Keeping backup drives safe: I back-up all my photos on two hard drives. I was thinking about buying one of these to store my backup drives at home. I don't want to use the cloud or...

par4fore Loc: Bay Shore N.Y.

I back-up all my photos on two hard drives. I was thinking about buying one of these to store my backup drives at home. I don't want to use the cloud or place the 2nd drive off-site. I also am not willing to spend a bundle, so what say you? Thanks!
PS. Home depot has this for $124.00

http://www.gunsafes.com/Honeywell-1108-1-06-cu-ft-Molded-Fire-Water-Chest-w-Key-Lock-Latch.html

jethro779 Loc: Tucson, AZ

Keeping paper safe for an hour and keeping hard drives safe are different things. Heat is a destroyer of hard drives. I use a Safe deposit box at my local bank branch.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Since you're not a fan of cloud, it would afford better protection for the drive(s) in case of a major catastrophe. Regularly transporting backups to an off-site location is definitely a hassle, not for me either.
(I prefer the cloud, it's automatic and hassle free.)

Bill MN Loc: Western MN

That looks like a good idea. No need to keep your money in there send it to me.

Ghery Loc: Olympia, WA

I use multiple computers and external hard drives at home to back up more than just my pictures. However, if the house burns down that doesn't do me any good. As a result, I also have the computers backed up (in my case, using Carbonite) off site. No single point of failure an no single location. And, yes, Carbonite has saved me when one of my computers was infected with malware that locked me out of many of my files. Made recovery rather painless, and free.

romanticf16 Loc: Commerce Twp, MI

par4fore wrote:

I back-up all my photos on two hard drives. I was thinking about buying one of these to store my backup drives at home. I don't want to use the cloud or place the 2nd drive off-site. I also am not willing to spend a bundle, so what say you? Thanks!
PS. Home depot has this for $124.00

http://www.gunsafes.com/Honeywell-1108-1-06-cu-ft-Molded-Fire-Water-Chest-w-Key-Lock-Latch.html

If you've seen photos of peoples homes near a forest fire you know everything, even steel and concrete will melt in a severe fire. A $124 gun safe will not be the answer.

PRodacy Loc: New Mexico

I have something similar, and I keep it in a good n safe rated for 3 hours. Between the two, I feel comfortable.

MtManMD Loc: Beaverton, Oregon

I use a similar safe and strategy. It is an easy and inexpensive solution that covers almost all scenarios, as long as you're near good city fire protection (I have a fire hydrant in front of the house), and are not located in a flood zone. I compliment the strategy with an occasional, about quarterly) separate backup on an encrypted USB portable drive that I take to my office across town and keep in desk drawer.

bettis1 Loc: Texas

Ghery wrote:

I use multiple computers and external hard drives at home to back up more than just my pictures. However, if the house burns down that doesn't do me any good. As a result, I also have the computers backed up (in my case, using Carbonite) off site. No single point of failure an no single location. And, yes, Carbonite has saved me when one of my computers was infected with malware that locked me out of many of my files. Made recovery rather painless, and free.

Unless things have recently changed, the Carbonite Personal Plan does not back up external drives.

Bob

Ghery Loc: Olympia, WA

bettis1 wrote:

Unless things have recently changed, the Carbonite Personal Plan does not back up external drives.

Bob

You are correct, it does not. The external drives are local backup. Carbonite is my offsite backup.

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

I have five or six hard drives and external drives that I use for various back ups. When I'm not using them they sit on a shelf in the closet.

sloscheider Loc: Minnesota

The personal fire safes do heat up. your backup drive may have components that will melt depending on how hot the box gets. Someone pointed out being close to emergency services so a fire wont be all consuming... Do you have a detached garage? That could be your "off site" and a firesafe could provide some degree of climate control.