The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

@chunny, how do you see those download folders etc? It's perhaps possible to access the forum servers in FTP mode to download all contents in pack? That would be very useful to store all this info...

HTTrack Website Copier.
It's a free program for downloading whole websites. I sign into the forum and then copy the url. Paste the url into the program and make a folder where you want to save the site. it's that simple. Took about 5hrs to do the whole site. I run the program during the night, once a week on the "Update existing downloads" setting to update the backup without downloading the entire site again.

You can then offline browse the site from the saved folder as you would normally. Of course it does not download anything that we do not have access to so all the java or visual aspects of the site are missing but otherwise works great. That's how I know there are only 14.9Gb of images in the image folder.
Wish I had done it before the images disappeared.

To be fair to the admin guys, this was a common problem with the last phpBB upgrade. I just hope they saved backups before the upgrade. Even then it may be a long laborious process to re-link the old images. It might be as simple as putting the backed up images into the new image folder but only the admin guys will know that.
That is why I offered my help. If there is a backup of the lost images, I don't mind helping with re-linking them to the original posts.

Aha, thanks. I didn't know of that site downloader. With sites I usually download the pages that have the interesting information, but things like this forum, the 78-L and the like, it would be an enormous task.
78-L has no images, only texts. But it has the digest mode, so you have one txt file per week, easy to download. It contains all the messages together, sorted by appearance in the server, I suppose...

The APS copied the TMF a few years ago when it looked like it was going down. Again, should the worst happen here, that backup (including images) will be available at the free APS Forum:

https://forum.antiquephono.org/

George P.

The APS copied the TMF a few years ago when it looked like it was going down. Again, should the worst happen here, that backup (including images) will be available at the free APS Forum:

So what you are saying is that the TMF was backed up by APS so all those lost images have been saved. But that backup is not available yet but may be made available if this forum dies?. Catch 22

Hang on a minute.

I think we all know that a person can't just copy an entire website and publish it some-where else. Unless that person is the owner of the website. Even if a website goes off-line.

Or am I wrong.

Backup data can be repopulated into another, relational database, forum-community like structure. I believe that was the inference.

AllenReisner wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 6:53 am Backup data can be repopulated into another, relational database, forum-community like structure. I believe that was the inference.

I genuinely don't understand what you mean.

Could you please state your point more simply so I can understand ?

chunnybh wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 4:46 am So what you are saying is that the TMF was backed up by APS so all those lost images have been saved. But that backup is not available yet but may be made available if this forum dies?. Catch 22

The APS has no wish to usurp or appropriate the contents of the TMF as long as it's a viable site.* That said, the contents of the TMF represents a significant resource to our hobby, and it's in the hobby's best interests that its content not be lost. Should the TMF permanently go off-line, the saved contents will be made available at the APS website, where its long-term viability will be overseen by a Board of Directors and a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. This would be in the best interests of our hobby, and that is the purpose of the APS.

Hopefully, the TMF will be fixed and survive for many years to come. But if our hopes don't pan out, at least there is insurance in place.

(*Several attempts were made by the APS to either purchase the TMF or underwrite the cost of its maintenance. These overtures were ignored.)

George P.

phonogfp wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 9:21 am

chunnybh wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 4:46 am So what you are saying is that the TMF was backed up by APS so all those lost images have been saved. But that backup is not available yet but may be made available if this forum dies?. Catch 22

The APS has no wish to usurp or appropriate the contents of the TMF as long as it's a viable site.* That said, the contents of the TMF represents a significant resource to our hobby, and it's in the hobby's best interests that its content not be lost. Should the TMF permanently go off-line, the saved contents will be made available at the APS website, where its long-term viability will be overseen by a Board of Directors and a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. This would be in the best interests of our hobby, and that is the purpose of the APS.

Hopefully, the TMF will be fixed and survive for many years to come. But if our hopes don't pan out, at least there is insurance in place.

(*Several attempts were made by the APS to either purchase the TMF or underwrite the cost of its maintenance. These overtures were ignored.)

George P.

Okay, so you are saying that you think you can copy the TMF onto your site for public use if the TMF ceases to remain on-line.

I assume therefore that you think this would be legally acceptable.

Very interesting and thank you for clarifying.