That time almost ruined the deletion order of "Toy Story 2".

In 1998, something ridiculous happened at Pixar: an employee accidentally executed the rm -rf / command on the server, directly deleting all files of Toy Story 2. A year's worth of work evaporated in an instant.

What's even more outrageous is that the backup system has been down for over a month, and no one noticed.

As the project was about to go down the drain, a savior appeared at a critical moment. Female technical director Hed Catmull had stored a copy of the project files at home (she was taking care of her child at the time and brought work home weekly to maintain it). This “private backup” saved the entire film.

This case serves as a bloody lesson for IT people:

Why did it crash?

• Permissions were not properly controlled, allowing regular employees to delete critical folders.
• The backup is useless, and no one knows when it fails.
• No secondary verification mechanism

How to avoid pitfalls?

• 3-2-1 Backup Rule: 3 copies, 2 different media, 1 off-site storage
• Restrict execution permissions for high-risk orders
• Regularly test backup recovery, don't let backups become just for show.
• Critical data should be backed up offline (to prevent ransomware)

It seems ridiculous now, but this kind of thing is still happening to this day. Does your backup really work?