VOX deleting hosted data

C

crudler

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Hi Guys,

Please tell me if I am being out of line, or making a mountain out of a molehill, but to me this seems like a big issue that anyone hosting at Vox should be made aware of.

I have a shared hosting product from Vox – “Linux Advanced”
It included 20gb of storage, and ftp capabilities. I am using it to FTP database backups from a system hosted elsewhere. Its quite low tech, but works really nicely.
Backups have been happening on their own, running in the background. Only if there is an exception do I get alerted.

This morning I logged in to grab a different snapshot, and I saw that the folder was totally empty.

Thinking it was an ftp issue I logged a call.

According to them, I had gone over my 20gb (I was on 49gb – admittedly I was at fault). So they just deleted my folder. Just like that wiped out all my data. No phone call, no advanced warning, nothing. Just a unilateral decision to nuke my data.

Obviously I went ballistic.
The closest I can get to an answer was “Sorry, we did try to contact you in November (4 months ago) – but we have no record of that so we can’t tell you how, or when”. Apparently they were running out of server storage space, so wiping me out solved the problem.

Can they just do that.
They are a hosting provider, trusting them to store my data is a primary tenant of hosting
Also, how this is their system that 1 shmuck how goes 29gb over wrecks their system. Are they saying they don’t have capacity for 2 more 20gb clients?

I am seeing red.
I lost a snapshot that a client requested so they are fuming
I could have been caught out completely by having a system crash with no backups.

This just doesn’t seem kosher to me. So just a warning to anyone who hosts with them.
 
I'd kick and scream but then I'd make a plan to move away from VOX ASAP.

Personally i'd move to a VPS as shared hosting has a huge risk of compromise. If you need ZA hosting then Host1Plus have decent VPS offerings (the cheapest i've seen for ZA). Hosted out of IS in JHB.

You can use my affiliate link here if you're interested: https://affiliates.host1plus.com/ref/jeromeza.html
 
If they are doing regular backups then they should have a backup of that folder that they can provide you the snapshot of.

When it comes to data and situations like that, they should have taken the time to give you a phone call and discuss it with you.
Also the question you should ask them is why they didn't delete the oldest archives until you were under your 20GB limit?
 
Unless they stipulate anything in the ToS, I don't see how it's acceptable for them to completely delete your content without prior notice. They are also meant to keep call/transaction logs in the event of a dispute. Sounds to me that someone on their end made a slap-dash decision and as an end result, you're sitting without your data.

They should have at least space reserves on their servers, I mean 20GB's seriously? Failing that, they could have shipped your content off to a temporary location. It's your responsibility to ensure you are within your quota, but it's also not something that should warrant data deletion, at most, excess charges.
 
I don't dispute that it was an error going over 20gbs. But a full scale data wipe is madness. Either make my user readonly, or fifo the data. I have moved to another host meanwhile. Big Oops on their part. I don't know what recourse I have, but currently I am seeing red.
 
Wow. I would move away from Vox as fast as possible if it was me.

Thanks for the heads up to never use them.
 
jsheed_sa said:
Why? The FTP should be run in a jail with a data quota attached surely?
Click to expand...

It works differently on different platforms. On a cPanel platform LVE prevents writing to a folder that has reached it's file size quota, whereas on the Windows hosting control panels this isn't always the case. Instead customers are responsible for their data usage, and if they are to exceed their data quotas, they will be charged overages. Well, that's how it works in theory. What Vox did sounded like a slap-dash approach to 'fixing' a server capacity issue they had at the time. Personally, if this was something that affected me, I'd request more information from them and failing that seek legal advice.
Bryn said:
Wow. I would move away from Vox as fast as possible if it was me.

Thanks for the heads up to never use them.
Click to expand...

They aren't the only ones who do this type of thing. Hetzner and Afrihost, I've never heard of this problem.
 
Wow, am I glad that I left Vox all those years ago when they screwed me. Now I am reassured that they are an evil company.
 
I use Hetzner and whenever I go over limit I get an email informing me and requesting I sort it out. That is the professional way to handle this situation, after all, if you are offering storage you must EXPECT users to go over limit from time to time. It is part of the job.
 
jsheed_sa said:
I'd kick and scream but then I'd make a plan to move away from VOX ASAP.

Personally i'd move to a VPS as shared hosting has a huge risk of compromise. If you need ZA hosting then Host1Plus have decent VPS offerings (the cheapest i've seen for ZA). Hosted out of IS in JHB.

You can use my affiliate link here if you're interested: https://affiliates.host1plus.com/ref/jeromeza.html
Click to expand...

Unless you really know your hosting I would not recommend moving to your own VPS, otherwise you are will just create an insecure hosting box that wont have the advantage of an experienced engineer to tighten up the settings. If you know what you are doing and are comfy with tightening down and hardening a hosting server, then do what jsheed recommends.
 
bekdik said:
I use Hetzner and whenever I go over limit I get an email informing me and requesting I sort it out. That is the professional way to handle this situation, after all, if you are offering storage you must EXPECT users to go over limit from time to time. It is part of the job.
Click to expand...

I just dont let them go over their limits otherwise its added unnecessary admin chasing people.
 
They might have screwed up, but that is why you have backups. So I guess Vox and you screwed up.
 
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