do
Docker made apps portable but left your data stuck. Here's how to actually move volumes between hosts.
#2438: The Folder Illusion: How Object Storage Fakes Hierarchy
Blobs, flat namespaces, and why those "folders" in cloud storage are complete illusions.
#1989: Your Cloud Photos Vanish If You Miss a $5 Bill
Is your data safe in the cloud, or is it one missed payment away from oblivion?
#1988: The Eternal Storage That Can't Escape the Lab
Quartz glass promises 10,000-year data storage, but can it scale before 180 zettabytes make it obsolete?
#1983: Why Your Digital Photos Are Slowly Disappearing
Physical paper from the 1700s is more durable than a Word doc from 1994. Here's why digital data is fragile and how archivists fight bit rot.
#1910: Our Podcast Is Now a Permanent Research Artifact
Why we're uploading every episode to CERN's Zenodo archive, giving our AI experiments a permanent DOI and a life beyond streaming platforms.
#1847: The Home Lab Blackout: Fixing Servers From a Beach
Your server is down and you're miles away. Learn the three simple checks that keep your home lab alive and how to get back in when the front door i...
#1797: Why the Cloud Runs on Cassette Tapes
The cloud isn't just hard drives—it's millions of robotic cassette tapes holding petabytes of data for Google and NASA.
#1776: The Sync Trap: Why Your Backup Isn't Safe
Is your backup strategy a responsible habit or a full-blown compulsion? We explore the thin line between data safety and digital hoarding.
#1621: Defense in Depth: From Roman Walls to AI Attacks
Hackers now move laterally in just 18 minutes. Learn why traditional backups are failing and how to build a 10-layer AI-ready defense.
#1595: Why Your 2026 Smartphone Still Feels Like a Part-Time Job
Great hardware, tedious software. Explore why setting up a new Android phone in 2026 is still a manual, 24-hour chore for power users.
#1594: The Soul of Your Machine: Automating What Matters
Stop manually configuring your PC. Learn how NixOS, Ansible, and Chezmoi turn your desktop into a reproducible, automated recipe.
#1551: From Pixels to Projection: The Tech Behind the Big Screen
Forget film reels. Modern movies are 600GB encrypted "shipping containers" delivered by satellite. Discover the tech behind the big screen.
#1177: The Race Against the Digital Dark Age
As vintage hardware goes extinct, archivists race to save film and tape from a "Digital Dark Age." Discover the engineering behind preservation.
#1172: The Pirate’s Trap: Why P2P is More Dangerous Than Ever
Think torrenting is just about copyright? In 2026, a single "play" click can compromise your entire network. Learn the new risks of P2P.
#1032: Ancient Backups: How History Survived the Delete Command
Discover how ancient civilizations used monks, clay jars, and geographic diversity to create the world's first distributed data networks.
#770: The Ghost in the Machine: How Rclone Mounts the Cloud
Ever wonder why cloud mounts stutter? We explore the engineering of Rclone, FUSE, and the quest for infinite, fluid remote storage.
#741: The Fragile Web: Who Decides What We Remember?
Explore how the Internet Archive saves the web, the legal battles threatening its future, and the rise of decentralized storage like Arweave.