Rarely used, but it saves you when you really need it
Some data deserves a copy that is not online at all. A cold backup stays offline on purpose, so it is still there when someone steals your other copies, deletes them, or encrypts them with ransomware.
Why an offline copy is a different kind of copy
Everything online shares one weakness: something else can reach it. Ransomware encrypts every disk it can see. One sync mistake copies a deletion to every device within seconds. If someone takes over your account, your backups are exposed too. The easier a copy is to reach, the more ways it can be damaged.
A cold copy cuts that link, because nothing can reach it. It sits on a disk in a drawer, a tape in a safe, a write-once disc, or an archived storage object that nothing mounts. It is inconvenient to reach, and reachability is exactly what destroys other copies.
One file you can archive anywhere
NotionManager exports the whole backup as one large file. You copy, verify and store one file, and its completeness never depends on whether you remembered every part. The file needs no application and no service to store it. Any medium that can hold bytes will do, including write-once cold storage.
You can also copy one file into two copies and compare them. That is the only way to confirm an archive is intact without opening the application.
Archiving, and coming back
You run the export by hand, as a deliberate decision. A cold copy should be a decision you make, not a schedule you forget.
- 1
Export the backup
NotionManager writes the backup as one file. That file is what you archive, copy and verify.
- 2
Store it off this machine
Use an external disk, tape, optical media or an archival bucket. Keep it off the machine that runs the backup, and unmount it when you are not using it.
- 3
Import it when it is needed
The cold copy comes back into NotionManager as its own profile and reads like any other. When you open it, you can see what you kept.
The imported profile is read-only
If anyone could write into a cold copy, the same accident, sync mistake or malware that destroyed the live data could rewrite it too. So the imported profile is read-only. You browse and search it, and you cannot insert new backups into it.
Read-only also makes the archive trustworthy as evidence. When you open a cold copy from two years ago, you read exactly what was archived, not what a later run thought it should be.
When a cold copy is the right answer
Data you cannot lose at all
Contracts, records, research notes, and anything else whose loss is a major event rather than an inconvenience.
A copy that survives your machine
Ransomware and accidental deletion both start on your machine. An archive that is not attached to that machine is safe from both.
A dated file you can hand over
Take one dated file straight to an auditor, a client or a court. You do not have to export it again.
The off-site copy in a 3-2-1 plan
This is the off-site copy in the 3-2-1 rule. It stays unplugged on purpose, not just somewhere else.
Put one copy beyond reach
Download NotionManager, export a backup as a single file, and store it where nobody can quietly change it.
Where to go next
Frequently asked questions
Is a cold backup searchable or browsable like a normal one?
Once imported, yes. It opens as its own profile and reads like any other copy. While it is archived, it is a file rather than a live backup.
Why is the imported profile read-only?
So that nothing can write into an archive. An archive only needs to be browsed and exported. If anyone could write into it, the very thing it was made to survive could destroy it.
How often should I make a cold copy?
It depends on the cost. Make one whenever losing everything since the last copy would be unacceptable: monthly, quarterly, or before a risky change. It is a deliberate act, not a schedule you set and forget.
Is one archived file enough?
No single copy ever is. Keep the archive off-site, keep a second one if the data warrants it, and check now and then that the file still opens.