1718: Backups - Revision history

141.101.98.100: /* Transcript */ I'm not entirely sure, so kicking the can down the road a little.

2025-03-19T19:44:19Z

‎Transcript: I'm not entirely sure, so kicking the can down the road a little.

172.68.27.53: /* Explanation */ link to duplicate avoidance information

2025-03-19T14:51:34Z

‎Explanation: link to duplicate avoidance information

Whoop whoop pull up: /* Explanation */

2024-09-28T20:31:31Z

‎Explanation

Jacky720: rv

2022-05-04T21:11:23Z

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Ex Kay Cee Dee at 17:23, 4 May 2022

2022-05-04T17:23:48Z

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Wafflefly21: Undo revision 237216 by X. K. C. D. (talk)

2022-05-04T01:35:06Z

Undo revision 237216 by X. K. C. D. (talk)

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X. K. C. D. at 01:31, 4 May 2022

2022-05-04T01:31:37Z

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198.41.238.4: /* Explanation */

2018-03-11T20:53:38Z

‎Explanation

Davidy22 at 06:14, 14 February 2017

2017-02-14T06:14:44Z

108.162.241.134: Minor historical/factual edits.

2016-09-07T12:32:28Z

Minor historical/factual edits.

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:44, 19 March 2025
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	[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]		[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
	[[Category:Computers]]		[[Category:Computers]]
		+	<!-- potentially [[Category:Cueball Computer Problems]] ...though strangely managable -->

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
-On his laptop, [[Cueball]] explores a cyclic path along which his files are being copied from storage to storage. His laptop (presumably the one he is on) is sending its files to a server, which sends its files to ''another'' server, which in turn syncs back a certain selection of files to his laptop. Cueball determines that this setup leads to an exponential growth, implying that each node in the cycle simply copies files over to the next without any effort to avoid duplicates. Indeed, each time a set of files completes a full cycle, duplicates of the same files are propagated.
+On his laptop, [[Cueball]] explores a cyclic path along which his files are being copied from storage to storage. His laptop (presumably the one he is on) is sending its files to a server, which sends its files to ''another'' server, which in turn syncs back a certain selection of files to his laptop. Cueball determines that this setup leads to an exponential growth, implying that each node in the cycle simply copies files over to the next without any effort to [https://rsnapshot.org/ avoid duplicates]. Indeed, each time a set of files completes a full cycle, duplicates of the same files are propagated.
 {{w|Moore's Law}} is an observation in computer engineering (made by engineer Gordon Moore in 1965) that states that the number of transistors we can fit in a chip will double approximately every two years. Cueball, who was rather alarmed, calms down when he realizes that the exponential growth of his backup is slower than that of Moore's Law. He reasons that as long as he keeps at the forefront of information storage, he will never run out of room. Assuming available disk capacity is proportional to number of transistors (this is roughly true for solid-state disks) or otherwise keeps pace with Moore's Law, this would imply it takes more than two years for his files to completely propagate through two servers and back to his laptop enough times to double in size (implying either an extremely slow transfer or an extremely weird backup system).

@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 There are some similarities to the Cueball who owns the computer in the [[1700: New Bug]] and maybe also to the Code Quality series: [[1513: Code Quality]] and [[1695: Code Quality 2]], where Cueball speaks with [[Ponytail]].
-Poor backup strategies are referenced in [[1360: Old Files]]
+Poor backup strategies are referenced in [[1360: Old Files]].
 ==Transcript==

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:53, 11 March 2018
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	There are some similarities to the Cueball who owns the computer in the [[1700: New Bug]] and maybe also to the Code Quality series: [[1513: Code Quality]] and [[1695: Code Quality 2]], where Cueball speaks with [[Ponytail]].		There are some similarities to the Cueball who owns the computer in the [[1700: New Bug]] and maybe also to the Code Quality series: [[1513: Code Quality]] and [[1695: Code Quality 2]], where Cueball speaks with [[Ponytail]].
		+
		+	Poor backup strategies are referenced in [[1360: Old Files]]

	==Transcript==		==Transcript==

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 {{comic discussion}}
 [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
 [[Category:Computers]]

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 On his laptop, [[Cueball]] explores a cyclic path along which his files are being copied from storage to storage. His laptop (presumably the one he is on) is sending its files to a server, which sends its files to ''another'' server, which in turn syncs back a certain selection of files to his laptop. Cueball determines that this setup leads to an exponential growth, implying that each node in the cycle simply copies files over to the next without any effort to avoid duplicates. Indeed, each time a set of files completes a full cycle, duplicates of the same files are propagated.
-{{w|Moore's Law}} is an observation in computer science that states that the number of transistors we can fit in a chip will double approximately every two years. Cueball, who was rather alarmed, calms down when he realizes that the exponential growth of his backup is slower than that of Moore's Law. He reasons that as long as he keeps at the forefront of information storage, he will never run out of room. Assuming available disk capacity is proportional to number of transistors (this is true for solid-state disks), this would imply it takes more than two years for his files to completely propagate through two servers and back to his laptop enough times to double in size (implying either an extremely slow transfer or an extremely weird backup system).
+{{w|Moore's Law}} is an observation in computer engineering (made by engineer Gordon Moore in 1965) that states that the number of transistors we can fit in a chip will double approximately every two years. Cueball, who was rather alarmed, calms down when he realizes that the exponential growth of his backup is slower than that of Moore's Law. He reasons that as long as he keeps at the forefront of information storage, he will never run out of room. Assuming available disk capacity is proportional to number of transistors (this is roughly true for solid-state disks) or otherwise keeps pace with Moore's Law, this would imply it takes more than two years for his files to completely propagate through two servers and back to his laptop enough times to double in size (implying either an extremely slow transfer or an extremely weird backup system).
 The phrase "[this is] why we can't have nice things" is often used in response to incidents where someone abuses a well-meaning feature, with the abuse ultimately wiping out any benefits the feature was supposed to bring. In the comic, the person off-screen is commenting on the fact that Cueball is not using advances in storage capacity in a responsible manner. That is, rather than using the increased capacity to store more useful information, he is simply using it as a workaround to avoid having to make his backup strategy more efficient.