TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Yep, the gas discharge tubes will help with lightning hits, but won’t help for power surges. The problem with lightning hits is they can come in or induce a charge on any conductor, and if it’s a direct strike, not much will help - megawatts of energy. In Florida, you need all the help you can get!

i have a tower and a LOT of antennas, and every coax transmission line has some form of lightning protection and grounding when not being used. Some have gas discharge tubes and some use an inductor to ground (opaque to VHF/UHF, but a direct path to ground at DC or lower frequencies). And you can bet I don’t use those puny 3’ ground rods. 8’ with #4 ground wire plus flat copper strip to the tower and the copper entrance plate where all the incoming coax is connected AND bonded to the ground at the meter base.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Yea, NOTHING will protect from a direct hit.
And a spike from lightning will randomly take out things in the house. It happened 3 or 4 different times while I lived there. And one does not take a shower during a lightning storm.

neillaubenthal

Actually…assuming they did the security right which is a big assumption…it isn’t any less secure than DropBox or OneDrive or iCloud. Its end to end encryption and connects through a VPN or SSL connection from your house to their server to the buy you’re sharing the drive with. Very similar mode of operation as any of the other online storage services or backup services.

neillaubenthal

Poor thinking IMO…

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Never say never.

(But also, never say always).

{i.e. keep your mouth shut and never say anything}

charles tabb Loc: Richmond VA.

From what you say......
Nothing is safe then.
I had a friend who had his PC backed up ,on a cloud.
One day all of a sudden his Cloud disappeared.
Things can happen to anyone using a PC.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

So one changes clouds, just like when an external backup drive dies, one replaces the drive.
Simple.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

That sounds good - like a custom NAS.

Real Nikon Lover Loc: Simi Valley, CA

I followed Joseph Cristina's guidebook ("Digital Fort Knox") and created my own Unraid system. It has not failed me yet. It is backed up to a large UPS and Surge protection with an insurance policy. I also keep an offsite copy of an 8TB drive in a fireproof safe that gets frequent back ups.

https://jcristina.com/unraid/?v=1d20b5ff1ee9

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Thanks for that.

He seems to cover lots of topics. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Joseph+Cristina

Real Nikon Lover Loc: Simi Valley, CA

He is quite a guy. Besides being a professional photographer he is also an inventor with patents and a manufacturer of custom blended teas. He is a friend of mine.

Horseart Loc: Alabama

Can't keep from smiling! I can see you getting one, taking it apart minutes after it arrives to see if it can be altered to make it better or faster.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Your friend was doing it wrong. Cloud backup is secondary. Local backup is primary.

Cloud backup is convenient and the cloud providers provide software to do your backup in the background so you need do nothing to ensure things are backed up. A GOOD cloud provider will provide software that will do both the cloud and the local backup in the background.

And if you do both local and cloud backup, restoration will commonly be done from your local backup because it's right there with you and you don't have bandwidth problems. If your local backup is toast, THEN you restore from the cloud.

The cloud is insurance because things happen (as you noted).
Backup requires Duplication, Distribution, and Maintenance.
Duplication requires that your files be copied to several different media.
Distribution requires that your storage media be stored in many different places.
Maintenance requires that the storage media be tested regularly to avoid corruption.

The cloud duplicates your files and distributes them to several different locations, distant from your computer by large distances.
The cloud maintains their storage media using professionals, while local backup is maintained by individuals, generally amateurs.

montephoto

I hope not, but you are not protected from any disaster that might occur in your home, because
you have "all your eggs in two baskets, side by side".

Your son will not be able to recover data from fire, theft, flood, broken water pipe, natural disaster...

Maybe you will need a "cloud" backup as well.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Name the company.