The original post: /r/datahoarder by /u/Blackwater_7 on 2025-03-07 16:06:38.
If you are in a position where you can't back up everything, you need to ask yourself the following for deciding what to backup for now:
1- How hard is to "find" the content if its lost? (60 points)
Obviously this is a big factor for emergency plan. If your hard drive fails now, can you really find the content and download it again? If its literally impossible, 50 points. If you know it will be available at some place 0 points. If its between, score accordingly
2- How much you like the content? (20 points)
This is irrelevant to the contents rarity. If you like the content, give it 20 points. If its something you are not planning to consume / don't really care about the data, 0 points.
3-How hard is to "retrieve" the content if its lost? (20 points)
Imagine you have 2 folders, each containing 100 linux isos. First folder is called "my favorite linux isos" and other one is "2025 Linux Isos Pack ". Imagine in this example the "2025 linux isos pack" folder is just downloaded from a pack, meaning its just "one download" and you retrieve all the content. However, "my favorite linux isos" folder is probably took way more manual work. If you lost this content, you will probably need to search & download each linux iso seperately and it will take so much more manual effort to download and group them all.
So, for this reason, "my favorite linux isos" folder is more valuable. Its not only about datas rarity, but also how much effort you will need to download the content again. Hope its clear. Give 20 points if its too much manual effort, 0 points if its something like just 1 click download.
With this point system you can give a value to your data and backup the most valuable ones. If you are in a similar situation and can't back up everything, what other criterias are you factoring? Also do you find this pointing system correct?
Thank you