2fa and icloud backup

[danklim 2]

Hi, if i have my database backed up on something like icloud and i have 2fa enabled, then would i still have access to the evernote files in icloud if i lost my 2fa phone and backup code?

 

I want to use 2fa but also don't want to risk losing all my notes if something ever goes wrong.

[DTLow 5,736]

You mentioned data backups.

I backup my data using the export feature, html format, daily incremental and weekly full.

If something goes wrong on the Evernote side, I still have access to my notes.

I take no chances on losing my 2fa backup code; I have it stored in Evernote (accessible in my backups)

[CalS 5,280]

2 hours ago, danklim said:

Hi, if i have my database backed up on something like icloud and i have 2fa enabled, then would i still have access to the evernote files in icloud if i lost my 2fa phone and backup code?

 

I want to use 2fa but also don't want to risk losing all my notes if something ever goes wrong.

Assuming the iCloud backup is a secondary file you would have access to the data.  Would be as current as when you took the backup.  Not sure what the concern is re 2fa causing you to lose your data.  Same concern would apply to password wouldn't it?

[danklim 2]

On 3/6/2019 at 12:01 PM, CalS said:

Assuming the iCloud backup is a secondary file you would have access to the data.  Would be as current as when you took the backup.  Not sure what the concern is re 2fa causing you to lose your data.  Same concern would apply to password wouldn't it?

Thanks. Yes I suppose the same concern does apply to password, but I just added 2FA and I think that password can more easily be reset than 2FA. Not sure about either really, but want to understand it better and have a good system in place in case I ever lose password or 2fa. 

I don't have an icloud backup of notes yet, but I want to make one, and I have a few questions about which backups would be secondary files:

1. An icloud backup would be a secondary file if it's exported as an html file, right?

 

2. Is the data that's automatically stored on a Mac (without setting anything up) considered secondary files that I would still have access to if i lost my 2fa/password? 

I understand that Mac's have a full copy of evernote data (by default) stored in ENML format (and store metadata in sqlite database). I have no idea how ENML or sqlite work or if/how I could recover from that, but i'm guessing that these are secondary files because they are a 'copy'?

 

3. Also wondering if ios devices and/or PC's automatically store a full copy of evernote database on them? If so, would those be secondary files that would still be available if i lost my 2fa or password?

 

On 3/6/2019 at 9:28 AM, DTLow said:

You mentioned data backups.

I backup my data using the export feature, html format, daily incremental and weekly full.

If something goes wrong on the Evernote side, I still have access to my notes.

I take no chances on losing my 2fa backup code; I have it stored in Evernote (accessible in my backups)

Thanks. Is there anywhere that I can find the script that you use to automate exporting to html?

I want to make the same kind of automatic export but don't know how to set it up in apple script. I thought about automating this with Keyboard Maestro but it seems like apple script would probably be much better because it can operate in the background. Also, I'm not sure how I would make it export incrementally... does the apple script allow you to automate when it exports incrementally and in full? Is there any manual management/steps required to make it work well after you set the apple script up?

 

 

[DTLow 5,736]

2 hours ago, danklim said:

Thanks. Is there anywhere that I can find the script that you use to automate exporting to html?

Evernote_Backup.scpt

I documented the backup scripting at 

 

[CalS 5,280]

3 hours ago, danklim said:

An icloud backup would be a secondary file if it's exported as an html file, right?

I would not use iCloud for backup.  Use the export function within EN. 

3 hours ago, danklim said:

Is the data that's automatically stored on a Mac (without setting anything up) considered secondary files that I would still have access to if i lost my 2fa/password? 

Don’t know the Mac infrastructure. 

3 hours ago, danklim said:

Also wondering if ios devices and/or PC's automatically store a full copy of evernote database on them? If so, would those be secondary files that would still be available if i lost my 2fa or password?

A full copy of your data base is stored on a PC or Mac, including notes in local notebooks.  The exception to this is if one uses on demand sync on a PC.  You can download all notes to an IOS device if all notebooks are flagged for offline access.  I suppose this data could be backed up to iCloud, but recovery could be problematic.  Again, not a solution I have pursued

in my use case I export all notebooks to ENEX files once a week.  I use 7zip to compress and encode the local notebooks.  I store the resultant file on One Drive.  Backups are only of use for accidental deletes for me.  The history function covers opps’s.  

[PinkElephant 8,072]

Personally I want my backups to be done safe & easy. So I use one BU software (in my case Acronis) for all Backup jobs, to a network target and as 2nd-level on separate disks if the network catches something weird. For some time I used a cloud storage as target, but they changed the pricing model which made me review my strategy.

The EN data is automatically copied when the SSD is done, on schedule. The backup file is encrypted, AES 256. In addition I decided to have a separate job that just copies the EN database folders, on a higher frequency, encrypted as well.

Recovery works down to a single folder. So even when the backup job creates one huge file containing a complete disk, plus many incremental additions, through the recovery routine it is possible to restore just one folder, or several, or all. When there are versions, the date to go back can be picked. 

The recovery software is stored on the recovery disks, so I could restore to a new machine as well without having the software installed.

This is what works for me. It took some hours to set up the different jobs, but since then it is just running in the background, on schedule. The SW receives regular updates, and yes, I am willing to and do pay for the comfort and security.

My concern is not what would happen if EN would go out of service one day. For me the local database is the safe harbour for my notes. The SW will still be there, export is possible, backup is available - so why bother over a concern of the future, that can easily be solved as long as the basic data structure is how it is today. This is why I do not export to HTML or something like this. If iOS makes an automatic iCloud backup of offline-notebooks from my i-Devices, then it does. This is for me no backup to be counted for. It just makes switching devices a simple procedure.

[DTLow 5,736]

1 hour ago, PinkElephant said:

Personally I want my backups to be done safe & easy. So I use one BU software (in my case Acronis)

On Macs, we have Time Machine backups running in the background.

For Evernote data there's third party Backupery.  
I use Evernote's export feature on my Mac, automated with scripting.

>>Recovery works down to a single folder.

Think carefully about recovery for Evernote data, and how to use your backup files.

For example, you've backed up the Evernote raw database.  
I know how to use this backup to recover a note but it's a complex process.
This would not be my preferred backup method.

[PinkElephant 8,072]

Yes, this goodie is missing on my Windows machine 😩 

And sure, it is not a simple restore when it hits a synced database like Evernote. This is true for all cases where the original (= corrupted) data is on an automatic sync to somewhere. But I would still feel better to restore a database than all the notes as HTML. Because it is anyhow synced to the cloud, I regard the risk of having to restore the backup as marginal in case of EN. 

But as you say: No Backup, no compassion.

[mangoguru 1]

On 3/10/2019 at 4:17 PM, DTLow said:

On Macs, we have Time Machine backups running in the background.

For Evernote data there's third party Backupery.  
I use Evernote's export feature on my Mac, automated with scripting.

>>Recovery works down to a single folder.

Think carefully about recovery for Evernote data, and how to use your backup files.

For example, you've backed up the Evernote raw database.  
I know how to use this backup to recover a note but it's a complex process.
This would not be my preferred backup method.

Are the Evernote Mac files hard to find? Spread in many folders? I remember in Snow Leopard (good old days) with Evernote v 6 it was easy to find.
I am now using Osx High Sierra with the latest Evernote. Where may I find all the folders for a manual backup? Or is that to hard?

[DTLow 5,736]

4 hours ago, mangoguru said:

Are the Evernote Mac files hard to find? Spread in many folders? I remember in Snow Leopard (good old days) with Evernote v 6 it was easy to find.
I am now using Osx High Sierra with the latest Evernote. Where may I find all the folders for a manual backup? Or is that to hard?

I use the Evernote export feature for my backups.
No need to know the location of the Evernote/Mac files

Yes, the Evernote files are easy to find
Hold down the option key, select Help > Troubleshooting > Open Database Folder

Yes, note contents are stored as a separate folder for each note

 

 

[mangoguru 1]

Thanks! Are everything one need to back up Evernote manually up one level (in one master folder)? Or are there plenty of settings files also that is needeed?

[DTLow 5,736]

1 hour ago, mangoguru said:

Thanks! Are everything one need to back up Evernote manually up one level (in one master folder)? Or are there plenty of settings files also that is needeed?

afaik  The database folder contains all the files.  There are various files, and various sub-folders.

Note that this is a copy of our data.  
Evernote is a cloud service and the master version of our data is stored on the Evernote servers.

I don't recommend using these files for backup purposes.
They can be used to restore data, but the process is complicated