I was speaking to a producer for FOX News just now and relating to her some thoughts on hurricane preparations. We all know the usual drill about boarding up and stockpiling food and water and batteries and, better, getting the hell out of Dodge, but there is one thing that so very many folks tragically forget.

Getting beyond the death and destruction, their in nothing so tragic as watching a survivor of a hurricane or similar natural disaster pick through their ruined belongings and then suddenly break down completely upon discovering the scrapbook with years of memories, a sodden mess, totally destroyed. Or, the family bible, or great granddad's naturalization papers, or...well you get the idea. You can replace the furniture and the house. You can replace a lot of things, but family heirlooms and personal mementos are irreplaceable. And, in the rush to get ready or escape, these are exactly the things that are most often forgotten, then it is too late. Don't forget what you can never replace. Take it with you if you leave, protect it as best you can if you're going to stay.

For those not already getting ready for this hurricane, use this as a reminder to be prepared for the next natural disaster that comes your way. Inventory those irreplaceable items you own and make a list. Then, if you ever need to evacuate or get ready in a hurry, grab the list and you'll not forget anything important. If evacuation is a possibility, assemble the items ahead of time so they are ready to go. Better to waste a little time and then have to return them as opposed to being too rushed to grab them.

Also, just a reminder to also take with you all your current important papers such as insurance polices and the like. You may be needing that information and having it all at hand will be a big help.

Be smart. Be Prepared. Be Equipped To Survive (tm).

Very insightful advice. I keep scanned versions of all our important papers on CD in my Bug Out Bag, as well as keeping the originals in a small firebox with carrying handle. My parents also keep a copy of the CD in their safe. The CD contains birth certificates, marriage licenses, real-estate deeds, insurance policy summaries, wills, powers of attorney, advance directives, home inventory index, etc.

The CD with scanned copies is an excellent idea!

I agree that Scanning important documents is a good idea. Having just weathered hurricane Isabel in the Carolinas, it reminded me that there is always room for improvement in family disaster preparation. I recognized the need to scan in my more important docs (and photos). It seems JPG, TIFF and PDF would be the most versatile formats. Including a viewer on the CD may also help.

My main concern with scanning these important documents is: how useful would a scanned copy of certain ones be?

Insurance papers, yeah, I can see that. But a what about birth certificate?

Certain documents only seem to be valid if they are a true, original copy. Others go so far as to state that it is illegal to duplicate them. The only birth certificate I have is a photocopy of the original, which clearly states "Duplication of this document by photostat or photograph is illegal". (For the record: my parents did this, not me; probably some time before I could walk or talk). I am in the process of getting an official replacement document.

The good news is that for a some of these "must be original to be valid" documents are easier to replace. I'm ordering 3 copies of my birth certificate, so I can keep one in a safe place in the house, one in a safety deposit box at a bank, and one at an off-site location. I will likely do the same with a CD of scanned docs/pictures when I create one.

Can anyone with any first-hand experience to chime in?

What they generally mean by "original" for something like a birth certificate is one that has been certified - stamped or more likely embossed by the official state or county seal (which is supposedly not that easy to get hold of). I suspect what they mean by the Do Not Copy admonishment is if you would try to use a copy to get something like a driver's license or passport, instead of a "true and correct" copy that was embossed.

I was just curious, what format do you keep all of your scanned documents in? I’ve thought of doing the same thing, but then there’s the problem of how to view them on another computer. Do you have the basics of a viewing program copied onto the CD as well?

That's a great question. I would think that you could get a CD image of Knoppix stripped to essentials for viewing PDF's and JPG's or some similar on a CD and still have plenty of room for all of your document images. Then you could find any intel hardware with a CD drive and boot from your CD and be good to go. Just a thought. I should be possible to have such provide a ready to go desktop with only the ability to view documents and add documents in restricted formats such as PDF so that they remain uncorrupted and don't rely on the OS presently installed on the host machine.

Things that make you go, Hmmmm.......

Yes, since I have access to the full version of Acrobat, most of my docs reside on the CD in PDF format. Some are still in BMP, since that is sort of a universal Win O/S format, but I should embed them in PDFs.

I have been scanning personal documents and carrying them in my bob for years. Best format for me is pdf. There are many stand alone pdf "compilers" available. I find the encryption feature to be valuable. Without a password, they can not be opened by any casual means. What a treasure trove of stuff for identity theft. Also, pdf is readable on almost any pc. Everyone has it so no unusual software is needed, although I keep a pdf reader on one of the cd's.

I keep them in one of those AOL metal mailers that were so common a few years ago. Holds 5 or 6 cd's depending on how you store them. Lots of data!

Living is a small RV, we have omitted most paper storage anyway so making copies of important (mostly personal stuff like photos and other memories) is a routine task.

I was using CD-RW, but have switched to plain CD's cause I found it easier to run these on most older machines. The CD-RW's need a special program where the plain CD's run on anything.

I strongly recommend this concept. When we have to "run for it", leaving everything behind, not knowing if the rig will survive, its nice to have that CD collection in the BOB.

...nomad...