How to set up a fireproof safe backup system
By Barb Dybwad 
posted October 21st 2005 12:15AM
posted October 21st 2005 12:15AM
Life in the digital age can present problems for posterity — disks fail, machines die early deaths, and suddenly
your kid's baby photos simply no longer exist. Remote backup service can get expensive, so NetworkGarage concocted a
method for on-site fireproof backup using a safe with built-in power strip,
NAS device, and two
Powerline ethernet adapters to provide ethernet
over powerline network connectivity to the unit inside. The setup is fairly simple and is detailed in the article, so
if you're looking to invest in a relatively low-cost method of fireproof backup in-house, you might do well to give
this a peep.
[Via DMT]
what happens in the event of a fire inside the enclosure?
Felix,
I suppose then the house is safe!
What I want to know is this - these fireproof safes, for how long do they protect the contents, and what is the "degree/minute" the insides heat up? It doesn't do any good if the hard drive bakes inside a case for 4 hours. (probably a pointless concern)
Hopefully it stays inside the enclosure, and this is a backup solution -- not a storage solution, cuz remember:
If you back it up and delete your original, you don't have any backup anymore do you!
will it survive the deluge of water from a fire fighter's hose?
If you look at the 'more info' on the costco website, it says (for pretty much all their safes) that they are fireproof for about 1/2 hour. I am thinking the temperature inside there is somewhat likely to get high enough to melt most plastic components of the backup system. I am not impressed.
I have a similar idea in place where I do weekly backups of important data to an IDE drive and rotate a few of these drives though the local bank's safe deposit box. Much cheaper, easier I think, and offsite secure storage.
Ditto what others have said... and keep in mind that "fireproof" to safe manufacturers means that the internal temp stays below the flashpoint for paper. The only fireproof backup solution is offsite such as a internet backup scheme or a rotating HD backup setup stored at your office or a friend's pad.
Yeah, I've tried to pick up the pieces when people kept backup tapes in a 'fireproof' safe before. Fireproof != Heatproof.
Those fire safes are designed to protect paper documents. During a fire moisture in the insulation is driven into the cavity. The moisture keeps the paper from igniting but it can still get very hot inside the safe. Hot enough to melt plastic and roach electronics. After a little while, depending on the safe rating and how hot the safe gets, the moisture will escape and the paper is no longer protected from charring. I wouldn't depend on one of these to protect electronics.
How about this: Buy a 1GB SanDisk SD/USB combo card. Then buy PGP Desktop 9.0. Create an encrypted zip archive on the drive and dump all your interesting files in there.
Now drop in wallet, and use as a flash drive anywhere you go.
Just to note -- most safes are designed to protect PAPER from combusting, and of course, the combusting point of paper is ~600F... I doubt your hard drives will survive anything close to that, and I know your plastic cases, cables, etc, won't survive...
OTOH, for a little more cash, you can purchase a server-in-a-safe that actually has been tested at 1000C for an hour:
http://www.cmc-sol.com/kihonseinou.htm
http://www.cmc-sol.com/seihinkousei.htm
http://www.cmc-sol.com/
(sorry, Japanese site)
Granted, 80GB of data storage is pretty lame, but if you're saving docs, it should be plenty...
At what point are the platters of a HD compromised by heat? Because as long as you can rescue the platters, I think you're still good to go -- it's expensive, but I've heard of folks who can restore data from charred drives that survived severe fires. I assume you just put the platters in a new, working duplicate drive. Sure, the plastic melts and the moving parts fail, but that's not where the data's stored.
Seeing as I work for a safe company I wouldn't recommend this with anything less than a safe that is specificly marketed as a media safe. As someone mentioned, safes are designed to keep paper safe, but lower temperatures can still cause damage to electronics. Damage can also be caused by moisture from the insulation. Other things to think of when buying a safe is protection from water. The safe may make it through the fire, but when the fire hose hits it, it may leak, if it isn't designed to seal itself shut in a fire. So if you are going to do this look for a waterproof media safe.
Ignition point for dry paper is actually 451 degrees F. Still toasty enough to fry a hard drive. I looked at doing something just like this and realized it wasn't viable. Rotating encrypted drives with a saftey deposit box as already mentioned is a much better route.
Rubbermaid tub... bury it in the yard.
Why is there not a market for either software or hardware that I can install in two locations that handles the backup issue automatically? I could install one at home, give one to a (trusted) friend and then do the same for him. Then if someone breaks into my home and steals it, or there's a fire, flood or hard drive failure I'm covered. PLUS there's no need for a monthly service (other than Internet access which we both already have). I've begun toying with doing this with Linux, but it's not nearly as simple as a plug-and-play hardware device.
I remember people would put floppy disks and negatives in a "fireproof" safe, like everyone said... Fireproof, not HEAT proof LOL.
Maybe if you created a Liquid Nitrogen jacket around the safe. :)
I've heard several stories of graduate students who routinely stored their backup CDs of thesis work in their freezer. The urban legend was that the insulation of a good freezer would protect the media from minor/short fires, and was free.
The legitimate alternatives (off-site, media safe) were all very expensive.
Of course, that doesn't address one of the best parts of this hack--it's automatic. My biggest problem with home data redundancy is my own sloth, not the quality of storage.
So I think this hack is pretty useful for some types. It gives you a good automatic backup solution that can be remote, if not off-site. The fire protection isn't complete, but is better than most alternative home solutions that are not cost-prohibitive. Is is a replacement for remote, redundant backup? No. But that's not what most homeowners think is necessary for their digital pics and past tax records.
Wanna make it safer from the heat of a house fire? Simple - just put the backup outside the house in the garage or shed and run cable to it.
Or better yet, just backup your photos at your work computer, emailing them over or whatnot.
How did he get power into the safe? I saw that it had interior lighting, but was there already an outlet in there too?
15, Veritas could probably do that for you if you wanna spend a couple G's
You'd better have a look at this other serious option:
http://www.probackup.net/us/
One thing I don't understand is why do they sell mini safes? Yeah, the hamburgler can't lift a mini-safe from which you carried from walmart to your car and into your home.
Greatest invension ever! Also make sure you have your social security, 3 different ID's, your life history, and all your passwords put into that mini safe :)
A B L: Sure it's only half an hour (which is plenty of time unless you live far away from any fire sevices). But that's at 1200 deg F.
Does anyone here actually bother to read the articals before they post a comment?
Interesting idea... I remember seeing stories on the news about how people lost their paper and computer documents in the Oakland, CA fire in 1991 (I think that's the year). Fire-safe cabinets were undamaged, but the stuff inside had been incinerated. Maybe this will work better.
I recently read your post and thought that you might like to review a product that does meet the needs of small businesses and their contingency plans for disaster (be they hardware failures, virus attacks or a real disaster like a fire or flood)
It's called the Disaster Ready Drive and you can check it out on our website here, http://www.klsecurity.com/fireproof-hard-drive.htm I can provide you with complete product specs. and answer any questions you may have. This system can also be tailored for your UNIX operating system
Thanks
Johnny Klemme
Check out their competition to find a better solution. www.networkgarage.com
I wrote a follow up to my original blog entry on the fireproof safe (http://www.networkgarage.com/2005/10/updated_fireproof_safe_backup.html). To be totally safe I should have used a Media Safe (internal temp less than 150 degrees) vs. a FireProof safe (internal temp less than 350 degrees) but I could not find a Media Safe with an electrical outlet so I could host a NAS device in it. What do other people do?