Does Amazon S3 make any sort of guarantees on your data?

Question

I've read over the agreements several times, and I can't find anything that guarantees Amazon will not lose or corrupt your data. Do they make any such guarantees? Can I trust S3 as my long term backup storage?

Answer 1

See Amazon's terms, specifically, section 11.5:

WE AND OUR LICENSORS DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE OFFERINGS WILL FUNCTION AS DESCRIBED, WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE, OR FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS, OR THAT THE DATA YOU STORE WITHIN THE SERVICE OFFERINGS WILL BE SECURE OR NOT OTHERWISE LOST OR DAMAGED.

Answer 2

The general consensus is no guarantees.

But if there was a guarantee and, despite their best efforts, your data was lost or corrupted the guarantee can't recreate your data. Many guarantees are limited to returning what you have paid for the failed service or giving you another (blank) disc; and most guarantees would disappear if the company no longer offers the service (most services will give you your data back today but cannot offer guarantees for next year or in ten years' time).

If this really concerns you, consult a suitably qualified lawyer.

Otherwise (or in addition), be diligent in taking backups and securing data you don't want (or can't afford) to lose. Don't trust any one method, whatever guarantees come with it. Test restore mechanisms regularly (especially if a restore would use different software, drive or machine than the one used for the backup). For on-line services also make sure you have a separate record of any authentication credentials needed to access the service!