Backup and data protection with the cloud-based syncing and storage solution

FloG
I and my colleagues would like to use Zotero with the cloud-based syncing and storage solution (private group for the company with unlimited Storage Quota, $120/year).

We would like to know:

1) Where are the data stored?
2) What are their backup, restore, data protection and privacy procedures?

Thank you for your help
  • adamsmith
    1) On AWS cloud storage (I think the actual storage is probably on S3)
    2) Privacy & data protection: https://www.zotero.org/support/terms/privacy
    for the rest, are you asking how you would restore the data or how Zotero would do so in case of catastrophic loss?

    While Dan might be willing to say more on the latter, I would point out that either way, Zotero's cloud storage is not suitable as a full back-up solution, as it doesn't have versioning, i.e. won't let you go back to earlier versions of your files&data, so you should have separate back-ups of the locally stored data in any case.
  • FloG
    Thank you for your answer.
    What is the country where is hosted the Amazon server?
    If the data are not properly saved in the cloud, that is signified that we must back up each user's profile on each computer?
    If we are not interested in the versioning of the files, can you confirm us that you can restore our Zotero database at the last version in case a catastrophic loss?

    Thank you by advance.
  • adamsmith
    (Note that I don't work for Zotero, so what I'm saying is well informed but in no way an official statement. I don't think you'll get anything official beyond the terms & conditions).

    The servers are US AWS and under US jurisdiction, so you probably shouldn't be using it for data that, say, falls under EU privacy laws the way I understand them (you shouldn't use Zotero for that for a host of other reasons).

    The data _are_ properly saved in the cloud; Zotero has their own back-ups and AWS storage is distributed across data centers that provide (literally) 99.999999999% durability, but part of the reason for having a back-up is that it protects you against human errors, e.g., someone deleting massive amounts of data by accident. Such errors would sync, obviously, and there'd be no way to revert to an old version via the Zotero server.

    If by catastrophic loss you mean something like your HD crashing, then yes, you will typically be able to restore your database simply by re-syncing Zotero. But if your data is important enough that you make specific inquiries here, I can only restate what I said above, i.e. that you should absolutely not rely on Zotero as a back-up. Zotero file storage is designed to allow easy movement and collaboration across devices and it works very well for that. While a byproduct of that is that it can (and has for many users) serve as a back-up of last resort, it is not suitable as an enterprise-level (or really: any serious) back-up service.

  • DWL-SDCA
    Please allow me to echo @adamsmith. All serious work needs, at least, individual-level incremental backup. Version control is even better. Sooner or later something is going to go awry and the relatively minor cost of a local external backup disk is going to be worth it. The cost of a large external backup drive is about US$100. All modern operating ststems have adequate to very good built-in backup software. I feel so strongly about this that _give_ an external drive to the (under paid) interns who work in my office for their own laptop computers.

    If you have a workgroup on a network, that can also have a backup system. Do not place your Zotero database on a network drive--especially if the drive is shared.
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