USB Storage to store family pictures

mrk · 7 Sep 2023 at 20:34

It's this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Peli-1120-...000KZ9PYC/ref=psdc_1104334_t4_B00ELIO4LI?th=1

Now that you mention it, I looked up the defence standards these conform to and it outlines high and low temp testing, seems the high heat testing doesn't go to the heat levels of an average house fire (600 degrees C) - So a fire proof cloth of wrap of some sort might be desirable too - But hey at least it's everything else proof

Quartz · 7 Sep 2023 at 21:03

mrk said:
Physical prints age over time and the quality doesn't remain the same, also you gotta then store them. In the event of a disaster etc then they are also destroyed

The same can be said for digital media. Bit rot is real.

mrk · 7 Sep 2023 at 21:16

Quartz said:
The same can be said for digital media. Bit rot is real.

Not an issue of concern for 99% of people.

The chip itself is not affected by this, so reprogramming it approximately once per decade prevents decay. An undamaged copy of the master data is required for the reprogramming. A checksum can be used to assure that the on-chip data is not yet damaged and ready for reprogramming.

The need to have a master copy not affected by bit decay to do the reprogram is basically the software being used, in my case FreeFileSync checks the data between both source and destination, and because I'm doing it regularly (not once every 10 years lol), there's no chance of decay. It's a speedy process, checks the entire drive and pulls in any data that doesn't match the source location properties so a fresh sync is always in effect.

So yeah, if your backup and sync routine is exactly that, a routine, (which it should be for everyone!), then there's no worry here.

Since I started using PCs from the 90s onwards I have yet to have a piece of solid state backup media fail or decay. traditional HDDs however have come and gone, and as proven by backblaze's recent studies, SSDs are more reliable than HDDs.

wigster · 13 Sep 2023 at 17:45

Should be getting my external drive tomorrow, so I'm going to use cdrs as extra backup I still have hundreds of cdrs sitting around.

Is there any software thats available to password the external drive but so it isn't just locked to one computer.

TangoEchoAlpha · 13 Sep 2023 at 19:03

If you are going to burn the data to optical media, take a look at DVD Disaster - https://github.com/speed47/dvdisaster

I use it on Linux, but there is a version available for WIndows. You can burn the ECC data to the DVD itself, or burn it to a separate file.

For the drive, I'd recommend Veracrypt or Cryptomator

wigster · 13 Sep 2023 at 22:29

Seems Veracrypt is the better one to use as its more secure.

wigster · 14 Sep 2023 at 15:39

Got my external drive just about to use Veracrypt what is the better format ntfs or exfat?

wigster · 14 Sep 2023 at 22:22

Well that didn't go well with Veracrypt went through hours of format and when I try to mount the device I get a error code 9170.I have entered the password correctly.

Edit: I just couldn't get it to mount kept on getting that same number, this time i picked the automount devices and this time it worked. Then I unmounted and did it again this time picking the drive myself and it worked.