I keep regular backups. Buy a new device. The only possible way both devices fail is an EMP which is very unlikely.
I have a cheap Android tablet as a somewhat of a backup for to factor authentication and things like that in case my phone dies. and I synchronize my passwords in a keypad database across multiple devices in case anything fails I have multiple redundant places to recover that. I also do off-site backups of anything else that’s important.
I’m not that great at keeping backups to be honest.
When it comes to the device itself, I’d either buy a new one or use one of the old ones untill I can get the replacement parts to fix it.
Once I ran out of charge on my vibrator at the wrong time. I now have a backup and keep batteries nearby. I don’t fuck around like that anymore.
I don’t have any electronic devices I couldn’t live without, or rather, that couldn’t have their essential functions served by a quick trip to the public library.
Depends on what you mean by devices.
My wife and I have two vehicles, this has been important when one failed for a bit.
Theres enough computers and cellphones in my home to restart civilization after a collapse.
I can’t think of any electronic device I couldn’t be without for at least a few days without serious issues.
The most critical thing that could go out is the power, and I have little control over that but at least my local power company is amazing at restoring service around here. We’ve never been out for more than 24 hours in the last decade.
Computer: I have one workstation and three laptops, so I guess I don’t really need a backup plan there.
Washing machine: I’d just use a laundromat.
Phone: I have three phones, so I’m covered.
Toaster: No problem — I’ll just eat untoasted bread.
Dishwasher: I wouldn’t like it, but I’d just wash the dishes myself.
Stove: I could eat salads or order takeout.
Electric mixer / hand blender: order a new one and until it arrives I won’t cook stuff that requires one of those
Printer: I’d print at work.
Vacuum cleaner: I’d use a broom instead.
Electric kettle: I’d boil water on the stove using a pot.
Heating: lucky me, it’s summer, tell the landlord to take care of it (they need to, by law)
Fridge: fuck me, it’s summer, order a new one
As for other devices: no microwave (I prefer real cooking to reheating), no TV (haven’t had one for 30 years), no dryer (I just hang clothes on the hamper), no coffee machine (I do pour-over instead), no AC as this is unusual here
Why do you have two fridges?
Oh, for redundancy…
“Don’t mind me, I have 2 house in case one burns down” 😁
I have a minifridge I use for drinks (admittedly it’s a relatively large household). It has the advantage of having an easily accessible plug, so you can even easily run it on a battery or generator in emergencies. It’s not super cold, but it beats room temperature.
I’ll say that sounds way less crazy to me, being from a relatively rural area. I know multiple people with chest freezers on the side. Health regulations have made butchering pigs at home very impractical, but chickens are still fair game (if a lot more paperwork than they used to be).
Only a backup for my phone. I’ve got an older model that I had to use during last summer and into the fall after going swimming with my, then relatively new, $200USD samsung. I’m absolutely grateful that my SIL gave me it, even if it is a probably around 10 years old model. Insecure but damn did it allow me to do what I needed.
Otherwise, not really. If my shit goes, I’m not that prepared. I should be, but I’m not.
I just experienced this over the last couple days.
Both operating systems died on my dual boot system. Long story short they killed each other.
So I switched to my laptop and made a boot disk to try and fix them. To which I discovered my favourite flash drive was acting up.
I searched through my things for about an hour until I found another.
To my horror I discovered massive file system corruption. But, that’s ok I have backups I’ll just install Linux again.
Oh wow, the installer can’t understand that I want to use luks with a filesystem that supports snapshots. And the work around didn’t work anymore.
Many tedious tasks later I’m in the os. Only for an update to fill /boot and kill my system yet again. Also screw you AMD for making your GPU + Rocm package ~20GB post install. (Unrelated but why?!)
After all that I try to get my games going again but this new game I got the DRM screwed me over.
Fine I’ll get windows going again …Only to discover the new windows 11 installer is super buggy and refuses to let me install in any way. (I have multiple drives all tested fine too)
I had to resort to doing a oobe deployment. Finally got into Windows and none of my USB ports work. More effort later I’m in, bypass the Microsoft account nonsense.
While playing my game Razer decides to do a firmware update on my mouse and it goes dead in the middle of some serious PvP action…
During this entire process I also managed to break my phone and my internet went down.
So the lesson from this story is to also backup your operating system(s) have a extra mouse handy and take better notes.
:D
One reason I’m not running Linux on my main box: it’s a fucking nightmare to do a full disk image. I run Macrium Reflect on windows and there is nothing for *nix that I can find that does it easily, and while the system is live. I don’t want to shutdown, find the flash drive, plug it in, boot, image the drive (and my backup drive is encrypted by bitlocker so I’d need to partition the drive and get luks or something…), reboot, and repeat every day and also remember to delete old images.
Yeah sure I can ‘back up’ user data but that’s not the issue, I don’t want to spend a few days getting my system back to the exact config it was before. I already have documents with commands and settings and it’s doable but awful. With windows and macrium I can intentionally fuck the system six ways from Sunday and have it back how it was this morning in 30 minutes. I need that ability on Linux, it baffles me that it’s not a thing.
Look into BTRFS. I’ve been using it for a few months now and it’s awesome. Live disk images with delta changes (saving on consumed space and backup time), even with encrypted drives, and it’s used extensively by Google and Amazon so it will very likely be supported and maintained for a long time to come.
Btrfs is what I run too actually (on a spare ThinkPad) with xubuntu, but the management/scheduling through… TimeShift? Is unreliable. I always need to remember to manually take an image. And I have no idea what the process is if the system is unbootable, since to recover I need to boot and get to TS…
I totally forgot about TS and how btrfs works with it until now. Which tells you how often I manually take an image…
I personally use btrbk with a custom built systemd service and timer. Right now it’s very specific to my infrastructure, but if enough people request it and I have time and opportunity, I’ll post a generic solution here as soon as I can
You’re going to have to define what you mean by “devices.”
Reading through this thread I’m starting to feel like I’ve probably been overly paranoid.
I have:
- Multiple mobile devices on two different carriers, including computers, phones, and tablets with 5/4G and some with satellite service.
- A high speed wired primary network (2+Gb/300+Mb DOCSIS).
- A robust wireless network (Wi-Fi 7) with multiple access points secured with WPA3 and 802.1X.
- A 24U Server infrastructure for games, networking, media, and Linux ISOs.
- Battle tested 3-2-1+ backup solution, including on site backup with redundancy, as well as two off site backups with redundancy.
- Dual UPS units connected to independent 20A circuits.
- Dual Gasoline and Propane powered backup generators connected to the UPS units to kick in automatically.
- Edit: I forgot to mention that my internal network is running at 10Gb.
Some of that infrastructure was necessary for my line of work during the worst of the covid pandemic, but now it’s more “nice to have in case of apocalypse” equipment.
c/LemmyPreppers? 😁
If my phone breaks, i have my laptop. If my laptop breaks, i have my phone
No, I go online and just order another one for same-day pickup from a local electronics retailer. Then I restore my files from my backup.
Yeah it’s super easy to buy shit quickly online nowadays. Most you’d have to wait is a couple of days without the device you normally use.
My phone spontaneously died several years ago and those few days without a phone were frustrating, but manageable. Got a new one pretty quickly.
But what if the router is what dies?
dun dun duuuuunnnnn
I have OTP codes backed up on an old Android media player from Fiio. If my (or family’s) devices break, I usually order parts from a local dealer, that’s usually delivered the next day, and then I dig into a repair.
For repair jobs that takes longer, or a device is entirely borked, I have a few old phones kicking around, that can be used.
Recently rebuilt my computer, so as soon as I get a spare case I’ll finally have a full spare PC tucked in the closet to serve as a backup in case of a primary system failure. That’s a step forward!
But a lot of the auxiliary devices, I don’t have (e.g., no spare modem or router). Fortunately, I learned how to tether my phone to use it as an emergency backup internet source for the PC (also useful for internet service outages).
