Is it just me or is SharePoint not working?

Nope, it's not working for me either Kenneth. I wouldn't worry about it though, Sharepoint is always randomly dissappearing for a few hours or days but it always comes back. And even if we lost it, we've got a good chunk saved on our computers around the world, so it wouldn't be a total loss...

finally back

It's not a total loss--it looks like they found a very old backup that they were able to restore. At least I won't have to set up the entire site structure again.

How moronic of them......

Anyway we need to begin to account for what we lost, what we have stored on each of our indivdual computers and what needs replacing / redoing again.

I hope we had the sense to have backups on our local computers????

I certainly hope i have lol, i'll have a look for all my sound recordings which i hope are not lost.

Regards Wolfe

Ye and we need to make sure this never happens again. So we should make regular sharepoint backups, once a week and after big updates. Is this possible with sharepoint?

I just can not conceive how sharepoint could have allowed this to happen, how could the backup have been corrupted aswell, i mean surely they both weren't on the same server. That goes completely against the point of redundancy and having a backup altogether.

Blehhh, just one of those things, but i bet Kenneth is having a mini stroke about now

Regards Wolfe

Pity.

The backups were likely DLT tapes, and corruption is hardly uncommon. SharePoint is just a software package, so it's not to blame. I'm disappointed that the hosting company doesn't keep at least 30, 60, and 90-day backups.

Which brings up one point of i hope everyones code is backed up on some hardcopy somewhere.

Regards Wolfe

Well i've got backups of all the new structure images for Supremacy. I've also still got ZDarby's models.

I've also got a ton of images of models, but they're from absolute months ago and most of the models probably don't exist anymore - even if sharepoint hadn't died.

By the way, will we need to reregister?

Whats the skinny on the vocal sounds? please tell me someone has backups? i managed to get a few over the varying species but not near enough of them. Also i think i have my Dominion ones somewhere.

Regards Wolfe

I think I have most of the vocals and some of the music. It will all take time to load. First I need to stop crying and recover from the lost blood. (I cut my wrists when I saw the damage.) I am also doing an IS build for some medical software at work - along with my usual work load.

SharePoint is a big black hole and the gravity is slowing time.

I just checked and i've got some of the old music that Davumaya made, so i'll upload those as well. I've got no idea about the copyright stuff though - some of it is copyrighted but which ones I have no idea.

I've still got the random events as well.

*Edit - can anyone actually log into sharepoint? It's not accepting my password.

My code is under source control on Microsoft's CodePlex site, which undoubtedly has better backup systems. I also have working copies of the code on three computers (two of which are laptops, which I can grab in case of fire/disaster). In a worst case scenario, I can also reproduce most of it by decompiling a release of the game.

The project is far more likely to become doomed by me getting struck by lightning and/or a bus than it is by a loss of source code.

We are all waiting on the people at SharePoint to set Mike up with a new login. Then he can hand them out to use.

seems like the cheap offer was in fact cheap..

anyway, did nobody make a backup with the explorer view and copying all folders to hdd? I mean that way everyone can make a backup from time to time and it's not even taking much effort and time..

might be a good idea to keep all this stuff on the main host as well, i can set up ken with ftp access if you all reckon its a good idea. the host keeps 30 60 and 90 day backups.

Thanks. I have all the models I upload and a few of the others. It is still better to have a backup other than me.

I have to work through all the models to apply scale and orientation for the 3D engine anyway. They are not as nicely organized on my three PCs so it will take time to find and organize them all.

I can wait for login access to SharePoint while working on all that.

Time to do a little review about our sharepoint server (both software and hoster):

Pros:

• Version history
• Detailed group permission management
• Explorer integration
• Image galleries

Cons:

• Worst backup management ever (hoster)
• file loss at adsl-speed uploads and files >7 megabyte
• Slow navigation and site build-up (at least on my machine)
• Explorer view buggy on IE 6 (switching to a subfolder completely annihilates navigation bars and menus)
• costs additional money that might be spent better otherwise
• Slow download speed (60 kb/s from Europe)

Given all this and the fact that most uploads don't really require the functions mentioned in the Pro section above (why should I reinstate an older version of a 3D model or voice-over when the newer one is much better?), I think it might be good to think about switching to an ftp-based system on our new site here (a wiki is also in the making here) and manage all contributions from there with registered ftp accounts for every contributor. That would also make those megaupload file sharings like the 3d combat code by wolfe for example history.

What do you guys think?

and the timing would be good with what I am doing now

I love sharepoint but we really do need to question its' use after this. The large file loss problem has affected me more than once, but the explorer view has been a godsend when it comes to uploading large amounts of files. The image gallaeries are also extremely useful.

IF we were to try another host, explorer view and image galleries would definitely be a must in my list. And regualar backups would be on everyone's list.

I'm not really sure what 'ftp' is, although I know what the abbreviation stands for.

With free programs like FileZilla and FTP Commander that you use for ftp file server management, you will have an equivalent to Explorer view. The replacement for the image gallery will be a separate, second installation of a joomla image gallery section.

ftp is just a transfer protocol designed for file transfers. it's the equivalent to http (hypertext transfer protocol) that is always used when browsing the web. Hence there are equivalent "ftp browsers" to the common web browsers like IE, FF and Opera.

The new host would be star-trek-games.com of course to reduce costs.

Yes, the image gallery is a very important tool in keeping track of all the ships.