Looking for an AskMe comment about a unique backup system December 15, 2010 10:53 PM   Subscribe

FindThatCommentFilter: There was a comment a few years back discussing a rather unique data recovery system that used automatic screenshots, but I can't find it. Do you remember it?

The author of this comment was a programmer or something similar, and to protect against the loss of unsaved work, his computer took a screenshot every few minutes. I believe he then had these timestamped and stored in some sort of database. If he ever lost something that he had typed up, he simply pulled up the relevant screenshot, and ran some sort of OCR software against it, thereby recovering most of the lost work.

I've tried googling (maybe I should try binging) everything I can remember about it, but I can't find it. Does anyone remember this?
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug to MetaFilter-Related at 10:53 PM (4 comments total)

Was it this?

Time Snapper may be useful for this. Haven't tried it myself but it would be useful for keeping track of what you're doing on the computer all day.

"TimeSnapper is an Automatic Screenshot Journal. It runs in the background of your computer, taking screenshots of your desktop every few seconds all week long. "

posted by amyms at 11:14 PM on December 15, 2010


My old boss deliberately installed corporate spyware on his PC for this purpose.
posted by schmod at 7:56 AM on December 16, 2010


MetaTalk itself seems to have become a unique data recovery system.
posted by hermitosis at 8:46 AM on December 16, 2010 [3 favorites]


Amyms, that looks similar, but I specifically remember the comment referencing the use of OCR. Thanks though, I'll have to check that out.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 10:25 AM on December 16, 2010


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