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albinistic: Question with backup installers, do you backup only one installer for a single system or for all?

For example, a game that is available for mac, windows, and linux, do you backup all installers for each os or only for the main one you use?
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Freyon47: For the main one i use only
Im storing only low weight games of course without sharing,but uploading something to Cloud even if its set to "private" its not sharing by itself?
Ah, okay I was just curious how someone else did. Thank you for the reply!
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Freyon47: Hello
I am wondering about the issue of storing backup installers of games from GOG in google drive cloud.
From what I found out opinions are divided and some think we can store games anywhere and some think it is copyright infringement.
I don't know what to think about it so I come here for some clarification.
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timppu: What would be the benefit of downloading your installers from google drive cloud, instead of downloading them from GOG.com servers? You will probably get a more up-to-date version from GOG servers.

To me it makes sense to store the backup installers only locally, so that you can install your games even if you lose internet access (to either GOG.com or Google drive cloud), and you are not limited by your internet download speeds.
Although it won't happen soon, GOG may also close.
I know that then we have 2 months to download our copies however it's obvious that I'm overly sensitive, but I prefer to have a copy in the cloud as well.
Perhaps it is a stretch but you can assume the situation that someone still has old devices such as pendrives 2.0 which can make the transfer of many games at once will take a considerable time, so it is worthwhile in the meantime to download copies also from the network
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Ancient-Red-Dragon: The point would be to add security to the backup copy.
If you think having only one backup copy, on a single HDD, makes the copy secure and guarantees that it will be yours forever...well, that is woefully inaccurate information.
That HDD could easily receive hardware damage and make the backup copy totally unusable.
My GOG game installer library is currently over 6 terabytes in size, counting only English Windows versions of games. It would be even more, much more, if I wanted to keep also other languages and e.g. Linux versions.

How much does it cost to keep a 6-10 terabyte archive online on e.g. Google cloud or similar? I presume the free options do not offer anything near that much capacity.

As long as GOG is around, it is the best cloud backup you can have for your GOG games. They even keep your games up to date for you (yes yes, there are some rare cases where you'd want to keep an older installer as well or instead, but those cases are rare).

EDIT: I tried to find the pricing from Google Drive pages, but it seems quite complicated as it is apparently not based on only the amount of data you want to store in their cloud, but also how much you upload or download and stuff.

EDIT2: This site https://techboomers.com/t/google-drive-pricing suggests it is around $10 per terabyte per month, so I guess I would be paying around $70 every month for the privilege to keep my GOG game installers on the Google cloud.

Then again, keeping them on the GOG cloud costs $0 per month, and with $70 I could probably buy a new 4TB USB hard drive, every month.
Post edited April 17, 2021 by timppu
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Ancient-Red-Dragon: The point would be to add security to the backup copy.
If you think having only one backup copy, on a single HDD, makes the copy secure and guarantees that it will be yours forever...well, that is woefully inaccurate information.
That HDD could easily receive hardware damage and make the backup copy totally unusable.
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timppu: My GOG game installer library is currently over 6 terabytes in size, counting only English Windows versions of games. It would be even more, much more, if I wanted to keep also other languages and e.g. Linux versions.

How much does it cost to keep a 6-10 terabyte archive online on e.g. Google cloud or similar? I presume the free options do not offer anything near that much capacity.

As long as GOG is around, it is the best cloud backup you can have for your GOG games. They even keep your games up to date for you (yes yes, there are some rare cases where you'd want to keep an older installer as well or instead, but those cases are rare).

EDIT: I tried to find the pricing from Google Drive pages, but it seems quite complicated as it is apparently not based on only the amount of data you want to store in their cloud, but also how much you upload or download and stuff.
2TB ~10€ month
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timppu: My GOG game installer library is currently over 6 terabytes in size, counting only English Windows versions of games. It would be even more, much more, if I wanted to keep also other languages and e.g. Linux versions.

How much does it cost to keep a 6-10 terabyte archive online on e.g. Google cloud or similar? I presume the free options do not offer anything near that much capacity.

As long as GOG is around, it is the best cloud backup you can have for your GOG games. They even keep your games up to date for you (yes yes, there are some rare cases where you'd want to keep an older installer as well or instead, but those cases are rare).

EDIT: I tried to find the pricing from Google Drive pages, but it seems quite complicated as it is apparently not based on only the amount of data you want to store in their cloud, but also how much you upload or download and stuff.
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Freyon47: 2TB ~10€ month
https://www.amazon.co.uk/WD-Elements-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B06W55K9N6/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=2TB+hard+drive&qid=1618693259&sr=8-4

5months it’s yours. Online is ongoing subscription. I have hdds dating back 15years, that would be £1800 for 2tb £10 a month for 15years. It’s the problem with subscription method, it’s all cheap for a few months, but in the end costs you far more.
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Freyon47: From what I found out opinions are divided and some think we can store games anywhere and some think it is copyright infringement.
To me the question (or answer) seems rather simple:

Do others, beside you, have access to that Google drive where you keep the installers?

If no => no copyright infringement.

If yes => yes copyright infringement.

So the main question is that are you sharing the installers with anyone else, regardless of whether you share them using a pendrive, an USB HDD, DVD-RW discs, Google Drive or bittorrent.
This article is from a few years ago, but it does cite that Google uses hash-matching algorithms to identify copyrighted content on Google Drive:

[url=https://torrentfreak.com/google-drive-uses-hash-matching-detect-pirated-content/#:~:text=Google%20Drive%20allows%20users%20to%20store%20any%20files,methods%2C%20it%20uses%20file-hashes%20to%20detect%20infringing%20content]https://torrentfreak.com/google-drive-uses-hash-matching-detect-pirated-content/#:~:text=Google%20Drive%20allows%20users%20to%20store%20any%20files,methods%2C%20it%20uses%20file-hashes%20to%20detect%20infringing%20content[/url].

At the time the article was written, Google was not taking any action on users who were simply storing copyrighted content in their private storage. As many here have said, there's nothing wrong with making a private archival backup copy of a piece of copyrighted media in whatever storage medium you choose, so long as that storage medium restricts access to only you.

The only time Google was stepping in was when people were sharing that content with other users. And that pretty much backs up the notion that the storage medium is irrelevant -- what matters is whether you're sharing the content to others.
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Ryan333: This article is from a few years ago, but it does cite that Google uses hash-matching algorithms to identify copyrighted content on Google Drive:

[url=https://torrentfreak.com/google-drive-uses-hash-matching-detect-pirated-content/#:~:text=Google%20Drive%20allows%20users%20to%20store%20any%20files,methods%2C%20it%20uses%20file-hashes%20to%20detect%20infringing%20content]https://torrentfreak.com/google-drive-uses-hash-matching-detect-pirated-content/#:~:text=Google%20Drive%20allows%20users%20to%20store%20any%20files,methods%2C%20it%20uses%20file-hashes%20to%20detect%20infringing%20content[/url].

At the time the article was written, Google was not taking any action on users who were simply storing copyrighted content in their private storage. As many here have said, there's nothing wrong with making a private archival backup copy of a piece of copyrighted media in whatever storage medium you choose, so long as that storage medium restricts access to only you.

The only time Google was stepping in was when people were sharing that content with other users. And that pretty much backs up the notion that the storage medium is irrelevant -- what matters is whether you're sharing the content to others.
especially if we additionally mark that I'm quoting
Google Drive allows you to upload, submit, store, send and receive content. As described in the Google Terms of Service, your content remains yours. We do not claim ownership in any of your content, including any text, data, information, and files that you upload, share, or store in your Drive account
Which means that we still own the file and not Google, which precludes distribution
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Grargar: On paper, it's likely OK. In practice, you're just a coin toss away from a company finding your links and issuing a DMCA, taking them down.
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Orkhepaj: how can they find them?
that would mean they spy on me and i can sue them for millions
Did you miss the Snowden leaks? Google knows exactly what files you are storing on theirs servers. And no you can't sue them for millions.
low rated
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Orkhepaj: how can they find them?
that would mean they spy on me and i can sue them for millions
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MasterW: Did you miss the Snowden leaks? Google knows exactly what files you are storing on theirs servers. And no you can't sue them for millions.
yup i can and i ll
Nevermind.
Post edited April 19, 2021 by albinistic