Comments on: How To Backup & Archive All Your Facebook Data

By: Al

Al — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:31:41 +0000

Can’t seem to view my messages. I get an error saying:

This content cannot be displayed in a frame

To protect your security, the publisher of this content does not allow it to be displayed in a frame.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:26:23 +0000

I installed archive FB and got a great version as a backup. Once that backup got outdated, I tried to learn to update or do a new backup. However, I couldn’t figure out how to update the archive. So I tried deleting the original archived copy in order to make a new one. But that has not worked either. Help!

By: Chris Watkins

Chris Watkins — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:47:14 +0000

Looks like a good first step, but ultimately I want something more subversive – something that backs up all my data, media and connections so that I can more easily migrate to another platform when a free and open source alternative becomes available (or at the very least, something and less controlling than Facebook).

By: Doria

Doria — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:22:05 +0000

So good to know ! So good to have a backup ! Thanks !

By: Pascal

Pascal — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:57:25 +0000

Apologies Mahendra I missed that statement. Interestingly I took it for a spin and noticed that it has archived photos I’m tagged in i.e. my friends photos, not my own content and friends status updates etc. Exactly what you want from a back up tool (I should know!!) but according to Facebook we as users do not have the right to download this type of content.

Still, this is a very exciting area and I’m sure we’ll all benefit from Facebook’s increasing openness of our data so that we can in time have safe backups of our online existences.

I wasn’t fishing for a write up – as if I’d do such a thing

All the best – Pascal

By: Mahendra Palsule

Mahendra Palsule — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:34:42 +0000

Pascal: Thanks for your comment. I’m not sure about whether ArchiveFB meets Facebook’s terms, but I can clarify that it does not download other people’s content as I’ve clearly noted in the post.

While SocialSafe is indeed a promising tool to use, it is not free. We write only about free software here at MakeUseOf.

By: Pascal

Pascal — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:32:42 +0000

Thanks Brad! Quick disclaimer – I work for SocialSafe which is also a Facebook back up tool.

Earlier this year we set out to address the concern of people investing so much time and effort building and maintaining their Facebook presences without any form of back up. Now Facebook is pretty reliable but occasionally it can have a blip – last week for example around 150k users were affected and may have lost the most recent activity, Facebook can’t say for sure. A friend losing his entire account was the spark of this obvious idea!

SocialSafe isn’t as comprehensive as ArchiveFB because it operates through Facebook’s official API. We wanted to ensure that we did not put our users at risk as there have been horror stories of people losing their accounts after using apps that ‘scrape’ their accounts. Facebook’s terms prevent a user from downloading other people’s content – we are however currently working with them to find a solution that everyone will be happy with.

ArchiveFB seems fantastically simple to use but I’m concerned about the download everything approach and whether the developers are confident that this somehow circumvents Facebook’s terms.

All that aside, it’s a great article Mahendra!

By: Brad Ross-MacLeod

Brad Ross-MacLeod — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:47:45 +0000

I’ve been using SocialSafe for a while now and it’s pretty awesome. It’s an AIR application and they just released a new version that includes Wall backup!

http://socialsafe.net/

By: Howard Pearce

Howard Pearce — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:41:25 +0000

Looks like it is based upon scrapbook and not surprisingly seems to interfer with it to some extent.

By: Pedro Cassian

Pedro Cassian — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:54:51 +0000

id like to back up my wall