5 ms·

(Very) old school: you get a multi-TB disk of some sort, doesn't have to be fast or high quality. Back up the media to that disk, and then take it down to your

(Very) old school: you get a multi-TB disk of some sort, doesn't have to be fast or high quality. Back up the media to that disk, and then take it down to your safe deposit box. No absurd monthly fees, no Terms of Service, it's off-site so if your house burns down, you're covered. "Your what?" Yeah, the banks still have those. Mine costs $15 a year. If you die, your next-of-kin will have to bring in a death certificate to get access to it. They'll have lots of other hassles, believe me. Forget being trendy and having it in the cloud. How often are you going to access it? "Never", right? You do have to go in every few years and replace it with the latest & greatest, and you'll probably have more media to backup anyway.

Valgrim 5y ago
Idle hard drives can still fail due to what's called "Stiction" (static friction), due to the breakdown of lubricants inside.
- UIUC_06 5y ago
  Yeah, as I said, "backup & forget it" is never a good strategy. Go in every year (or so) and replace it.
kspacewalk2 5y ago
I don't mind looking for an alternative to Google Photos because, while their first 2 tiers are anything but absurdly priced (I currently pay C$40 a year for 200 GB), it abruptly jumps to 2 TB after that, and a price that's far less justifiable (C$140). But I see little if any point to offline-only backups of something like family photos. Usable and backed-up is what I'm after, and preferably not just usable but very convenient.
- nicoburns 5y ago
  Is this still true now that Google One is a thing?
  - kspacewalk2 5y ago
    Those are Google One prices.
- jbergens 5y ago
  I also hate their pricing model. So far we are below 200GB and after that we can open another account for my wife. I hope they increase the limit before we reach 400 GB. Maybe MS has some solution, they have a 1 GB level.
drclau 5y ago
jfyi, HDDs do break occasionally, even when rarely used. I had an external multi TB drive that one day just stopped working. It just wouldn't spin up. The heads got stuck to the platter. Stiction, it is called. Luckily, I got it fixed for enough time to make a full copy to a new HDD. Lesson: never rely on a single backup for what's important to you.
NetBeck 5y ago
The lease agreement on those boxes usually states the customer assuming all risk. Sometimes boxes randomly go missing, and natural disasters can make them inaccessible. "She sued the bank in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeking $7.3 million. Bank of America sought to have the case dismissed, citing language in its lease agreement stating that the renter “assumes all risks” of leaving property in the box."[0] [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box-theft.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box...
- znpy 5y ago
  You bring up the lease agreement, but you should look also to the terms of service of the various cloud storage services. Chances are the deposit box are way better.
  - UIUC_06 5y ago
    Let it never be said I can't change my mind. HN is supposed to be open, curious discussion, right? No, I'm not closing my safe deposit box, but that article made me realize the danger of banks just deciding someday "You know what? Who needs those stupid things any more?" Of course, the same thing applies to cloud backup services. Google is constantly telling me I should buy more storage. Eventually, you don't want to rely on a service that's unprofitable for the company providing it. Unless, like an insurer paying off your life insurance policy, it's something that they can't out of, without destroying their reputation. Or bringing the government down on them.
- UIUC_06 5y ago
  > Sometimes boxes randomly go missing citation? and nothing ever goes wrong with cloud backup schemes, over a very long time period?
  - Androider 5y ago
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box-theft.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box...
MeinBlutIstBlau 5y ago
jbergens 5y ago
Or just take a disk to a relative, like a parent or sibling, once a year. It is a very low chance that you both get break-ins at the same time but you can always have a cloud copy too.
sliken 5y ago
First of all safe deposit box, despite impressive security measures shown in movies, aren't all that secure. Google "safe deposit box news" for extra details. Even ignoring the LA issue where the FBI seized a bunch of safe deposit boxes, seems like just loss is pretty common. Disks are not designed to be usable after 5-10 years of sitting on a shelf. Portable drives aren't particularly robust either, I've worked with many people with lost data on a USB attached drive. I'd use at LEAST two drives, ideally in two places if that's your only store for anything important. I'd recommend using a cloud service (amazon.com/Amazon-Photos/, https://www.flickr.com/ https://www.flickr.com/, https://photos.google.com/ https://photos.google.com/) or similar AND keep a local copy on a disk. Plan on replacing the disk every 5 years and paying whatever monthly/annual fees for enough photo storage. Include in your will full details on the online and offline access to the data. Sure it's a pain, sure there are costs involved, but it's not some insurmountable task. Much like your taxes, will, deeds for property, bank account info, etc. In all cases you want the original documents and pointers to the company/account. Bitwarden (among others) handles designating a successor for accounts in the case of death, you can include username, password, and any encrypted volume info there.
- reaperducer 5y ago
  First of all safe deposit box, despite impressive security measures shown in movies, aren't all that secure. Google "safe deposit box news" for extra details The fact that it's news shows that it's rare, not common. The whole point of the news is to show things that don't happen every day. I've never understood how people got to a state where they think "I saw it on the news, so it must happen all the time."
reaperducer 5y ago
Yeah, the banks still have those. Not as many as used to. I was at the branch inside the regional headquarters for one of those too-big-to-fail banks a couple of weeks ago adding my wife to an account, and I asked the guy if there was a way to transfer the contents of my safe deposit box at another one of the bank's regional headquarters to this one because it would be more convenient. He said that his bank (one of the five largest in America) doesn't open new safe deposit boxes anymore. Still, if you can find one, they're invaluable. For reasons beyond the scope of this discussion, I'm glad I still have the one I have, even though it's a thousand miles away. I wonder if the smaller banks are still doing them. Did credit unions ever have them?

Valgrim 5y ago

Idle hard drives can still fail due to what's called "Stiction" (static friction), due to the breakdown of lubricants inside.

UIUC_06 5y ago
Yeah, as I said, "backup & forget it" is never a good strategy. Go in every year (or so) and replace it.

kspacewalk2 5y ago

I don't mind looking for an alternative to Google Photos because, while their first 2 tiers are anything but absurdly priced (I currently pay C$40 a year for 200 GB), it abruptly jumps to 2 TB after that, and a price that's far less justifiable (C$140). But I see little if any point to offline-only backups of something like family photos. Usable and backed-up is what I'm after, and preferably not just usable but very convenient.

nicoburns 5y ago
Is this still true now that Google One is a thing?
- kspacewalk2 5y ago
  Those are Google One prices.
jbergens 5y ago
I also hate their pricing model. So far we are below 200GB and after that we can open another account for my wife. I hope they increase the limit before we reach 400 GB. Maybe MS has some solution, they have a 1 GB level.

drclau 5y ago

jfyi, HDDs do break occasionally, even when rarely used. I had an external multi TB drive that one day just stopped working. It just wouldn't spin up. The heads got stuck to the platter. Stiction, it is called. Luckily, I got it fixed for enough time to make a full copy to a new HDD. Lesson: never rely on a single backup for what's important to you.

NetBeck 5y ago

The lease agreement on those boxes usually states the customer assuming all risk. Sometimes boxes randomly go missing, and natural disasters can make them inaccessible. "She sued the bank in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeking $7.3 million. Bank of America sought to have the case dismissed, citing language in its lease agreement stating that the renter “assumes all risks” of leaving property in the box."[0] [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box-theft.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box...

znpy 5y ago
You bring up the lease agreement, but you should look also to the terms of service of the various cloud storage services. Chances are the deposit box are way better.
- UIUC_06 5y ago
  Let it never be said I can't change my mind. HN is supposed to be open, curious discussion, right? No, I'm not closing my safe deposit box, but that article made me realize the danger of banks just deciding someday "You know what? Who needs those stupid things any more?" Of course, the same thing applies to cloud backup services. Google is constantly telling me I should buy more storage. Eventually, you don't want to rely on a service that's unprofitable for the company providing it. Unless, like an insurer paying off your life insurance policy, it's something that they can't out of, without destroying their reputation. Or bringing the government down on them.
UIUC_06 5y ago
> Sometimes boxes randomly go missing citation? and nothing ever goes wrong with cloud backup schemes, over a very long time period?
- Androider 5y ago
  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box-theft.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box...

MeinBlutIstBlau 5y ago

jbergens 5y ago

Or just take a disk to a relative, like a parent or sibling, once a year. It is a very low chance that you both get break-ins at the same time but you can always have a cloud copy too.

sliken 5y ago

First of all safe deposit box, despite impressive security measures shown in movies, aren't all that secure. Google "safe deposit box news" for extra details. Even ignoring the LA issue where the FBI seized a bunch of safe deposit boxes, seems like just loss is pretty common. Disks are not designed to be usable after 5-10 years of sitting on a shelf. Portable drives aren't particularly robust either, I've worked with many people with lost data on a USB attached drive. I'd use at LEAST two drives, ideally in two places if that's your only store for anything important. I'd recommend using a cloud service (amazon.com/Amazon-Photos/, https://www.flickr.com/ https://www.flickr.com/, https://photos.google.com/ https://photos.google.com/) or similar AND keep a local copy on a disk. Plan on replacing the disk every 5 years and paying whatever monthly/annual fees for enough photo storage. Include in your will full details on the online and offline access to the data. Sure it's a pain, sure there are costs involved, but it's not some insurmountable task. Much like your taxes, will, deeds for property, bank account info, etc. In all cases you want the original documents and pointers to the company/account. Bitwarden (among others) handles designating a successor for accounts in the case of death, you can include username, password, and any encrypted volume info there.

reaperducer 5y ago
First of all safe deposit box, despite impressive security measures shown in movies, aren't all that secure. Google "safe deposit box news" for extra details The fact that it's news shows that it's rare, not common. The whole point of the news is to show things that don't happen every day. I've never understood how people got to a state where they think "I saw it on the news, so it must happen all the time."

reaperducer 5y ago

Yeah, the banks still have those. Not as many as used to. I was at the branch inside the regional headquarters for one of those too-big-to-fail banks a couple of weeks ago adding my wife to an account, and I asked the guy if there was a way to transfer the contents of my safe deposit box at another one of the bank's regional headquarters to this one because it would be more convenient. He said that his bank (one of the five largest in America) doesn't open new safe deposit boxes anymore. Still, if you can find one, they're invaluable. For reasons beyond the scope of this discussion, I'm glad I still have the one I have, even though it's a thousand miles away. I wonder if the smaller banks are still doing them. Did credit unions ever have them?