Upvato Backup Service Confirms Files Are Lost, Plans to Relaunch on New Provider

Upvato creator Freddy Lundekvam has confirmed that all user files entrusted to the service have been permanently lost, as his previous storage provider is unable to recover them. After receiving a series of emails from the provider reminding him that payment was due, the provider terminated his account seven days after the invoice was overdue.

Lundekvam said ordinarily he would expect his sites and servers to go offline in response to an unpaid invoice but this particular provider, which he would not identify, simply terminated his account.

“I contacted the provider in good faith, knowing that any decent provider has complete backups of everything they terminate for X time after they terminate it,” Lundekvam said. “Apparently, with this ‘crappy’ company, terminated means literally terminated. All decent backup providers have backups of their backups, and any provider with such a setup knows very well that terminating the backups at the same time as you terminate the original files is a HUGE mistake, after all, you have those backups in place just in case something is terminated wrongly or the system corrupts something. We can simply conclude with the fact that this provider didn’t do backups of their users’ data and therefore would never be able to recover anything they have lost.”

Although Lundekvam mentioned Amazon Glacier in a previous interview as an example of how cheap storage space is, he confirmed that Amazon was not the provider in question here. “Amazon was quickly ironed out in the launch phase due to the heavy adjustments it needed to make it work exactly the way we wanted it to,” he said.

Lundekvam said he sincerely believed this backup provider was reliable and was disappointed to find out otherwise after trusting users’ data with the company. Despite the misfortune and embarrassment of the current situation, he is determined to relaunch Upvato with a new provider that offers redundant backups.

Upvato to Relaunch with Improved Version that Allows Users to Define Backup Destination

Lundekvam said the new version will be launched “as soon as possible.” His team is considering firing up the current (old) version and then migrating as originally planned instead of relaunching with the new version. The improvements include a better backup algorithm and new functionality.

“The very new version will allow the user to define their own destination / choice of backup location, whether that be on Upvato’s servers, their own FTP / SFTP server, Dropbox, Amazon, and other providers we’re looking into implementing,” Lundekvam said. “This would make Upvato function as a mere gateway that detects and keeps your backups in sync at your favorite destination, while at the same time presenting the same awesome visual experience on the website to display the sales ad associated with the item.”

Lundekvam remains committed to keeping the core service free indefinitely and may add commercial upgrades if costs exceed what he is able to contribute on his own.

“As long as I am able to sustain Upvato on my own, then it will remain ad-free and completely free to use,” he said. “But of course there are plans to monetize the website if we at some point need help keeping the lights on. That might be ad-generated revenue, or a premium service for premium functionality. But regardless of what we do then, the core functionality of Upvato – backing up your Envato files – will always remain free to use.”

In response to commenters who suspected the service of fraud and users who may be wary of continuing with the service, Lundekvam said, “Upvato is not a fraud in any way. It’s really entirely up to the user if they want to give us a second chance or not. We are a completely free service that intends to do the very best we can do make sure that we stay a reliable, good way to store and backup your Envato files.”