[SOLVED] Where would you store data in an apocalypse case?

tarmiricmi

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Aug 3, 2015
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Hello,
suppose total breakdown of a civilization comes. No electricity, no Internet. You need to store the data for survival (I am talking about private, not corporate data). So basically everything you could find ie. databases, various manuals, e-books, music, videos..list is long.

There are three variants, hard drives, SSDs and optical media. Is there anything else though? What would you use?

Optical media are the most expensive, but they are not affected by possible EMP and obviously have no moving parts.
HDD/SSDs are fine, but ultimately will fail. Probably a combination of all three would be a viable thing.

Any thoughts?
 
Solution
Yeah but that is easily overcome by self-generation of electricity (forgot to mention it).
That assumes a fuel source. Probably not a long term viable solution. Solar or wind? Maybe, but vulnerable to theft. Having electricity would make you a target in the scenario you describe.
Paper is more durable. Film can hold more data. If you can find 35mm film, prior to the event, recording on film would be the best option. Why libraries used microfilm or microfiche for so many years.

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
Hello,
suppose total breakdown of a civilization comes. No electricity, no Internet. You need to store the data for survival (I am talking about private, not corporate data). So basically everything you could find ie. databases, various manuals, e-books, music, videos..list is long.

There are three variants, hard drives, SSDs and optical media. Is there anything else though? What would you use?

Optical media are the most expensive, but they are not affected by possible EMP and obviously have no moving parts.
HDD/SSDs are fine, but ultimately will fail. Probably a combination of all three would be a viable thing.

Any thoughts?
None of those things would be useful without electricity. That was an assumption in your first statement.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Hello,
suppose total breakdown of a civilization comes. No electricity, no Internet. You need to store the data for survival (I am talking about private, not corporate data). So basically everything you could find ie. databases, various manuals, e-books, music, videos..list is long.

There are three variants, hard drives, SSDs and optical media. Is there anything else though? What would you use?

Optical media are the most expensive, but they are not affected by possible EMP and obviously have no moving parts.
HDD/SSDs are fine, but ultimately will fail. Probably a combination of all three would be a viable thing.

Any thoughts?
Dead tree media, and the wetware between my ears.
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
Yeah but that is easily overcome by self-generation of electricity (forgot to mention it).
That assumes a fuel source. Probably not a long term viable solution. Solar or wind? Maybe, but vulnerable to theft. Having electricity would make you a target in the scenario you describe.
Paper is more durable. Film can hold more data. If you can find 35mm film, prior to the event, recording on film would be the best option. Why libraries used microfilm or microfiche for so many years.
 
Solution
Cloud.

Your data will be safe with a cloud storage provider like Apple or Google, they have several data centers across the world to keep copies of your data. The service could be offline for a while but it can comeback anytime as soon as the situation improves.

If you want to keep a copy with you, use a HDD with some good protection against shock.
 

tarmiricmi

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Aug 3, 2015
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Food and basic needs are fine, but if there is possibility of something beyond that, one'd start to rebuild. And then you would need to have schemes, manuals, some art and culture material to keep your sanity in order and to provide schooling to younger generation etc. I'm aiming in that direction.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
I mean if you are regular cloud user, your data has the chance to survive.

Anyways if electricity and Internet never comeback, there is no need to store the data.
Given "total breakdown of a civilization "....what 'data' would you be preserving?
What is life critical that it needs to survive the apocalypse?

"How to grow food"
"How to defend yourself"

Neither of which can wait until the power comes back on, and Google/Apple/Amazon make "your data" accessible again.
 

TommyTwoTone66

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Apr 24, 2021
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There are three variants, hard drives, SSDs and optical media. Is there anything else though? What would you use?
Any thoughts?

Probably I would use Micro-SD cards to store anything I needed to keep for a long time, and in such a scenario.

They use almost no power, take up almost no space in my backpack, and are very durable, waterproof etc.

There are a number of "rugged" USB sticks as well as ones designed for long-term storage, that would be quite useful in such a situation.
 

chaoyang

Reputable
Oct 24, 2019
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4,790
Hello,
suppose total breakdown of a civilization comes. No electricity, no Internet. You need to store the data for survival (I am talking about private, not corporate data). So basically everything you could find ie. databases, various manuals, e-books, music, videos..list is long.

There are three variants, hard drives, SSDs and optical media. Is there anything else though? What would you use?

Optical media are the most expensive, but they are not affected by possible EMP and obviously have no moving parts.
HDD/SSDs are fine, but ultimately will fail. Probably a combination of all three would be a viable thing.

Any thoughts?

You aren't thinking of releasing a new virus are you? :ROFLMAO:

But if we are talking about nuclear apocalypse, the radiation may affect and corrupt most digital storage mediums.
 

carocuore

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Jan 24, 2021
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Shame only the richest richs and a few governments in the world must have access to fallout-style vaults that can safely preserve media.
For most folk a notebook and a pencil will have to be enough.

Living in a third world country has its perks though, crime rate in the cities is so high I know how to fend off unarmed guys, in rural areas power and internet can go out for weeks during summer, and activities like farming or hunting are mandatory when food is scarce due to X or Y
 

Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
In an Apocolypse, the absolute last thing I'd ever give a * about would be my data. I'd not care about resume, prior tax returns, games, emails, bill receipts etc. That'd all be totally irrelevant and useless c*.

In an Apocolypse, the only thing I'd care about is survival. Which makes the data and processing power of the gray matter between my ears the most important thing in the world.

And puts the Library as the most important place in town.
 

Old Molases

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May 3, 2021
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Cloud.

Your data will be safe with a cloud storage provider like Apple or Google, they have several data centers across the world to keep copies of your data. The service could be offline for a while but it can comeback anytime as soon as the situation improves.

If you want to keep a copy with you, use a HDD with some good protection against shock.
Yup, there is nothing like cloud storage. The best storage existed till date.
 
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sonofjesse

Distinguished
I'm thinking this wouldn't be on your mind. All your time would be for hunting or in the garden. If you ever did get done you would pass out and sleep. I don't' think your going to have an solar panels running your 5950x and 3090TI under a palm tree.

People watch way too many movies these type of events most everybody will do super quick. The best chance of survival is being a billionaire with everything for 10 years already stored. If you have billons I doubt you would be here asking this question lol. IF you don't have billons the question don't have much meaning lol cause you not going to be worried about your data.

If you want to preserve things for the next 1000+ years I suggest writing them in STONE. Worked for Hammurabi, Moses, the Egyptians, it should also work for for you.
 
If you want to preserve things for the next 1000+ years I suggest writing them in STONE. Worked for Hammurabi, Moses, the Egyptians, it should also work for for you.

Unfortunately, stones can also be victim of climate and environment too. Many of stone works from ancient civilizations are illegible. That's why paper and ink are later used instead of stone or wood. Paper can contain much more data with the same volume of storage.