What's wrong with fireproof safes?
There's nothing really wrong with safe fireproof home. They are well designed to produce the card to reach a temperature to destroy or ruin the take. However, they will not prevent computer data is backed up on CD, DVD or flash drive does not actually destroyed. They do not protect even photos slides and negatives.
The problem is that we do not know how, fire retardant or fire resistant ratings, which are assignedSafes. There are three basic votes for fire safety by Underwriters Laboratories. If a safe is designed for 1 hour, then must maintain internal temperatures below the rating specified for the entire hour.
The safe must maintain the internal temperature below 350 degrees Celsius - UL 350 which is to burn below the normal temperature for most paper products, char, or unusable.
UL 150 is the rating for tapes, cassettes, microfiche and microfilm. In addition to maintainingthe interior at or below 150 degrees, humidity below 85%.
UL 125 is the standard for floppy disks. In this case, the temperature does not exceed 125 ° C and 80% humidity.Humidity and water damage is important if you want to protect electronic devices such as flash drives.
Test your media data
If you need a better assessment of your home or office fireproof doubt I'm sure to protect your data, you can try this simple test.
Looking for a couple of photos or negativesSlide and a print or two, you're not interested. Get two old CD or DVD with some data on them. Place a CD in Jewel Case.
Preheat your kitchen oven to 200 degrees, turn off, so that the elements will not turn on. Radiant heat may be larger and cause plastic to melt, even when the air temperature is 200 degrees. Place the CD is in the case of CD, CD and more on a piece of paper and place in oven. Wait a few minutes and you can use the CD in the ClockJewel Case curl. Obviously, the data will not be recovered from him. Remove the other CDs that will not bend. When it has cooled, you can put in your computer and see if the data is intact. Sometimes everything is going well.
Now heat the oven to 325 degrees. It is set to 350 when the oven thermostat is not correct. If the oven has reached the right temperature, turn it off. Put your photos, slides and negatives on a piece of paper. Change your CD in goodthe oven on a piece of paper.
You will find that a negative can be rolled up and destroyed almost immediately. The images are a little curl, and probably a little 'faded. The images will then flatten out again, but there is no hope for slides or negatives.
The CD remains flat, but the data will be gone. You'll probably be able to get bubbles in the plastic of the CD recording to see the page.
Alternative
Here are three alternatives whenYou want your data protected.
Get support safe place. Protect your photos, slides, negatives, CDs and DVDs. As shown above, a UL 125 protection for your valuable data to test fire is evaluated from the heat and humidity to protect. During a normal fire-proof safe at home to protect the data content for a few minutes, the hood that the data are likely to secure more than 15 minutes is extremely low.
A safe place the advantages of the media:
The ability to rapidly secure a flash drive and immediatelyStore their data every night after making a backup. The data is if you have access to the Internet. You do not need any monthly or annual tickets that you booked.
Disadvantage of a safe fireproof media:
The main disadvantage of a secure media is cost. They are not cheap.
Use an online backup system. This is a very effective way to ensure that data is safe. Well, sure as can be expected to continue to use a different companyTheir data. If you do not have much data, you can find free services on the web.
The advantages of online backup:
The information is stored in a completely different place. In many cases, you can encrypt data for added security.
Disadvantage:
You may need to use special software. Software changes over time and to do such encryption methods. You can find your data conversion, or even move when a company's operations. There are no annual fees, ifThey have a lot of data and that requires more time than a support safe place. You may not buy some DVD software online. Often need the original DVD to install the software. Upload nightly backup to the Internet is not as fast as saving to a flash drive.
Renting a safe deposit box at your bank.
Security advantages:
You have the maximum protection. Do you have offsite data backup.
Disadvantages of a securitySafe:
Limited access to data. There when you need it and you can not back up every night. Lockers are really small. You can get a lot of data on DVD, but can not be a lot of slides and negatives. The cost for a safe change significantly, but it will also cost more over time as a support safe place.
Completion
Assess your situation. If you are not a lot of online backup data then can be the best option. If you have a lot of data andThey have purchased several software packages, so the best option is a home office or media fireproof safe. What do you do, do not get caught with a fire in your home or office and find that you have lost your information.
