What would happen if fire ripped through your home?

[DR]

Of course - you have your passport, and other paperwork, and you have your data on your system.

RAID is a good option - but not enough, and remote file storage is too expensive.

How many of you have looked in to having a small, fireproof safe at home - which you store your vitals in? You could put a DVD in it?

Just a open discussion point - not sure even on the pricing of these things - but for the sake of lets say £200 doesn't it make sense to make sure that data and your personal possssions are kept safe.

Thoughts?/Discuss?

[Howard]

It's definietly worth it.

If there was a fire in my house, the first and probbaly only thing I would grab (if it was reasonably safe to do so) would be my removable hard drive which I back up all my files onto regularly. Equipment can be replaced. Years of data can't.

[mgh0]

My parents use an underfloor safe for their valuables and important documents. I think it cost around £80 from Makro but not 100% sure its fireproof.

I also knew a bloke in my first year at uni that kept a hardcopy of all his assignments in the freezer just in case fire struck.

[EvilMunky]

I use a hidden fireproof safe to store all important documents in - birth / marriage certs, passports and all insurance details etc.

I also have 5gb webspace which i have copies of everything on, as well as stuff like contact details for people, cvs, insurance details and any other important files.

[Ramedge]

personally i dont think i would use one because i keep alot of stuff on remote servers (Now, after hard drive failure) i only say this though because my house is fairly large and the chances of a fire taking out the whole house before i could pick up my laptop or retrieve a hard drive is extreemly unlikely. what would interest me more is say a dirve center housing a terrabyte of space that is locked in a fireproof container that is connected to your network.

[headbrace]

If I had data that was really worth protecting I would probably make one of these.

But I don't really have anything that crucial, and if I really wanted my PowerBook I could just grab it on my way out.

[Stormsinger]

Data on remote server(s), favourites list of websites on a website page for easy reference, email uses hotmail, and if i really wanted to preserve programme disks I paid good money for, I'd probably put them in a sealed envelope in my bank's safe (at least if the bank goes up in flames, they'll probably try adn retrieve the safe after it's out, and it's more likely to have a few hours flame proofing), in addition to doing regular back ups to disc to grab on the way out.

also, smoke detectors in house to make sure you have enough time to grab stuff on the way out . . . . . . .

[tim_n]

I have a pen drive I wear round my kneck and is kept by the side of my bed @ night. It's the first thing I'd grab along with my keys and inhailer. The rest can go hang. I'd not go back for anything data wise even though I run my own businesses - my life is more important.

Meantime, if i wanted to go OTT I'd fill the house with those special xeon dumpster canisters. Then wire it up to heat sensors. Obviously the bedroom would be a really stupid place to do that.

[5lab]

heh, i dont even have house insurance at the mo.. with over £10k of stuff in there, perhaps that would be a good first step..

[unreal]

I wouldn't bother myself, since I don't have ultra important data and my parents keep our really important documents in an office safe somewhere else, but I have one harddrive with all my data on it, so I would yonk that out and go. I would probably bring my ipod too, something to listen to while I watch my house burning down. Since I am right next to the window, I could easily get outside, but in a different situation like having my house burn down while I'm away, that could be worse in different ways, as although I am safe I couldn't save a thing

[Howard]

Things I would definitely grab would be my phone, removable HDD, and maybe laptop.

I might go back for my PC itself, just the chassis, but only if I knew I had time to get in and out (think about it; doesn't take long to unplug everything and get down the stairs in reality does it)

[DR]

I have thought about this - I want to get a safe, nothing huge - to fit about 2 shoe boxes in it - question is, looking around looks like too many options

[Ramedge]

Originally Posted by David

I have thought about this - I want to get a safe, nothing huge - to fit about 2 shoe boxes in it - question is, looking around looks like too many options

it depends on what data you really want to keep and what you wouldnt mind keeping but is maybe not important?
Then you have to think about whats the cheapest way for you to keep your data safe?
my way is - to have it atleast on 2computers, have it on a secure directory on a webserver - upload it to my "googlemail" space using the Gmail drive shell and also on a usb dongle.
That doesnt cost me any were near £200 and my data is safe for now..

[Ramedge]

just to add to something pyle mentioned earlyer.
this safe is going to contain your important data and i assume the contents of the safe will not live in any way i.e plugged in to a wall socket or wired into your pc, because if it were then theres the possibilty of your hardware in the safe being surged. So when you make some changed to some important data youve got to dig out the safe get the drive in plug it in update then take it out back in the safe it goes. This could get really annoying if its a document your constantly working on and your totally paranoid about your house burning down every night
so maybe a safe is slighlty impracticle? what if you believe that your data will be totally safe durring a fire and its not? - it could get pretty hot in that safe and cause platters on hard drives to expand or DVD's to warp.

Personally i think remote storage is a much better idea and almost certainly will be in the future when upload speeds increase dramaticly for every one.

[DR]

I don't want stuff everywhere - I also have a fair few documents I need to keep safe.

The point is - I don't mind spending some cash on it, since my data is important to me.

I only have 1 DVD or so of data on my PC which is important, and the equipment doesn't matter so much to me.

I already mirror the data - but possessions and passports and things its worth doing something preventative

[mgh0]

Something like this might be what you are looking for?

http://www.thesafeshop.co.uk/products/2001.html

http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=20384